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Published: October 12th 2006
The Prisoner's Only View
The bars and hand-carved stones bring you back in time to the convict era.We spent our last few days in
Tasmania centred in
Hobart. Saturday’s Salamanca Markets lured us for most of the day where we made a few good purchases, and served as a good day of relaxation.
Sunday was spent exploring the ruins of
Port Arthur - Australia’s most renowned penal colony. We learned all about Australia’s convict past and the Port Arthur site in particular.
With the aim of humanization and rehabilitation, the prison began as a logging camp in 1830 and developed into an industrial manufacturing prison over the following decades. Prisoners were sent to work - those who worked well rose in the ranks and were able to work as tradesmen in the bakery, kitchen, woodshop, metalshop etc. Prisoners who weren’t well behaved worked on the chain gangs doing manual labour by clearing trees or mining coal. The sleeping areas for the men were unbelievably small - only 1.3m by 2.4m - just long enough to sleep in - and were occupied by two men each!
As the site developed, it included an asylum for the mentally ill who were housed and managed separately from the other criminals in the hope of helping and healing them.
1800s Extension
You can see the extension that was added on to the main penitentiary building in the mid 1800s. A “separate prison” was created for repeat offenders who were housed individually in silence, stripped of all individualism and known only by numbers. The site operated as a prison until 1877 when the last convict was transferred out.
Most of the buildings at Port Arthur were gutted through a series of bushfires in the 1890s. What remains is largely the result of restoration after the fires. The architecture was impressive considering the convicts made and fired their own bricks, and built the buildings themselves - including the church for the free settlers in the area.
Overall, this has been a tremendous holiday. We got to see two very diverse environments and hope to use our final term here to explore more areas nearby. Also, we were able to explore nearly 90 km of Australia's wilderness by bushwalking across plateaus, up and down mountains and through valleys. It's now time to go back to work ... and relax.
Down the road... During our last two months in Australia we plan on seeing the Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains, going dolphin watching in Port Stephens, visiting the Hunter Valley and enjoying the local beaches. On our way back
The Penetentiary Ruins
We were lucky to arrive during the off season on a partly rainy day ... tour groups were sparse (and yet were able to stand in the middle of the best shots). to Toronto in December we will spend 2 weeks touring the South Island of New Zealand.
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