Port Arthur

There were several things we considered doing today but the weather didn't look too good for a water based activity and again, there was low lying cloud cover that was supposed to turn into rain later in the day. We decided on taking the road trip to Port Arthur which is the site of the infamous penal colony of the 1840's. We were interested in learning about the convict history of Australia and thought this would be an interesting place to visit to get some insight.

It was about a 90 minute drive to Port Arthur Historic Site, a World Heritage Site. The government has spent an lot of resources on restoring the ruins and providing a very good interpretive centre.

We started off with a short boat tour to the Isle of the Dead cemetery where all of the deceased convicts and soldiers are buried and Point Puer Boy's Prison where convicted children as young as 9 years old were sent from England.

We had an introductory walking tour and were then free to walk about the extensive grounds and buildings to get an appreciation of what prison life would have been like in the period.

Port Arthur can be likened to the current day "Supermax" prisons in the US where the worst of the worst were housed. To get a sentence of "Transportation" in England, you were a repeat offender. "Transportation" was essentially a sentence to indentured slavery in Australia to assist in colonization doing all of the "heavy lifting" for the settlers. If you re-offended once there, it was off to Port Arthur to get straightened out. The concept was "a machine for grinding rogues into honest men". This involved discipline and punishment, religious and moral instruction, classification and separation, training and education. Many did not make it.

Lots of heavy labour along with physical punishment and solitary confinement for those that stepped out of line.

The amazing part was that most of the facilities were built by the convicts.

This is how you go to church while in "solitary", each prisoner has a stall where they can only see the Chaplin and no other inmate. This was their only time outside of their cell except for one hour exercise per day.

Luckily the door was not locked!

On the way back to Hobart we stopped at a couple of overlooks of the ocean. Some really cool rock formations.