Jounior Observer | Sunday Observer.lk

An 18th century prison

Dear Diary,

After visiting the famous Ayers Rock, I decided that I should visit some of the many other exciting places as well in Australia. Just like in India, there are a number of interesting places I can visit here too.

While I was in search of a good destination, Georgiana my new friend from Australia, told me about a place called Port Arthur, but it was in Tasmania. She said that it is a historical site. When I heard the name I wondered whether there were any Tasmanian Devils in this place. Let’s find out.

Port Arthur is a small town on the Tasman Peninsula in Tasmania, Australia. This is one of the magnificent heritage sites and an open air museum. It’s located about 60km south east of the state capital, Hobart.

Port Arthur is named after Van Diemen’s Land lieutenant Governor George Arthur. It had once been a home to over 12,500 convicts and had provided the severest form of punishment for difficult prisoners in England and Australia between 1830 and 1853.

Port Arthur’s history began in 1830 when approximately 150 convicts were first transported to the peninsula to chop trees and to erect rough timber and bark huts that became the first form of buildings in the area.

Initially, Port Arthur was intended to be just a timber sawing station where severe punishment would be carried out to its prisoners. When coal was discovered, and the value of the peninsula increased, chained gangs of convicts were set up to provide raw materials for the growing settlement.

With rough seas surrounding the peninsula, there was only one way convicts could escape; through Eaglehawk Neck, a thin strip of land that joins the Tasman Peninsula onto the mainland of Australia. But on Eaglehawk Neck, savage dogs were used to patrol the area and keep the convicts on the peninsula where they belonged.

In winter, Port Arthur is a wet, cold, and dismal (cheerless) place, with Arctic winds that cut through to your bones. Prisons were erected by the prisoners themselves, each brick individually handmade.

These prisons provided enough accommodation for 1200 convicts at one time. Each cell contained enough room for a narrow bed and just enough room to open the locked doors.

If a prisoner was difficult then he would be put into solitary confinement. This could be up to 12 months at a time. The prisoner would have no contact with anyone, and on his one hour of daily exercise he was released from his cell with a hood over his head so he could have no eye contact with the prison officer. The prisoner would also have to wear padding on his feet so no noise could be made.

In total 12,500 convicts passed through Port Arthur between 1830 and 1853. Those that died were buried on the Isle of the Dead where nearly 2,000 convicts and free people are buried. The free people included soldiers, officials and their families. Conditions for the convicts were extremely harsh, contrasting with the relatively easy lives of the officers and their families.

With moss growing on the inside of the cells and only a thin blanket to use for warmth, many convicts had managed to survive these harsh conditions and eventually become the main population of the State of Tasmania.

Exploring the historic site of Port Arthur, it is hard to imagine that prisons in England were less favourable.