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some prison buildings and some the homes of those operating the prison, or just ordinary
civilians residing in the area. There is also the separate prison, for those who not only
were transported convicts who had committed further offences in Australia, but had then
re-offended in Port Arthur. Their punishment was a life of silence and solitary
confinement. Even in church, where they were allowed to sing and pray audibly, in the
hope of some propitious result, they were segregated from their fellow prisoners in
individual stalls.
There is a beautifully built church, and a hospital, where, in fact, patients were well
tended. There is an avenue of trees forming a memorial for those lost in the Great War.
There is a Post Office and a Policeman's Residence reminding us that this was a living
community after its convict days, and even during them.
The admission ticket is valid for two days and includes a harbour cruise, except during
July and August. The cruise lasts for twenty minutes and shows the shipbuilding industry
here, the former boys' prison at the aptly named Point Puer and, from a distance, the Isle
of the Dead, the cemetery for this prison community. A detailed tour of the Isle of the
Dead is offered for an additional charge.
In recent years, Port Arthur made history again, as most visitors know. On 28th April
1996, a man with a semi-automatic rifle opened fire in the cafeteria, and later elsewhere,
killing 35 people and wounding a further eighteen. A mentally impaired 28-year-old from
Hobart, who for months protested his innocence, was eventually tried for the murders and
convicted. The 35 innocent victims are remembered in a Memorial Garden near the
Visitor Centre.
There is, of course, plenty of accommodation in the vicinity of Port Arthur, since it is a
tourist spot rapidly gaining in popularity. Options include a youth hostel in a beautiful
former guest house built in 1890 and just outside the back entrance to the Port Arthur
enclosure, but this is an option which is frequently rather crowded. There is also a
Caravan Park offering a bunkroom for backpackers.
There are other sights to see in the vicinity of Port Arthur. These include Remarkable
Cave, five kilometres south, and various other convict sites. Of the latter the most
interesting is the Coal Mines, in the north-west of the peninsula. Coal was discovered
here in 1833 and, although it was relatively low-grade coal, it gave Tasmania a degree of
independence from New South Wales, from where all supplies had previously been
imported. A contingent of the most refractory prisoners was sent to work these mines, in
very harsh conditions, and another prisoner, one Joseph Lacey, convicted for robbery,
appointed as overseer, since he had experience of mining. He proved so capable in this
position that he eventually became the lessee of another colliery following his release.
There are also the remains of convict ‘probation stations' (outstations) at Nubeena,
Premaydena, Saltwater River, Koonya and Taranna.
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