Tour of Tasmania: Port Arthur

Port Arthur was the most memorable place in Tasmania for me. The ruins, the tragic history - old and recent, the irony. It is such a beautiful place in many ways, yet such terrible things have happened there over the past two centuries.

It started out in the 1830s as a penal colony, progressive in its day. It was built by the convicts themselves, as an inescapable prison settlement and the philosophy of the gaolers was to reform the prisoners. It wasn't just about punishment, but redemption as well. For its time this was very advanced thinking with regard to prisoners.

The "Separate Prison" built in the 1840s was designed to subjugate the convicts mentally rather than physically as had been the previous practise. From today's perspective, the prison facilities and the stories of the day to day lives of the convicts seem harsh and extreme - especially considering the crimes that many were said to have committed. For something as trivial as a poor, hungry boy stealing a loaf of bread, he was sentenced to be transported to Port Arthur for years. I don't know how many ever got to go home after their sentences were carried out. Of course there would have been some serious criminals of the murdering kind there as well, but it's hard to imagine today such hard punishments being handed out for the minor offences many committed.

Originally a timber station, the convicts established the industries of ship building, timber, brick-making, blacksmithing and shoe-making.

Most of the main buildings were destroyed or damaged beyond repair during bushfires in the late 1890s while the settlement was no longer a penal colony, but a town of free settlers attempting to develop it into a sustainable community.

The recent tragic history of Port Arthur involves the terrible day on the 28th of April 1996 when Martin Bryant went on a rampage killing 35 people at the site and nearby towns. The Broad Arrow Cafe has been converted into a memorial for the victims.