Port Arthur

The Tasman Peninsula

Touring is a tiring business with this crowd.  We were awake at 5:30 am, showered, dressed, breakfasted and out the door for a 25-minute walk to meet our tour guide Beth at 7 am for a day at Port Arthur.  She didn’t get us back to our doorstep until 6 pm.  Beth works for Tour Tasmania and is a twenty-something, recent graduate of Tasmania University in Environmental Science, with a specialty in chattiness.  We would certainly recommend Beth as a guide.

There were 12 of us in total as we headed out to the Tasman Peninsula to enjoy the views and vistas along the road to Port Arthur.

It is time for a comment on the wildlife of Tasmania.  It is abundant but for the most part nocturnal so during the day wildlife sightings are usually restricted to roadkill.  Approximately every kilometer we saw a dead wallaby (a smaller version of a kangaroo), on the road. 

Beth explained to us that the Kangaroo family lacks peripheral vision and doesn’t see oncoming cars until the last second.  They are also unable to move backward so in a panic they can only leap forward.  Unfortunately, that means they leap into traffic and lose the collision contest.  These facts explain the heavy armour protection trucks sport in their attempt to protect themselves from flying roos.

Tasmanians like their wildlife (especially in pies it seems) and have installed posts along the road that detect headlights and emit a loud sound as vehicles approach at night in the hope the animals leap a little earlier and avoid collisions but at $1000 per post, there are not enough.

Waterfall Bay National Park

Along the road, Beth shared her knowledge of geography and history as we enjoyed the vistas of Waterfall Bay National Park.  At one point she dropped us off and we enjoyed a 2.5 km ramble along a cliff-edge bush walk with a 100-meter drop to the Southern sea below.  We were careful to keep an eye out for any of the three snake species that populate the area.  Thankfully we saw none but did spot a young wallaby just two meters off the trail.  The little guy froze in place for about five minutes to allow for a somewhat camouflaged photo shoot.

Look Carefully - The Wallaby Is Watching You

Back on the bus, we crossed a narrow neck to the southernmost part of the peninsula.  The Brits chose the southern location on the peninsula to build a prison for security reasons.  Surrounded by water, the only avenue for escape was across the neck.  They post militia at the narrow and had underfed, aggressive dogs posted and chained to cover every inch of the land, plus had dogs on floating platforms on both sides in the sea.  No one ever escaped.

Saw This Beauty As We Arrived In Parking Lot

That Doesn't Look Right

We arrived at Port Arthur and became immersed in the penal colony story.  We all had a general idea of the story but when you walk the preserved site you develop a much deeper connection.  Immediately upon arrival you are given a card and directed to the museum archive to find your convict and learn his story before walking the grounds in his shoes.  Most were petty thieves.  My guy stole an ounce of chewing tobacco. Most convicts at Port Arthur were physically able to work and ranged in age between 17 and 34.

Old Cell Block - Cruise Ship Here Just to See the Fort

Essentially the British needed to establish a presence in this part of the world for the fear of losing it to others.  Able Tasman discovered this area on behalf of the Dutch and the French were lurking nearby.  Someone had the bright idea of sending petty criminals to the area and using their slave labor to establish a colony.  There were lots of natural resources in the way of timber, limestone, and brick quality clay and the hope was that it would become a trading partner with Britain.

The first prisoners arrived in 1838 and most never returned to Britain.  They served seven-year sentences of hard labour but in the end, they didn’t have the monies for passage home.

Port Arthur was also the site of prison reforms.  In 1853 some forward-thinking Commandant thought better of flogging as a method of discipline and instead introduced isolation.  Prisoners that were not compliant were placed in individual cells and were not allowed to talk.  During their one-hour exercise period each day, they had to wear a bag over their heads to ensure they did not see any others.  As you could imagine this method was so successful it resulted in a rampant rise in the number of mental illness cases.  After many years (and lives lost) the practice was stopped.  Sitting in the cell and walking the exercise yard was a chilling experience.

The whole enterprise ended in 1877 when it became uneconomical and Port Arthur was auctioned off to individuals before becoming the town of Carnarvon.  It became a museum in the late 1970s.

After a quick boat ride to see the site from the sea we journeyed home but not before stopping at the bucolic village of Richmond on the Coal River.  If you didn’t know better you could easily be fooled into thinking you were dropped off in 19-century England.  Not much has changed since the town was created in the early 1800s.  It has the oldest, still in use stone bridge built in 1823 along with the oldest Catholic Church in Australia.

Convict Built - Still In Use

View of Mount Wellington