The history of Port Arthur

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We were up early again today as we had a three hour drive to Port Arthur and wanted to arrive early. Like yesterday, we went down for breakfast before checking out and getting on our way down south.

It was proving to be a lovely drive with an interesting coast line and stunning beaches to admire on the way. There are some beautiful coastal towns to drive through and see. We stopped in a small town called Swansea for petrol and to post a letter at the post office, before we were on our way again.

It was just past a town called Orford when things started to get a little rocky – literally. This whole trip we have been following our GPS, which has gotten us around quite nicely. And, as I write this from Port Arthur, it got us here this time as well, but not without a struggle.

A little past Orford we needed to turn off onto a road. All good – there are a lot of country roads and narrow roads around Tasmania, so we didn’t think anything of it. Then, after about a kilometre, we hit a dirt road. This wasn’t terrible, just surprising, as we were yet to encounter one on this trip. This patch of dirt road was just that – dirt and was rather smooth.

Looking at our GPS, we saw we had 25kms of driving on this road. We hoped it wouldn’t be 25km of dirt road.

It was.

And, a few more kilometres in, it wasn’t just dirt anymore. It was now a road with small rocks and steep inclines that our car certainly didn’t enjoy getting past. We had entered a forest with walking and driving tracks, and we knew we were on a road designed for 4WDs, not little Ford’s.

The 25kms couldn’t have come fast enough, and eventually we turned onto a different road (still dirt, but smooth). This eventually turned into paved again and we were on our way, feeling much more comfortable.

We stopped in a small town called Dunally with a bakery and takeaway shop, grabbing a quick bite to eat. From there, it was only 30 minutes to Port Arthur, which was our destination for the night.

Port Arthur has a lot of history in Australia, being a main point for holding convicts in the early to mid 1800s, and being the location of a massacre in 1996. Apart from the major history, we knew very little about the town and were surprised just how small it actually is. Its biggest and only attraction is the historic site dating back to around 1850, which was used for the convicts for around 50 years.

We went straight there, it being too early to check in. Our agent had booked us in for tomorrow, but our pass said 2 days, so we were hoping we could get in a day early.

One thing we have noticed about Tasmania is that all tours are good value for money. For entry fees and tours, we have been paying around 35-40% less than what it’d cost us in places such as Sydney and Melbourne.

For a 2 day pass to the Port Arthur historic site, it’s around $50, and with that, you are able to walk around the whole site, go on a 20 minute harbour cruise, learning some history of the area, and a 40 minute guided walking tour. You definitely also need 2 days to see the site properly. We are there for a good three hours and only managed to see a portion of the area.

We were thankfully allowed to enter a day early and the lady booked us in for the next cruise that was due to depart in about 20 minutes. We only needed to wait a few minutes before we boarded and were on our way around the harbour.

Even the harbour has extensive convict history, where across from the main part is another port called Port Puer. In Latin, this means ‘boy’ and was where all the boys between 13 and 17 were sent, away from the older convicts. Here, they learnt skills with the hope they’d see the error of their ways and could return to normal society back in Hobart.

We then went around a tiny island called Island of the Dead, or Dead Island. This was used to bury over 1100 convicts and a few soldiers and free people who worked at Port Arthur. Most of the convicts had no tombstones, but we were able to see some from the boat, which was interesting.

After returning, we went to see when the next walking tour was, which was about 40 minutes away, so we went to the museum on the ground floor.

Upon entering the historic site, you’re each given a playing card with someone (convict or otherwise) from Port Arthur on the card. To make the museum experience interactive, your goal is to find the person you’ve been given and learn about them. I had the wife of a soldier, while Albert had a rather violent convict. Coincidentally, that same convict is the room named after him that we are staying in!

We then had lunch, before heading down to the meeting location for the walk.

The walking tour doesn’t take you through the sites, but the guides spend their time sharing history of the site with you. It was quite interesting, and we learnt a lot, such as Port Arthur wasn’t a site convicts were immediately sent. Port Arthur was used for repeat offenders and was a very brutal place. Convicts first went to Hobart.

As the site is less than two hundred years old, many aspects are still intact. Those that are destroyed or ruined is because of bushfires that hit it in the late 1800s, but because of age. The largest and first structure you see, we learnt, was originally used as a mill, then made storage, and then eventually used as a prison.

After the tour, we headed to some of the ‘newer’ buildings that were of interest. The first was an asylum, built to send convicts who were sent to the separate prison. The separate prison was established years after for prisoners considered dangerous. Here, they had tiny cells and were not allowed to talk at all – to themselves or other prisoners. They were locked in their cells 23 hours a day, the last hour being let outside to exercise.

Inside, they had a chapel with the priest standing up really high. The convicts were locked in boxes where they could only see the priest and not each other, to avoid them communicating. They even had a ‘punishment’ cell, which was dark and dreary and rather frightening to walk into.

Back when it was used, the separate prison had no windows in the cells, so the prisoners saw no light for 23 hours of the day. We were able to walk all through this, peer into some of the cells with recorded audio inside some, and able to walk into others. We were also able to walk into the chapel, which was very intriguing.

The asylum had now been turned into a museum and café, but the museum is very interesting, showing things such as what they wore and ate during their time in Port Arthur.

After leaving that, we went to walk through some of the houses, including that of where the Commandant lived. Although the other houses were small, the Commandant’s house was large and with many rooms. The house is still in goo condition and you are able to walk into every room.

By this time, we were getting tired, so we did a quick walk through some of the ruins such as the old mill and hospital, before heading to the gift shop. We missed a whole part of site, where the free people (the wives and children of soldiers, etc) lived, and are considering going back tomorrow to use the second day of our pass before leaving for Hobart. It’s just too big to see all in one day!

We are staying at the Port Arthur Villas, just across the road from the historic site and within walking distance. Each room is named after a notable person from Port Arthur.

It’s nothing fancy, though comfortable. After resting, we went to the local takeaway for some dinner and ate back in our room. Tomorrow, we head to Hobart for two nights, which we are looking forward to. For now, we are both exhausted from the drive and the walking and looking forward to a good night’s sleep!

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Photos

Dead Island
1100 plus bodies are buried on this island

Inside the chapel
Each one is a box where the silent prisoners had to stand