Driving up to Port Arthur, even during the light of day, is an ominous approach. Tasmania’s history is steeped in the development of convict sites made to house inmates who came in from Britain. The building of these penitentiaries brought inmates to the shores of Tasmania and new British residence and industry to the otherwise only indigenous occupied land. Five convict sites in Tasmania have been recorded as UNESCO World Heritage sites and places of enormous historical relevance. And Port Arthur is one of the best-preserved Australian Convict sites you can still visit today.
This complex gives a fantastic and haunting look back in time at Tasmania’s penal colony past. Port Arthur was the first of any Australian convict site I visited. And although I thought I was prepared for what I would see, nothing could have prepared me for how powerful this historic site could be.
Before the colonization of Tasmania by the British, the Tasmanian Aboriginal people, self-name Palawa, lived rich lives here on the shores of the south coast. The clan that lived on the south peninsula were called the Pydarerme. These aboriginal people are entirely different from those in Australia since Tasmania was cut off from the mainland 10,000 years ago. Before the British colonization, there were around 3,000–15,000 Palawa that lived off this land. But by 1835, only 400 full-blooded Palawa people survived, mainly due to the impact of diseases introduced by the British. But this doesn’t mean the British were free from violent culpability; the British invaders also incarcerated many of the Palawa people in camps where they also died.
The absolute abolishment of the aboriginal Tasmanian people has been deemed a genocide as per the UN’s definition. Today, there are only a few thousand remaining Palawa, mainly mixed with European blood from the British settlers. Although the original Tasmanian language has been lost, there is an effort to rebuild it and restore much of the history ripped from the indigenous people of Tasmania. We need to remember the land’s past when visiting sites like this and recall that the convict history, while seemingly ancient, is actually very modern when compared to the thousands of years of history of the Palawa people.
In 1830, Governor Sir George Arthur was sent to Van Diemen’s Land to build a penal settlement for convicts from Britain and Ireland. Van Diemen’s Land was the name given to Tasmania when Dutch explorers claimed the land and named it to honour Anthony van Diemen, the current Dutch Governor-General. At the site, the most hardened criminals came to stay. The worst of the worst as being sent to the other side of the world was seen as the most severe punishment, save for execution. For this reason, Port Arthur had some of the strictest security measures and most brutal punishments.
But Port Arthur was also a working prison. Authorities wanted to see these convicts reformed through a combination of religions, education and training in a variety of trades. This meant that the prison was known as an “industrial prison”. Port Arthur began as a timber camp; the location was rich with forests and close enough to Hobart’s main port to ship out the timber. After 15 years, the prison built a shipyard and began constructing shops. The prisoners also produced flour from the mill and made nails, bricks and boots all for sale to ensure the prison was profitable.
Port Arthur was reputed to be an inescapable prison. It was located on this peninsula that is surrounded on all sides by supposedly shark-infested waters. The only way to the mainland is across a 30-meter wide isthmus guarded by both soldiers, half-starved dogs and man-made traps. Only two prisoners were known to have escaped. One failed escape took place when a prisoner disguised himself using a kangaroo hide.
The prisoners’ conditions were so dire that they would even murder another inmate just to escape their situation. Murder was punishable by death and some would prefer this to staying any longer at Port Arthur. Savage floggings and brutal chain gangs were reported by the prisons when they returned back to England. It had a genuine reputation of being “hell on earth.” Any prisoner who attempted to escape would suffer 100 lashes. The prisoners would get horrible infections in their squalid living conditions. Often, these infections got so bad, that they lead to the death of the inmates.
But it wasn’t the corporal punishments that were the worst part of life at the prison. No, Port Arthur was one of the first Australian prisons to implement the “silent system”. This meant placing prisoners into individual cells where they were kept quiet for 23 hours a day. They got to leave their cell for one hour a day but were made to wear a hood anytime they were outside to ensure they never saw another human face. Although it wasn’t their intended outcome, this sent many prisoners mad. Eventually, an asylum was built to deal with the mental illness created by these inhumane conditions.
In 1996, long after the prison had closed down and turned into a tourist attraction, Port Arthur was once more the site of great suffering. It was here that Australia found itself at the center of their worst mass shooting event in the country’s history. A lone shooter killed 35 innocent people, wounded 32 others and scarred an entire nation. It was this event that changed the course of Australia’s gun laws forever and since then they have never had another mass shooting. Today, the event is quietly remembered by transforming the old cafeteria where most of the shooting took place into a sombre, garden and reflecting pond. Although thinking back to these events is so haunting, it’s important to understand just how much suffering is soaked into the grounds of Port Arthur.
Adult tickets cost $40 AUS, and children are $18 AUS. Your ticket into Port Arthur includes entry to the museum, a 40-minute walking tour, a harbour cruise, and access to 30 different historic buildings. The site is open seven days a week, from 10:00am – 5:00pm. They are only closed on Christmas Day.
Port Arthur is located on the Tasman Peninsula. Driving over to see the site provides some incredible views of Tasmania’s famously scenic coastline. Port Arthur is a 90-minute drive from Hobart. If you are making the Great Eastern Drive, you can easily make a short detour to Port Arthur before arriving in Hobart.
While the Port Arthur Historic Site’s rugged terrain might seem like it would be impossible to visit with a wheelchair, the site has made extensive efforts to make it more accessible for visitors. Some areas offer independent wheelchair access, while others may require assisted access. The Visitor Centre, café, restaurant and the Port Arthur Gallery are all wheelchair accessible via ramps or elevator. Accessible bathroom facilities are also available within the Visitor Centre.
Not all historic buildings and ruins are wheelchair accessible. Ask Visitor Services staff to find out which ones are safe to enter. The introductory Tour and Harbour Cruise are both wheelchair accessible. There are also wheelchairs available for loan from the Visitor Centre.
When you enter the site and pass through the admission building you will get a paper map but I found this google map helpful as well. Since you can download it onto your phone you’ll be able to get real-time locations as you make your way around so you can easily check what site you are nearby.
Entry into Port Arthur begins inside the Visitors Center. The Visitors Center acts as an introductory museum with artifacts and information about the prison’s founding and life inside. One of the best parts is the minature model that recreates the complex as it would have been during its heyday. This gives you a great visual idea of how the entire place would have looked long before it was left to ruin. Throughout the museum, there are lots of displays that focus on the brutal punishments the prisoners suffered. Seeing these implements of torture up close and personal sends a chill down your spine.
Inside the Visitor Center, be sure to pick up a ‘Prisoner Card.’ This will assign you to the fate of one of the real-life prisoners who came to Port Arthur. This is called the “Life Lottery”. At the end of the tour inside the visitors center, you can discover how your inmate lived or died or even perhaps was one of the few who escaped life in Port Arthur. The different cards change the way you are lead throughout the convict gallery and really make the experience more interactive!
My inmate was William Thompson, a shoemaker and thief who was sent to Port Arthur for breaking into a house. He served four years at Port Arthur. Despite his relatively common crime, his experience as the prisoner was marred by a violent accident he witnessed inside the coal mines. He was forced to work inside the mines for 12 months. Eventually, he was removed to the shoemaking shop where he could apply his trade. Once released from prison, he moved to Hobart, where he met his wife, and they started a family. They went on to have seven children, and today their descendants make up the fabric of the population of Tasmania.
Despite being a site of such sadness and violence, the Government Gardens are a beautiful place to visit. These were designed in 1846 as a place where visitors and resident families could escape the prison’s overwhelming terror. The gardens were laid out in a symmetrical and tidy fashion to communicate the ideals of order, peace and beauty that the prison wanted to exemplify. Plants found throughout the garden are mainly from England. The ex-pats wanted to bring a little bit of home to the employees and their families who had moved from Britain. Perhaps walking through the gardens, they could for a moment imagine they were back home. Everything from violets to foxgloves now grows throughout the area.
The Government Cottage was where the senior officers and their families lived while stationed at Port Arthur. This residence was located a ways away from the prisoners, separated by the large Government Gardens. This was seen as a luxury and was saved for only the most important employees. Many of the wives who lived here also helped wash, saw and provide nursing care for the men on the island. Their children even could attend the nearby Free School where they were educated onsite.
The Church was where the convict would gather every Sunday for their mandatory religious reform. Here up to 1100 people would cram themselves into the church’s doors to listen to spiritual services. The church itself was built by prisoners in 1837. Although the builders were amateurs, they attempted their best adaptation of the gothic style. The stones used for the church walls were made by the young boys from the nearby Point Puer island prison.
The church was never consecrated to allow a multi-denominational service to be held inside. The church was destroyed by bushfires in 1895. All we are left with is the haunting brick skeleton.
A little trail leads from the edge of the church up the hillside towards Scorpion Rock Lookout. From up here, there is a wonderful viewpoint over the entire prison complex. From here, you can really get a sense of the layout of the prison.
Back onto the prison grounds, we approach the white picket fences and burnt orange exterior of the Parsonage House. A large street, called Civil Officers Row, was used to separate the convict population from the officers and their families. The more senior officers living quarters were built the furthest away to ensure they had some separation between work life and home life. The Parsonage was built in 1842 for Reverend Durham and his family. Durham was Irish and had a fiery temper. He would often get into squabbles with the Catholic convicts and even the church Chaplin. Eventually, Durham returned to Ireland. When he returned home, he was committed to an asylum. Oe can only imagine the kind of things he experiences at Port Arthur that would have affected his mind so much that he had to be committed.
Durham was replaced by Reverend George Eastman arrived with his wife, Louise and their 10 children. Eastman had served at other prisons, so he came with a bit of experience and had a kinder attitude towards the inmates. Reverend George Eastman fell ill in 1870 but, despite his sickness, continued to treat the sick prisoners. In his weakened state, he caught a cold from his work and died inside the Parsonage in 1870.
The Accountant’s House was built in 1843. It was designed to house the officer in charge of the supply of food and equipment into the prison. The house was purchased in 1889 and used as a school. The owner of the house took great pains to save the place from the bushfires, which is why we are left with such a well-preserved original structure today.
Across the street, we find the Junior Medical Officer’s Cottage. The Junior Officer’s Cottage, also known as the Junior Medical Officer’s house, was one of the most luxurious houses located on the premises. Initially, the junior officer who first moved in here lived in a condemned house with his wife. They were threatening to resign if they didn’t get somewhere nicer to live. So this building was designed to accommodate them in 1848. In early 1900, this cottage was restored and was opened as a hotel, which is why it is in such good condition. Today, it remains one of the best examples of Australian Georgian architecture. You can go inside and tour the beautiful interiors that give you an idea of the furnishings available on the island.
At the back of Officer’s Row, we find the resident Chaplain’s House and the visiting Magistrate’s Cottage. The Magistrate’s cottage was built in 1847 for 88 pounds, making it the most extensive and most expensive historic house on the grounds. The Magistrate was the judicial official vested with limited judicial powers. He would frequent the site to ensure everything was being run to the highest standards. Therefore it was essential to impress the visiting Magistrate with a lavish abode. After the prison closed down, the house was turned into the “Clougha Hotel.” It was advertised as a secluded escape with orchards, a nearby boating area and a shooting range. Today the interiors have been fully restored, and the space is mainly used as a meeting space for the museum staff.
The Chaplain’s House survived the bushfires of 1895 and 1897 and was bought up as a part of “Hotel Arthur.” The hotel complex couldn’t afford to restore the dilapidated interiors, so today, the houses can be simply viewed from the street.
Walk down Tramway Street, passing Bond Street until you reach the Trentham Cottage. Trentham Cottage was built in 1898, late in the prison’s history. In fact, this is one of the buildings constructed after the convict era in Port Arthur.
The long row of trees was planted here in honour of the men from Carnarvon and Oakwood who served in the First World War and was named the “Soldiers’ Memorial Avenue”. Soldiers’ Memorial Avenue is a peaceful walk in the wood, leading up to the most ominous buildings in the complex.
Certain inmates who were taken to the prison were considered “mentally unstable” and therefore unable to be processed with the rest of the population. So this Asylum was built to house the “lunatics,” as they were once called. But the treatment of mental health back then was basically nonexistent, so these poor individuals were left to rot away in their single cells. Some of the prisoners housed in the nearby Separate Prison went insane during their time in solitary confinement. They simply moved from one part of the prison to another as their mental state got worse and worse.
A visitor to the Asylum reported that there were only two kinds of inmates in the Asylum. There were those who were catatonic and could barely move or speak, or those who were violently deranged and beyond the point of being able to be rehabilitated. It must truly have been a horrific place to both visit and be incarcerated. After the bush fires of 1895, the building was rebuilt and turned into a community center. Now the building serves as a cafe and a small museum. It seems pretty odd to be drinking a coffee in such a place of torture and mistreatment.
The Separate Prison was better known as the solitary confinement building. Solitary confinement was a new method of punishment brought to Port Arthur in the early days of the prison. It was here that the convicted would be locked inside a solitary cell for 23 hours a day. During their one hour outside of their cell, they would be forced to walk around the high-walled yard, also alone, as each prisoner was given a different time of day to do their exercises. When the inmates left their cells, a hood would be placed on their heads so they couldn’t even see the guards or other prisoners. The guards on duty would use sign language to communicate to ensure the men never even heard voices. This, of course, meant so many of the men went mad, in much higher percentages than in other prison systems.
The people who ran Port Arthur seemed unmoved and continued with the abusive process. Some men were known to have been kept in separate prisons for as long as 14 years! Shockingly, after the prison closed down, the Separate Prison was sold off in the attempt to be converted into a hotel! A fire put a stop to the renovations, and now the old cells’ historic appearance still remain. Personally, I can’t imagine staying in what was once an old prison. But I suppose there is a market for that, even today.
Walking back to the main street towards the Penitentiary, you’ll pass the old hospital’s ruins on your right. The hospital was frequented very often by inmates. The poor conditions in prison made diseases like the common cold and other respiratory illnesses easily transmissible. This was mainly due to the cells being so cold and the criminals being forced to work outdoors in all weather conditions.
Off in the distance, behind the hospital, you’ll see a buttercream yellow brick building; this is the Smith O’Brien’s Cottage. William Smith O’Brien was an Irish politician and leader of the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848. He was first sent to Maria Island, and once he was there for a short time, he was transferred to Port Arthur. As he was somewhat of a celebrity and a very obedient prisoner, the commanders at Port Arthur had a little cottage built for his year-long residents. The building used for his cottage was originally an old stable which was converted in 1850. The building was sold off in 1940 and used as a youth hostel in the 1970s.
The large Penitentiary stands near the water’s edge. Although its roof has long since fallen in, the thick bricked exterior remains as a study silhouette against the rest of the landscape. The building fell into ruins after a massive bushfire gutted the interior. Before Port Arthur became a historic site, residents of the area would come here to steal bricks to build their houses and sheds. So you never know when a place you’ll be staying might be made from the bricks of the old Penitentiary.
When the building was first established in 1845, it wasn’t made for housing but as a prisoners’ grainery. Here grain was milled for flour. The flour was then shipped to Hobart to be sold off in the hopes of making the prison more financially stable. When the water pressure wasn’t strong enough, prisoners were made to walk on a giant treadmill that helped power the mill. Despite the prison’s best efforts to make the mill a viable business, there were simply too many problems. Eventually, it was converted to the new Penitentiary.
In its heyday, the building would have housed over 600 prisoners. The upper floors were dedicated to the “well behaved” prisoners. They slept in a huge dormitory and had access to a prisoner library, schoolroom and large dining hall. On the western side of the building, a kitchen and bakery served both the prisoners and the workers alike. The bottom level of the prison was for the so-called “lions”. These were violent offenders and those who didn’t obey the prison system. They each slept in individual cells, cut off from the rest of the population. This served as a warning before they were sent off to the dreaded Separate Prison.
Walking through these huge ruins is such a powerful part of the tour. One can really imagine how many men would have served here and if you close your eyes you can even imagine how loud this space once would have been.
Walk west, towards the water where you’ll find the large Guard Tower. The guard tower was where the prison security officers would keep a lookout for any potential escapees. The guard tower was built with some of the same stonework as the church, made by the boys on the island. Due to the stone’s materials, this building withstood the large bushfire, which ravaged most of the settlement in 1895. The basement of the guard tower was used as an ammunition storeroom.
Sitting adjacent to the Guard Tower, we find the old Commandant Residence. The Commandant was the prison’s most senior officer. As the most senior officer, they were designated to have the best residence on the grounds. The house was built in 1833, although it was nothing more than a simple wood cottage. The house’s location allowed the Commandant to look out over the rest of the settlement from the beautiful wrap-around veranda.
In 1854, the new Commandant, James Boyd, made a significant expansion to the house. He installed new brickwork and created enough space for 8 new rooms and even a servant’s quarters. You can still tour the interior, which has been preserved in its original 1850’s appearance.
Walking towards the Dockyards, you approach the Memorial Garden nestled into the edge of the hillside. This sombre water pond and surrounding garden were established in honour of the lives lost during the April 1996 mass shooting tragedy. During the ramage, 20 people, including both employees and tourists, were killed at this location alone. In total, 35 people were killed. Among the people who died here were members of the Historic Site staff, who died trying to protect others. The Memorial Gardens were designed inside the old Broad Arrow Cafe’s footprint where the killings took place. The building was demolished as it was too painful of memory, but the building’s outline can still be made out. Be sure to spend a few quiet moments here to remember those that passed.
Since one of the facility’s objectives was to teach men trades, one of the most important jobs of the time was shipbuilding. Although it was just convicts building these ships, it was reported that the boats that came out of Port Arthur were some of the best made in the nation. Convicts were responsible for building 16 large-scale vessels and over 150 smaller boats. In addition to creating new ships, they also repaired older ships in the dockyards. The prisoners learned everything from carpentry, blacksmithing, learning to be caulkers and coopers, in addition to assembling timber for production.
The dockyards were operational from 1834 to 1848. The only reason the dockyard was closed down was that the shipbuilders union complained that it was putting them out of business. Since the labour was free, as the workers were criminals, and the quality was so good, the ships cost vastly less to make than elsewhere. Another reason for the closure was that the learning of trades was optional as a form of rehabilitation. Many prisoners began to refuse to learn to build the ships as a means of rebellion.
Included in your admission is a 20-minute harbour cruise that runs from the Jetty to Point Puer Boy’s Prison and finally to the Island of the Dead. Puer Boy’s Prison was built as a reformatory for juveniles from the British Empire. These boys were aged 14 to 17, but there are records of boys as young as 9 being sent to prison. In fact, 10 to 20% of the arrivals on the island were made up of young boys. Their prison was located on the island to separate them from the older convicts. This was done in order to prevent the older inmates from influencing the younger generation.
But their separation may also have contributed to the high mortality rates. Children on this island were known to have many diseases and suffered from poor nutrition. Injuries were commonly reported as a result of their laborious punishments. This labour included tree felling, coal-mining, road making and stonework. Since they were so far away from the mainland, the observation of the prison was often forgotten about and therefore these poor conditions continued. Unfortunately, no buildings remain at the site but wandering the now overgrown island is still a haunting place to visit. The prison once contained a barracks, two cell blocks, two exercise yards and two school rooms.
Across from the boy’s prison site, on a small island, is the Isle of the Dead. This island is the resting place of all those who died inside the prison. It is home to 1,646 graves, but only 180 of those graves are marked. The marked graves are for the prison staff and military personnel. All the prisoners received unmarked graves. You can make your way around the island, but be sure to be respectful on your journey.
One of the best ways to experience the darker side of Port Arthur is at night. Specifically at one of their evening lantern-lit ghost tours. The ghost tours are even more popular than the regular site tours, and they book up fast, so best to book that tour well in advance. Since the site was such a place of pain and suffering it is the perfect location for hauntings. Whether you believe in ghosts or not the storytelling that takes place here is phenomenal and seeing the site at night is a really unique experience.
If you are interested in doing the ghost tour yourself, I have an excellent self-guided tour. Please be aware that you can ONLY enter the site at night by guided tour, so if you want to do the ghost tour yourself, you’ll have to do it during the day. But trust me, this site is spooky enough to send chills down your spine any time of the day.
I would recommend staying at the Port Arthur Motor Inn. Although the accommodations are fairly basic, as it is a 3-star motor inn, the location is what you’re there for. The rooms look out over the old historic site and getting to fall asleep and wake up to that view is something truly spectacular. Since there is a restaurant inside the motel, you can even get a reasonably decent meal right to your room to enjoy while looking out over the old prison. It sounds spooky, but it’s actually rather scenic.
Let me know in the comments if you’ve visited the site before or what part of the tour you are most looking forward to!
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