Port Arthur’s Historic Site

Today we spent the entire day at Port Arthur’s Historic Site, which is 43 degrees South Latitude. We are 43 degrees North Latitude back home! This is a sprawling 100 acre site with over 30 historic buildings, many of which are just shells, as wild fires swept through in the late 1800s. This is where the famous penal colony was that housed repeat offenders, mostly from the UK. They housed boys on a separate island, which was rare in those days. Boys as young as 7 were often housed with the most dangerous adult prisoners back in the UK and elsewhere in 1830, when this place accepted its first boatload of prisoners. Military officers & their families lived on the site, as well. Many floggings were conducted on prisoners with bad behaviour, but what was more feared by convicts was being sent to the separate silent prison, where they were in solitary, silent confinement for 23 hours a day, & only let out for an hour of silent exercise, when they wore a hood so no one could recognize them, & they couldn’t communicate. Some of the most hardened criminals were broken after only a short time there. As a result, they had to build a lunatic asylum next to this building for the increasing number of convicts that went “insane.” Our introductory tour guide was terrific, & shared many interesting stories about what life was like between 1830 & when the place closed to convicts in 1877. We had a boat cruise that circled the “isle of the dead” where more that 1100 convicts are buried. Another tour guide told us stories, sometimes gruesome ones, about the many escape attempts. Fascinating stuff. The day ended with a “Ghost Tour”. Another excellent guide told us more documented stories about visitors to the place seeing, smelling or hearing strange things. Only 3 months after the prison closed, in 1877, tourists, many from England, started to visit the site, and they’ve been coming ever since. They’ve done a great job resurrecting fire damaged buildings to help paint a picture of daily life for the convicts & guards. When we returned to our AirBnB we had to open and close the gate. The gate keeps the wallabies & Tasmanian devils off of her lawn.Read more