Van Diemen’s Land: the heart of darkness
The darker corners of Australia’s short history have typically been left just there, in the dark. Paul Hayes spoke with Jonathan Auf Der Heide, the director who’s bringing a missing chapter to life.
To most Australians, the mention of colonial Australia will conjure images of Burke and Wills discovering the breadth of the land, or Ned Kelly heroically railing against a tyrannical English rule.
What they will not think of however, are stories of an often wretched existence in a totally unfamiliar landscape, or forced backbreaking labour brought about because of the theft of a few pairs of shoes.
