Australia Road Trip: Port Arthur and Launceston Tasmania Day 44-45

March 19-20

Hi All,

So off to Port Arthur and the infamous prison. It’s about 1.5 hour drive and the landscape was at times picturesque and just normal countryside! The weather was better but still cold, drizzling and a little windy!!

“The World Heritage-listed Port Arthur Historic Site on the Tasman Peninsula is Australia’s most intact and evocative convict site, and an essential destination on any tour of Tasmania. The Historic Site has over 30 buildings, ruins and restored period homes set in 40 hectares of landscaped grounds.

Port Arthur Penal Settlement – named in honour of Lt-Governor George Arthur – began life in 1830 as a punishment-oriented timber station. With the progressive addition of further industries, tailored for heavy and light labour, Port Arthur held a key position within the colony’s judicial system until its closure in 1877.

Replacing Macquarie Harbour and Maria Island as the primary source of secondary punishment, Port Arthur’s 47-year operation was due largely to its geographical isolation and the availability of natural resources. Chief among these was timber, and harvesting was carried out until the 1870s. Scattered outcrops of sandstone and dolerite provided other materials for construction, tracts of land stretching back from the cove providing agricultural and farming land for supplementing rations.

Port Arthur achieved prominence under the regimented governance of Captain Charles O’Hara Booth (1833–44). During his command, convicts experienced a system of administration based on corporal punishment. Overseers and constables relied upon the threat of the cat-o-nine-tails, irons or sensory deprivation in solitary confinement, with extreme offences tried in Hobart. The daily work of the convicts ranged from ganged labour – including timber-getters in irons, and unironed garden gangs – to relatively skilled labour in the shipyards or artificers’ shops. Combined with scholastic and religious instruction, the labour was designed to provide an avenue to reformation, as well as to improve the economic returns of a large and expensive settlement. Both imperial and colonial governments were preoccupied with making Port Arthur self-sustaining. The governance of JH Boyd (1853–71) saw the station reach its maximum operational and geographic extent, as agriculture and timber harvesting increased. The station’s workshops housed blacksmiths, shoemakers, tailors, basketmakers, carpenters and stonemasons.

Changes in English penology had seen the 1842 completion of Pentonville Prison. This marked a shift in the treatment of refractory convicts as emphasis moved from punishment and reform through physical subjugation, to psychological control. This was reflected at Port Arthur in the 1848 cessation of flogging and the construction of the Separate Prison in 1850.

With the end of transportation in 1853, the number of convicts at Port Arthur began to decline. From a high of 1200 during 1846, the 1870s population lingered at around 500. The construction of the Paupers’ Barracks and the Asylum in the 1860s reflected an ageing convict population. Unable to engage in productive labour, the convicts of Port Arthur were gradually removed, the process being completed in 1877.

Subdivision and auctions saw most of the establishment sold into private ownership in the 1880s. Many buildings were demolished, bushfires in 1895 and 1897 furthering the destruction. Buildings that survived were used for private residences, or accommodation for the emerging tourist trade. The Separate Prison, Penitentiary and Church ruins were retained largely due to their picturesque appeal. A number of ruins were reserved in 1916 and placed under the control of the Scenery Preservation Board, becoming the first ‘historic sites’ in Australia. In 1971 the precinct was declared the Port Arthur Historic Site and is currently managed by the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority.
We very much enjoyed our visit….took almost 5 hours to see most of it. But, the topic is still gruesome, albeit part of history!!

The next day we drove 150 miles to Launceston….across the central plains to the north! Like California, parts of Tasmania are in a severe drought and we saw some very dry areas as well as some picturesque pastoral lands with sheep and cows!!!! We did not plan our trip too well as we arrived on a Sunday and many things were closed. But we did have a wine tasting at Joseph Chomfy winery….one of the older wineries but we just did not care for the wines. We also went to the “Gorge”, the #1 attraction and also found it to be somewhat underwhelming. It had potential but was filled with a lot of tourists stuff and a band playing loudly that echoed through the canyon…it wasn’t even a good band!!!

But, we had a lovely walk along the riverside and learned quite a bit of the history of the area and then walked by James Boag brewery…..yep….late in the day, still open….a very friendly lady says you just missed the last tour but come in, have a tasting, see the museum and we have the best pizza in town….ok….say no more….we had first tasted this beer on our road trip and it is very tasty and refreshing….she poured us 3 200mil glasses and then a history lesson….and btw, the pizza was excellent….we then toured the museum….yep, their advertising campaign started with pretty girl images in the 2000’s and their sells skyrocketed….hmmmm!!

Stats:
Traveled:
Car miles: 50 miles to Port Arthur; 150 miles to Launceston; 4475 miles total
Air miles: 2100 total
Train miles: 1600 total
Total traveled miles: 8175 miles
Wrong turns: 3 total
Kangaroo/”Roos”/Skippy count: 8 this leg; 336 total!!!
Skippy roadside warning signs: 10 this leg, 164 total
Koala count: 0 this leg; 49 total
Emu count: 0 this leg; 120 total
Echidna count: 0 this leg; 5 total
One Way bridges: 0 today; 19 total
Speeding Tickets: 0 today; 1 total
Hotel: Port Arthur: Stewart Bay Lodge: just ok, supposed to have a view of the bay but ours was blocked by trees, really….not at all like the pics online; then the restaurant was closed for a wedding…really!!!
Launceston: Clarion Hotel; renovated and nice but we stayed in what was the stables in 1859…but maybe the best room yet:)))
Food: Bad oysters in Port Arthur….old and fishy taste, Kathy’s steak well done….really….she ordered rare…ugh!!!

LIG!!!! Hope all is well!!

John
Mystic Moon