Committee members Leeanne and Peter Reed said that while not very long ago it was considered unfashionable to have a convict ancestor, it was fast becoming a badge of honour.

Many locals have now been making bonnets and embracing their own convict ancestry as their contribution to a project started by Tasmanian Senior Australian of the Year, Dr Christina Henri, the honourary artist in residence at the Cascades Female Factory in Hobart.

Locals have made around 100 bonnets which will feature at Springfest, before being added to Dr Henri's collection.

The project, called "Roses From the Heart", began with the idea that 25 566 bonnets would be made to represent the number of women who were sent out to the colonies as convicts.

Each bonnet bears the name of one of these women, the ship that brought them to these shores, their conviction and a little rose or similar symbol.

When they first heard about the project, Leanne and Peter Reed were keen to have Wellington get involved and since then many people have been making discoveries about their convict history.

"Roses would have reminded the convict women of the homeland they have been exiled from," Mr Reed said.

"Few of these women would have been offered roses as a token of love and now contemporary women can belatedly do so."

For Springfest, on Saturday 27, the bonnets will be carried out on a wooden dinghy at the sunken gardens in Cameron Park at 2pm, followed by a blessing of the bonnets.

Christina Henri will be in attendance and locals are encouraged to continue making bonnets after Springfest as Christina continues to achieve her goal with less than 1900 bonnets still to be made.

Mr Reed said that of particular interest would be finding convicts with a connection to Wellington.

For more information, or to get involved you can call Leeanne Reed on 68 45 1642