Port Arthur & the Tasman Peninsula
Population 1,500
Port Arthur is 95km (60 miles) south-east of Hobart on the Tasman Peninsula.
The Settlement is joined to the main island by Eaglehawk Neck, a narrow
strip of land only 200m across, thus making it an ideal location for a
penal colony.
Climate
The average annual rainfall is 1031mm (40.6ins). The wettest six months
are from May to October. It has 8 sunshine hours per day in summer, 7
in spring, 5 in autumn, and 4 in winter.
Characteristics
This old penal settlement was home to 12,500 convicts who served in a rehabilitation/punishment
station and lived under the threat of the lash, and an experimental isolation
system that often drove them to madness. Escape was rare and many remained
to be buried in mass graves on the Isle of the Dead. Today, Port Arthur
rests in peace amidst English oaks and expansive green lawns that roll
down to the water's edge.
How to Get There By Bus
You can take one of the organised tours from Hobart (enquire at the Visitor
Information Centre) or you can catch Hobart Coaches' service which leave
Hobart Mon-Fri at 4pm, and leave Port Arthur at 7.45am, 6233 4232.
By Car
From Hobart, take the Tasman Highway to Sorell and then the Arthur Highway.
Tourist Information
There is an information centre at the Port Arthur Historic Site, 6251 2371,
and the staff are happy to provide you with any information you need.
Accommodation
There are quite a few motels and hotels on the road to Port Arthur, and
as it can be visited in a day from Hobart there is no problem ensuring
you have a bed for the night. The accommodation varies depending on price.
Here we have a selection, with prices for a double room per night, which
should be used as a guide only. The telephone area code is 03.
Port Arthur Motor Inn, Safety Cove Road, just past Port Arthur proper on
the way to the Remarkable Cave, 6250 2101. 35 rooms, licensed restaurant
- $110.
Fox and Hounds Motor Inn, Arthur Highway, about 2km (1.5miles) north, 6250
2217. 28 rooms, licensed restaurant, playground, swimming pool, tennis
court, games room, - $95-125.
Port Arthur Villas, Safety Cove Road, 6550 2239. 6 units (holiday flats)
- $90-115.
Port Arthur Holiday World, Arthur Highway, Stewarts Bay, 6250 2262. 18
cottages (holiday flats), barbecue - $90-115.
Youth Hostel, 27 Champ Street, 6550 2311. $17-60 per person/night.
Eating Out
There are four restaurants where you are sure to have a pleasant meal:
Bush Mill Grill, 6250 2221, Commandant's Table Restaurant, 6250 2101,
Red Fox Restaurant, 6250 2217 and Felons Restaurant, 1800 659 101.
Points of Interest
The whole of the Tasman Peninsula can be seen as "convict country" although,
like most country areas, it also has farms, orchards and small industry,
with State Reserves and holiday homes near the beaches.
Port Arthur is the pre-eminent symbol of Australia's 19th century convict
system. One which we would regard today as being anything but enlightened.
Some believe that out of such a system there emerged many national characteristics
especially the Aussie attitude to freedom and authority. Some claim mateship
as well, but the author prefers to ascribe this theory to life and survival
in the bush, and its further forging in the hell of wars.
The settlement operated from 1830 to 1877, as a timber producing "sawing
station", and later as an industrial prison. Many of the convicts were
recidivists, others were political prisoners, and they were therefore treated
harshly. Towards 1877, with fewer convicts in Tasmania being sent for secondary
punishment, life in the prison became less austere.
After closure, most of the land and buildings were auctioned off, with
new residents renaming it Carnarvon township. Bushfires virtually destroyed
Carnarvon in 1895 and 1897 - only two out of perhaps 300 wooden buildings
are left, together with brick and stone ruins and officer's houses. What
is left of the old penal settlement is atmospheric and following recent
restoration, Port Arthur today is Tasmania's premier historic site. The
whole township area is maintained by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
The $4.5 million Visitor Centre at the Port Arthur Historic Site opened
in 1999. The Interpretation Centre has an imaginative and interactive method
of imparting information on the site's convict heritage. In the complex
is a restaurant, gift shop and cafe. The Museum in the old Lunatic Asylum
contains displays, an audio-visual theatre, a scale model of Port Arthur
up to the 1870s, and a shop.
Officers' houses, newly restored, are open for inspection. The Commandant's
residence shows details of 1800s construction practices, and furniture
and furnishings from the period. Smith O'Brien's cottage gives an insight
into the history of Irish and political prisoners. The Medical Officer's
house reflects 1850s living. In 1985 this house was awarded - The Museum
of the Year.
In the Model Prison, the solitary confinement cells can still be seen,
and anyone who has experienced, even for a few minutes, the claustrophobic
darkness of the cells, can well understand why one of the larger buildings
in the prison complex was the Lunatic Asylum. Other ruins include the Penitentiary,
the Church (which is perhaps the most famous of the buildings as it is
featured in most tourist literature), the Guard Tower and the Paupers Mess.
These are perhaps the most evocative of convict life at the settlement.
Point Puer, the boys' prison, is across the bay. Here lads between the
ages of 8-18 served after being convicted of crimes in Ireland or England.
The ruins of the bakers' ovens and the old school are all that remain today.
The Isle of the Dead, the Port Arthur cemetery, is just off Point Puer.
It can be reached by regular ferry. Here, in 0.7ha (1.7 acres), lie 2,000
convicts and free, an indication of the harshness of this convict prison.
The Museum of Records has actual records of the transportees sent to Tasmania
(a long list of prisoner names, their crimes and punishment). The minimum
term of transportation was seven years, which was imposed for such offences
as stealing a lamb, a sheep, a pig. One prisoner, Joseph Parker, was transported
for life for stealing a silk handkerchief. On another list, several men
and women were sentenced to transportation for life for theft of articles
of little value. In one case, the sentence of death for stealing 24/- was
commuted to transportation for life. Even children received long gaol sentences.
Guided tours leave all day on the half hour, or you may wish to hire a
tape recorder for an individual tour and ramble around Port Arthur. Entry
fee to the site is $20 for adults and $9 for children.
Facilities
You can swim in the beautiful bays, fish, go canoeing, boating and bushwalking.
Outlying Attractions
There were several subsidiary establishments on the peninsula, the Coal
Mines, the Saltwater Agricultural Station, timber mills at Premaydena
and Koonya together with the guard posts at Eaglehawk Neck and Dunalley.
Semaphore stations were located on line-of-sight around the Peninsula
and up to Hobart.
Cascades Cottage, Koonya, is privately owned, as are many of these outstations
now. Accommodation is offered at the here in 4-star comfort.
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Coal Mines Historic Site is an interesting place to explore, and is near
a camping area in the north-western part of the peninsula. The Mines in
the convict days served a dual purpose. They provided fuel for use in the
colony, and were used as a punishment centre. In producing 80 tons daily
the convicts were basically worked to death here. Cells were even built
into the mine galleries. After 1848 the Coal Mines were privately operated,
and were abandoned in 1877 after an underground fire.
Eaglehawk Neck is the narrow strip of land joining the Tasman and Forestier
Peninsulas. During convict times, several dogs were chained close to each
other along the Neck making escape virtually impossible. Nearby are several
coastal formations - the Devil's Kitchen, Tasman's Arch and Blowhole as
well as the Tessellated Pavement which looks like well-laid large pavers.
These natural formations are well worth a visit. They are unique in Australia.
Just keep your kids away from the edge; some have been known to try to
find a way down into the Devil's Kitchen.
Dootown is nearby. It is a picturesque group of holiday homes, and almost
all the houses have names incorporating Doo, e.g. Much-a-Doo, Didgeri-Doo,
Doo Little. I suppose that is one approach to life.
Remarkable Cave is another blowhole which, unlike the Devil's Kitchen formation,
is accessible at low tide. This is 7km (4.4 miles) south of Port Arthur,
and an after-dinner walk there reveals spectacular coastal scenery and
300m high sea cliffs. Large binoculars have been placed at the car turning
circle. The scenery at Cape Raul is quite spectacular as years of weathering
have caused the rock to split vertically, creating an organ pipe effect.
Nubeena, on the shore of Parson Bay, is the largest town on the Tasman
Peninsula, and is a popular resort. In convict days, timber cut from the
hinterland was shipped to England from nearby Wedge Bay.
