Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie is noted for his Famine Sculptures on Custom House Quay, Dublin (1997). These were complemented by his migration statues in Irish Park, Toronto (2007) and the female convict statues on the Hobart waterfront (2017). He is currently completing a major installation for the Trinity Research and Innovation Centre, Trinity College, Dublin.

In the next few months, Rowan will complete his current commissions and will begin work on the Tasmanian sculptures. Two statues, of convict women, will be installed at the Cascades Female Factory and two, of an orphan school boy and girl, will be placed at the Orphan Schools site at New Town. Rowan’s installations are major tourism attractions. In Hobart, the statues will form part of a unique significant heritage tourism route linking sites integral to the convict story – the Hobart waterfront, the Cascades Female Factory and the Orphan Schools.