Tasmania - Port Arthur

Port Arthur was a penal station established in 1830 as a timber-gettin camp, using convict labour to produce sawn logs for government projects.  It was used as a punishment station for repeat offenders from all the Australian Colonies.  The site contained more than 30 historic buildings, extensive ruins and beautiful grounds an gardens.  The site also has an isle of the dead cemetery (prisoners were buried there) as well as a site for a boys prison.  The boys prison was for those aged between 14 and 17 with the youngest being 9.  It was renowned for stern discipline and harsh punishment...but did provide the boys and education.....

Take a look at the grounds....

The Church represented an important role of religion in convict reform and at Port Arthur up to 1100 people attended compulsory services here each Sunday.  Much of the decorative stonework and joinery in the church was crafted by boys from the Point Puer Boys' Prison.  This is what remains of the Church today...

Here is the Point Puer Boys Prison...but what remains today is merely the island itself separated from the Port Arthur grounds...

But from the island...the view of Port Arthur is awesome....

The penitentiary had two lower floors containing 136 cells for prisoners of bad character.  The top floor provided space for 480 better behaved convicts to sleep in bunks.

The Commandant was the senior officer at Port Arthur and his residence has been restored to reflect the times of the 1840's....

Okay...one last picture from Port Arthur..

On the way back to Hobart that afternoon we see Devil's kitchen and natural formations of Tasman's Arch...

A full day....and tomorrow I leave Hobart to travel to St. Helens on the East Coast of Tasmania.  A visit to the Freycinet National Park is on the docket...