Remnants of a Past

After the morning adventure on the Tasman Sea it was time to step back into Tasmania's past at Port Arthur and on to solid ground!!  Port Arthur started out as a settlement and timber station in 1830 but it would soon become known as Australia's largest penal station.  From 1833 to 1877 some 12,500 of the hardest and baddest British and Irish convicts were sent there along with re-offenders and rebellious type individuals that had already been in the Australian penal system. 

The peninsula where Port Arthur is located was a natural fortress of sorts that was easily fenced and guarded against escape attempts by armed guards, vicious, half starved guard dogs that were chained along the isthmus and the rumors of sharks in the bay which kept most prisoners from attempting to escape.  Even so a few did manage to escape though George "Billy" Hunt did not succeed.  Seems Billy tried to disguise himself as a kangaroo by covering himself with a kangaroo pelt and tried to flee across land.  Some of the half-starved guards, upon seeing a 'kangaroo' tried shooting him to supplement their meager rations.  When Billy saw them sighting in on him he allegedly threw pelt off and surrendered.  Instead of a bullet Billy received 150 lashes for his bizarre attempt.

worn to keep silent

As the years 'progressed' Port Arthur started to go from a physical punishment to a reward type system for convicts and became known as a 'model' prison.  Prisoners were rewarded with additional rations for good behavior and bad behavior was 'rewarded' with bread and water, silence and isolation to name a few.  Ironically an insane asylum was built near the prison and there was more than one convict that went insane from the mental punishments being put in play then...is there any wonder?!

The afternoon was sunny after the mixed bag of weather we had on the Tasman Sea.  A tour was included in our package so after grabbing a bit of lunch...yes I actually had some lunch but can't say the appetite was quite there after the cruise.  As we waited for our 2 o'clock tour we had each been given a card that we could match up with specific convict and take a walk through a series of rooms to find out who they were, why they were and what happened to them.

My 'convict' was a 9 year old boy who had been sent to the Boy's Prison at Port Arthur for the 'horrible' crime of stealing food to live.  The only thing that he benefited from was learning a trade while incarcerated and he did survive to leave Port Arthur but what happened of him after that is any one's guess.

Did I say it was a sunny afternoon?  Well, as Natalie would say more than once, just wait 15 minutes and the weather will change and change it did to a downpour and, unbelievably, another hail storm.  But, true to Aussie weather, it wasn't but 15 minutes and we were back to partly cloudy weather and sunny soon after. 

The tour guide was a pleasant gal who we followed around the open areas of the ruins as she told us some of the history of Port Arthur and stories of convicts that had been there.  After 30-45 minutes we were all on our own to venture throughout the grounds going in and out of most of the ruins and the reconstructed sites.

There is a sadness that hangs over the grounds...so much wrong had happened there and it wasn't all in the past.  A sad chapter of Tasmania's history occurred in 1996 when the Port Arthur Massacre took place on April 28th.  Out of respect for the victims I will not name the perpetrator of this heinous act but on that Sunday in the late morning and early afternoon a 28 year old man with a sports bag of semiautomatic weapons murdered 35 people and injured another 37 more around the Port Arthur Historic site before taking one person hostage in a local guest house.  After an 18 hour standoff with authorities he killed the hostage and set the guest house on fire before surrendering.  This incident precipitated Australia's strict gun law controls that they have in place today.


Memorial marker

There is a garden set aside in remembrance of those people who lost their lives and it is solemn just to be near there let alone walk through it.  What I have read is that his name is never spoken there by employees... many lost friends, family and coworkers that day and my heart goes out to those still affected to this day from this senseless act of inhumanity.

"Man's inhumanity towards man crosses continents and decades." 

 Anthony Venutolo 2009

Until next time...wherever you are...have a great day!

If you would like to see more pictures from Day 4 - Port Arthur in Tasmania here is a link to that photo album on Picasa:  Play slideshow