Port Arthur is one of Australia's historical convict sites and Tasmania's official number one tourist destination. This small town and former convict settlement is part of a World Heritage site and forms an open air museum. There is also a large Visitors Centre with information and interactive exhibits on the history of the settlement.
Port Arthur is significant for many reasons including being one of the first prisons in the British Empire to use the Separate Prison Typology/Model Prison and shift away from corporal punishment. It was also one of the first prison systems to recognize and attempt to treat mental illness. As a visitor, walking around the separate prison with its solitary confinement chambers was very eerie.
Port Arthur was abandoned in 1877 and originally the remaining inhabitants tried to downplay the prison history by renaming the town to Carnarvon. Despite this attempt to distance the area from its history, however, visitors continued to come to the site and the name was reverted to Port Arthur as a tourist destination by 1927.
Port Arthur also contained Point Puer, the first juvenile reformatory in the British Empire. Here the boys were separated from the adult male prisoners so as not to be corrupted. The boys' prison was built on an island in the bay, only accessible by boat. Unusual for its time, there was a strong emphasis on reformation, religious and moral teachings, and training for skilled trades to give the boys a second chance after their sentence.
 |
| Australian nautical flag |
Admission into Port Arthur gives you access for two days and includes a guided tour around the grounds as well as a boat ride out to the bay to see the various islands that were utilized by the penal colony. It's a large site and a lot to see, so it's recommended to visit over the course of two days! We only spent half a day there, but could have spent longer if we'd had the time.
 |
| The boat tour circles the Isle of the Dead - you can buy tickets to visit the cemetery, though we did not opt for this. |
 |
| Old courtyard |
 |
| Interior of the flour-mill-and-granary-turned-penitentiary |
No comments:
Post a Comment