A lesson in Australia’s history would not be complete without the history of Port Arthur.  It began in the 1880s as a penal colony.  Then lieutenant governor of Van Diemen’s Land, George Arthur, established Port Arthur as a settlement for the most incorrigible, repeated offenders from Great Britain and Ireland.[i]  The juvenile offenders, on the other hand, would end up in Point Puer, also within the settlement.  The idea was that hard labor, psychological punishment, trading and religious education combined would reform even the worst of all convicts.[ii]

Port Arthur

Port Arthur situates on the southwestern coast of Van Diemen’s Land.  The penal colony inherited natural barriers that prevented the convicts from any kind of escape.  The convicts then understood that the waters surrounding the three sides of the penitentiary was infested with sharks.[iii]

Visitors to the Port Arthur historic site would not miss the theme of the site’s history.  We went through a very thoughtful exhibition of the life of the convicts there.  The research was thorough, and focused on the life stories of the convicts (as opposed to presenting institution-focused presentations that are probably quite typical to penitentiary museums).  These stories allowed me a look into the human face of the otherwise haunting ruins that is Port Arthur today.

Pack of Thieves: George Hunt

George Hunt stole a handkerchief worth two shillings in London and he was sentenced to transportation in Port Arthur.  During his time at Port Arthur, George Hunt attempted to escape a dozen times.  One of his ploys was disguising as a hopping kangaroo to escape.  He failed, however, when a soldier lifted his musket thinking that dinner was ready.  Seeing that he was about to be shot, George Hunt raised his human hands and yelled, “don’t shoot!”

George Hunt’s erratic behaviors earned him the assessment of being a lunatic, and he has spent time in the New Norfolk asylum (for the mentally ill).

In his days in Van Diemen’s Land, George Hunt “was charged no less than sixty-four occasions.  He spent over 1,800 days in leg irons, received 625 lashes and spent 131 days in solitary confinement.”[iv]  However, he did receive a certificate of freedom in 1846.

Certainly, life was very harsh in the penal colony.  The worst convicts had to work in chained gangs and in knee-deep water at the coal mine.  Any kind of miscreant behavior, be it disrespectful language or attempts to abscond, commonly invited lashes, leg irons and solitary confinement as punishment.  The most serious crimes, such as murder, were punishable by death.

Yet at the frontier of a new settlement there also was hope.  Many of the convicts, particularly those that came with skills or acquired such at the settlement, could participate in trade.  Once they have served their sentence, they could receive a certificate of freedom and remain in trade in Port Arthur, Hobart and beyond.  In this sense they were more so the early settlers that made Australia, than the unwanted law-breakers that England sent away.

After viewing the exhibition of convict life, we exited the administration building and came face to face with the structures that served various different purposes at the penal colony.  There were many buildings of significance, but I only had time for a few.

Significant Structures at Port Arthur

The Penitentiary

The Penitentiary was the most notable structure in Port Arthur and its significance would be second to none as well.  At its construction, the Penitentiary was a flour mill and a granary, but due to engineering defects it could not serve its intended purpose.  Originally, the plan was to produce the flour to feed the convict population and to produce food for export.  It later became the penitentiary that hosted the dormitories and solitary cells for the prisoners.

The Convict Church

Church service on Sundays was mandatory for all prisoners, and the prison establishment also strictly observed Sabbath.  Although the Convict Church is in ruins now, as a work of the prisoners at Port Arthur it stands as a memorial to the use of religious instruction as a way to reform offenders.

The Separate Prison

The Separate Prison claims itself as the first institution of solitary confinement in the Southern Hemisphere.  Many of Port Arthur’s convicts faced solitary confinement as an additional punishment to other forms of punishments (that failed to reform them) in Port Arthur.  During the days that Port Arthur remained a penal colony, solitary confinement was a new philosophy in criminal justice.  The prisoners supposedly sat in silence and darkness to reflect on their own wrongs.  Even then, there were reports of prisoners suffering from delusions after days or up to a month in the Separate Prison.  While solitary confinement is still a feature in most penitentiaries of the world, its ill effects on the prisoners’ mental health is uncontested now.

The Commandant’s House

The Commandant’s House was the home to five Commandants at Port Arthur.  They served as the most senior official in the penal colony.  The house was well-preserved, and bespeaks a lifestyle of luxuries that the penal colony could afford.  Located at the far western high grounds of Port Arthur, the Commandant’s house overlooks the sea and the Isle of the Dead.

The Isle of the Dead

The final tour of Port Arthur would be the ferry ride going around the Isle of the Dead.  This would probably be the most eerie part of the tour.  The Isle of the Dead was the burial ground for the settlement.  It is a small isle off the shore of Port Arthur.  Officers and convicts alike were buried there, but for a very long time only the officers had proper gravestones memorializing their lives.

A Tragedy in Modern Times

Finally, in the modern times Port Arthur was the site of a horrendous killing.  In 1996, a man armed himself with a gun and rounds of ammunition and rampaged the whole area of Port Arthur including the historic site.  He killed more than thirty people, and injured many more.  This incident has resulted in the passing of strict gun control laws in Australia.[v]

Now, a memorial garden at the site serves to remember this incident.  Visitors should refrain from starting a conversation with the staff at the historic site about this very horrible event.  Many have lost loved ones on this day.

The trip to Port Arthur concluded our tour in Tasmania.  My only regret was that I did not have the opportunity to see all the structures at the site.  For the history buffs there, my recommendation is to spend two days at the historic site.  The guided tour is a must, but it only covers some of the more prominent sites and not the rest.  The tour of the Isle of the Dead (a haunted tour in the evening) would be a very nice addition to the experience as well.  And to do the guided tour plus a visit on all the structures alone requires two half-days or one full day.

[i] A Brief History of Port Arthur, Tasmania.

[ii] Id.

[iii] New World Encyclopedia, Port Arthur, Tasmania.

[iv] Hamish Maxwell-Stewart et. Al., Pack of Thieves? 52 Port Arthur Lives (2001) at 19.

[v] Port Arthur Historic Site, History Timeline.