Port Arthur....20 years later

We visited Port Arthur in 1995 prior to the massacre in April 1996 where 35 people were killed and 23 wounded by 28 year old Martin Bryant from Hobart.  Bryant was given 35 life sentences with no possibility of parole.  After the shooting which is considered one of the deadliest shootings worldwide committed by a single person, the then Prime Minister, John Howard, introduced strict gun control laws which restricts private ownership of semi-automatic shotguns and riffles as well as pump-action shotguns and uniform firearms licensing.  Not a bad thing in my book.......

Model of what Port Arthur would have looked like

Anyway, visiting Port Arthur twenty years later was a very different experience.  It is more commercial now, with a variety of walking tours and a cruise and the cafe where the massacre occurred has been pulled down.   Even though it was a bit on the commercial side, we enjoyed our day there and would recommend a visit.

For us, it is the only place in Australia where we feel as real sense of history. I suppose that is because Australia is such a young country by comparison to the rest of the world, especially Europe and Britain.

As far as food goes, Felons Restaurant was just OK....service was slow and the food expensive.

We were glad of our hats, but unfortunately Brett did not have a hat and ended up with a very sunburnt neck and face......so don't forget your headgear.

We enjoyed the cruise which provided a view of what the convicts saw as they came into dock at Port Arthur.  On the cruise we saw the dockyards which was a very busy and productive area between 1834 and 1848.  The convicts, under Master Shipwright David Hoy, crafted hundreds of whaleboats, brigantines and barques for the government and private enterprise.    To celebrate their achievements, local artists Ben Booth and Colin Langridge created a 25 metre long ship sculpture which gives a perspective of the size of the ships that were made at that location.

Ship Sculpture

Here is a link to information about the dockyard....interesting read..The Dockyard Guide

By 1840 over 2000 convicts, soldiers and free officers and their families lived in Port Arthur

Port Arthur was founded on the then novel idea that convicts could be reformed by a system based on punishment and discipline, classification and separation, religious and moral instruction, trade training and education.  The intention was to provide the opportunity for a convict to become a person that would fit in and be useful to society.   But, if you didn't want to take advantage of those opportunities,  just lookout, your life would be very unpleasant.

File photo of Port Arthur showing the lovely grounds

But while the intentions might have been good, the experiment of Port Arthur did not work for everyone.  Many ended up in the Paupers' Depot, too old or ill to be of any use to anyone and others ended up in the Lunatic Asylum.  Some, of course, did make good and lived useful, law abiding lives due to the skills that they learned there.

The Church facade is a popular choice for weddings.

Built in 1836-37, and never consecrated, the church could hold 1000 people.  As part of the religious and moral instruction element of the system, everybody had to go to church.   The Church was destroyed by fire in 1884.

The Penitentiary

The Penitentiary had four levels and it depended on how well behaved you were as to where your cell was.

136 convicts where housed on the ground (heavy irons) and 1st level (light irons).  They slept in hammocks, had a pair of blankets, a woolen rug, a small stool, a keg of water and a tin cup.

The top floor was for well behaved convicts and the dormitory style accommodation housed 348 men.  They had a mattress, a blanket, a rug, a spoon, a tine plate and a drinking cup.

The second level was the dining hall which was also used as a school room and there was a library and Roman Catholic Chapel.

The authorities program of reform included the separation of prisoners from each other for extended periods of time.  The focus was on psychological punishment. The facility was known as the Separate Prison because prisoners where always kept apart from each other in separate cells,  had separate exercise yards and separate cubicles in the chapel.  There was total silence and solitude.

The Separate Prison is the building on the right

File photo of inside the Separate Prison

The prisoners were given a number and they were never called by name.  They ate, slept and worked in their cell, being allowed out for an hours exercise per day.  When leaving their cell, the prisoner had to wear a hood over his face with slits for his eyes so that he could not be recognised by other prisoners.

And, god forbid if you broke a rule (of which there were many) you could be put in the 'Dark Cell' in total darkness and silence for up to 30 days on bread and water and 1 hours exercise each day.

I am sure the treatment of the prisoners in the Separate Prison gave rise to the Lunatic Asylum being built next door.

Originally the Post Office

This was the Doctors House. 

The ruins of the hospital up on the hill which was right next door to the flogging yard....wonder why????

Port Arthur is well worth a visit and the cruise gave a totally different perspective.  If we went again I would take a picnic and sit in the gardens to soak up the atmosphere.