Port Arthur
We spent two days this week exploring Port Arthur and surrounds, and it did not disappoint.
We knew that the historic site would take us a couple of big days to explore properly, since we were commuting from Seven Mile Beach in Hobart (the dog-friendly accommodation options near Port Arthur were not many or suitable, whereas the dog-fest in Hobart was all about Jett – more about that in another post).
Our first day was very interesting and extremely informative – the site has a great balance of information and interesting old stuff to look at. We were very fortunate to have two fantastic weather days while we were there. After being in the cold wet windy weather at Adventure Bay, and listening to some anecdotal reports, we could see that the weather could have been pretty brutal for the convicts.
Port Arthur has a very interesting story and is world heritage listed. There is too much history for me to go into here, but the world heritage status was awarded mainly because it was the first place where children were separated from adults in a penal situation.
Children as young as nine years old were deported, and six years old was enough to be tried and sentenced as an adult.
Port Arthur was all male and was a secondary prison – meaning that if you were a repeat/serial offender you were sent to Port Arthur to be with the worst of the worst. The convicts came from all corners of the British Empire.
