• Trip Around the World 2025
    Ruins of the original primary church for all convicts not in the second more severe prison
    2View of the prison from the guard tower and guard's quartersInterior of the original main prison building, reinforced with modern engineering to preserve itChris inspecting the cells2Example of one of the cells, hammocks would hang from the hooks and prisoners had two shelvesChris modeling how the captives may have feltQuite a few convicts were housed here!Original chimneys of primary prison building still standing tall 200 years laterInterior of the church for the secondary stricter prison- Chelsea is at the pulpit!Chris modeling the wooden slots prisoners were locked into to watch the sermonChris modeling solitary confinement at the stricter prison. Convicts were sent here if they talkedRuins of the original hospitalMain church ruins and government housing ruins(auditors of the prison stayed here)Housing ruins from where the homeless were put(homeless were often shipped to penal colonies)Shot of the island they buried the dead on from the waterView of the main prison from the waterView leaving Hobart and Tasmania

    Port Arthur and flight to Adelaide

    March 26 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F

    Today, we headed out to Port Arthur to check out one of Britain’s penal colonies.

    Port Arthur was a significant penal colony for Britain, and thousands of hardened criminals and petty thieves made their way through over the years. There was a large primary prison, a secondary boys colony(for inmates as young as 9 years old!), and a secondary prison for ill behaved prisoners that allowed no talking and used solitary confinement.

    This was a really interesting and unique site to explore, given much of Australia and Tasmania’s history are based upon their roots as being an efficient place for Britain to house their prisons. Further, this site was remarkably well preserved, and much of the foundation and exterior structure of many of the original buildings was largely intact. Interestingly, Britain started shipping prisoners to Australia after the American Revolution, as they had primarily used America for housing prisoners previously.

    There was an included boat tour to see the penal colony from the water that afforded great views. During the boat ride we saw the island where the dead were buried(Isle of the dead) and the dockyards where the prisoners were forced to build over 200 ships. The prison was forced to stop building ships as it undercut the local shipbuilding economy(the prisoners were free labor after all!).

    We spent a good amount of time exploring the area, and then headed to the airport to catch our flight to Adelaide.    Read more