Sonja & Ian's Excellent Travel Adventure - Port Arthur

Today we awake to a cold and wet morning, but given the fact that we’ve been incredibly lucky with the weather thus far, we really mustn’t complain. As we head off to Port Arthur the sun succeeds in breaking through the clouds, and by the time we set foot on the historic site, the sky is blue.

As we are keen to learn more about the historic significance of Port Arthur we decide to join a the 40 minute introductory walking tour. Both Ian and I are amazed at the size of this magnificent settlement, which contains more than 30 buildings. The grounds are stunning, the gardens lovely. Port Arthur’s history, of course, is gruesome. It was the destination between the year 1833 and 1853 for those British and Irish convicts who were caught reoffending after their arrival in Australia. Port Arthur, apparently, had some of the strictest security measures of the British penal system and was one of the first to appropriate the more ‘modern’ way of prisoner reform – a shift from physical to psychological punishment. Misbehaving convicts were moved to the “Separate Prison”, where they were locked into isolation cells, not permitted to speak or be spoken to for the duration of their imprisonment, which frequently was many years They were confined to these cells for 23 hours/day only to reemerge from this treatment as mentally ill. A harsh punishment, indeed! After hearing the life-stories of some of the convicts I find it difficult to stop wondering what their Port Arthur experience must have been like for these poor, unfortunate men.

 

As part of our Port Arthur educational tour we also take the 20-minute Harbour Cruise which passes the dockyard, the ‘Isle of the Dead’ and the Point Puer Boys’ Prison – where children prisoners from age 9 had been housed and, apparently, were given an opportunity for basic education and/or to learn a trade.

 By this time it is absolutely freezing, Ian’s back is ‘giving him curry’, and the rain has returned. We are more than ready to head for home.

Back at the van we are, yet again, enormously grateful for our reverse cycle airconditioning and, thanks to our electric blanket we are soon able to snuggle into our warm and cozy bed. As we do so I again wonder how those poor creatures at Port Arthur managed to survive the bitter cold.