Yesterday explored Freemantle with Eliana . We had treated ourselves to a back massage in the morning with Kate from York which energised us for the day. So did lunch at the raw kitchen. Organic raw vegan dishes which gave us a healthy feeling on the inside . Spurred on with all this intense self absorption and care we walked up the hill to the Freemantle prison, an experience of what man can do to man at the other end of the scale . Men (and later women) were shipped to the colony from the 1840s to build infrastructure in the failing settlement . They needed convict labour to help the farming settlers break in the austere land here in WA. The prison is grim. Huge structures built of limestone testify to the workmanship of the convicts . It is now a world heritage site and only stopped taking prisoners in 1990. A terribly sad place, we witnessed the solitary confinement room where men sat on a stool for 15 hours before going to the gallows . We stood where the witnesses saw 45 men and one woman fall to their deaths from the false floor hanging by the rough hessian noose. So much suffering and fear in that place. I found a possible distant relative in the archives . John Peacock arrived at the surprising age of 63 in 1869 convicted for housebreaking . Could he have been the reason my great grandfather Harry came over to Australia a few years later with his Dad. John escaped from the colony it says . That could explain why my great grandfather spoke nothing of fifteen years in Aussie because he was sworn to secrecy and could have been arrested for aiding an escaped convict. I hope I can glean more from the cemetery in Bratoft . It would be very cool to have a relative that was a convict. I am sure he only broke into a house to steal because he was desperate . I have read that at that time of unemployment in England, people purposely got caught so that they were at least fed in prison. Industrial English history reeks with anecdotes of starving families found dead in their beds . Such a sad time of change with no social security for the poor.
Today is Good Friday and a time to reflect on the suffering of Christ. It was for our transgressions He bled and died and by His stripes being flogged as a prisoner, that we are healed .
The emotional suffering of the past few years in a toxic marriage are nothing compared to the pain Christ passionately went through for each of us on the cruel cross . But I am sensing a stirring in my heart they this trip will bring meaning and healing to the weary pain filled heaviness I encounter each morning . The new people I meet, the foods, sounds, historic experiences, the sights and smells. Everything combining to give me assurance that God is preparing the way ahead for me.
Psalm 139:3 says He "sifts " and searches my path and my lying down. I believe I will have a good balance of rest and recreation on this trip. Already I feel a renewing in my being and I think this photo reflects that . I am loving living for a few short days, inside Eliana and Jeremy s world and seeing the paradise that life in Mandurah is for them . They are so happy . Off to church now . Happy Easter everyone .