Blogs from Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia, Oceania - page 2

3rdJanuary 2013. Today is our 18th anniversary. Yep, 18 years!!! Anyway, early start today as we plan to visit Port Arthur. Our first stop was Dunalley, which was a small town next to a canal or a narrow river. We had to queue in order to cross a bridge which opens for boats. Next stop was Eaglehawk Neck, which gave us great views and history. There was only 100m of land between the ocean and during the convict times, there were 18 dogs guarding this area to prevent prisoners escaping from Port Arthur. Further south, we stopped at a blowhole, which was not blowing, and then to the Tasman Arch, which was very beautiful. We had some yummy Tassie scallops and calamari for lunch before moving... read more

With the promise of a quieter hotel room for tonight and Saturday, we set off for Port Arthur with Pat. The morning's coffee stop at Dunelley offered magnificent views, another warm welcome as well as pretty good coffee - see photograph As we pulled into the Port Arthur's Visitors Centre the clouds thickened and blackened overhead - the signs for a dry day were not good and so we wrapped up warm!! A lively 20 minutes introduction from Sonia, a stroll around the solitary block and an entertaining boat trip around the Island of the Dead saw us heading off for a spot of lunch. Fortified, we toured the vast number of fascinating buildings that comprise Port Arthur - these are accompanied by magificent views and an intriguing history. By 4.30pm we were exhausted and so ... read more

Today was yet again cool and cloudy. In fact it felt very much like our winters so we had all our warm clothes on. How odd that early March can be so cold. We left for Port Arthur from the camp at 9am and bought Bronze Passes which would give us a walking tour followed by a boat trip on the harbour. The walking tour included a guide who was excellent. He was able to give us an introduction to the complex, tell us about the buildings, the harbour, the transport ships, the prisoners and their crimes, the guards, the conditions, the punishments and the backup facilities like the governor, doctor, accountant, servants etc. After the walk we did a short trip around the harbour to Point Puer where the Boy’s Home had been. Children could ... read more

I was up early to get on the road and head over to Port Arthur. It's about an hour and a half drive from Hobart and makes a good day trip. It's a beautiful drive to get out there and I had no problems finding my way. Port Arthur was set up in the 1830's as a place to send convicts from England. Well, most were sent to Hobart first but if they were caught a second time they were sent to Port Arthur. It was a convict camp set up for repeat offenders. The convicts were put to work being blacksmiths and various other trades. If they misbehaved they were sent to work on the chain gangs. As the years went by and they found that giving the inmates slashes on the back to punish ... read more

Port Arthur was a convict settlment in from 1830 to 1877. Most of the convicts were sent to the Island from England, some were sent from Ireland, even north America. Some were sent for suspision of theft, others for more serious crimes. Some were very young, and some very old. The historic site of Port Arthur contains 30 or more buildings that made up the original settlement. There was a hospital, church, officers quarters, and insane asylm, a guard tower and more. All the structures except for the insane aslym (built later) was constructed by convict labor. There were many very sad stories about the fate of many prisoners. Prisoners that diobeyed officers were tied to a triangle shaped post and given up to 100 lashes with a cat-o-nine, which was a whip with nine strips ... read more