Metal handcuffs and handstitched leather shoe

This punishment shoe was found under floorboards in the original Commandant's cottage, which was built in 1830 in Granton, northern Hobart. It is called a ‘punishment shoe’ because the leather was cut away near the ankle so that the leg irons worn by convicts would cut into their flesh. Convicts working on chain-gangs would be shackled together by their ankles, with irons or chains weighing from 3.2 kg to 6.3 kg.