Southern Tour Day 3: Wandering Port Arthur

By the numbers

1 bus

13,014 steps

9.58kms

The morning started early enough that when I went outside the sky was still dark in Hobart and I was hunting down food and a coffee. For some reason Brad turned into Brian and I got confused. I laughed it off as being early in the morning and still half asleep. I did have to walk down to the harbour with a hot coffee. I made it to the tour group where I let them know I had arrived and someone before me asked if there was an earlier bus and if there was a public bus service. The answer to both was no. Though I did think it was a touch funny. Today the tour was to take me out to the historic convict settlement that was Port Arthur.

 

The bus takes around an hour and half to get out that way and not far out of Hobart there are road works and new estates being built. It was some nice country out that way on the route to Port Arthur and there was one story the driver told that I thought was interesting as we were close to Port Arthur. On the Tasman peninsular there is a place called Eaglehawk Neck, which at the moment has road works happening. At this location was a line of vicious dogs chained up to prevent convicts from escaping. Apparently there were dogs on the water, though a few convicts were said to have been non swimmers so they would have water problems. There is a monument to these dogs, but couldn’t get a great shot of it. Always something you miss along the way. The day wasn’t actually that bad at all as it turned into a really warm day as it went on.

 

Once we arrived at the Port Arthur site there was actually a town outside and I later learnt there was an actual township of Port Arthur wityh a cemetery. We would be catching the same bus home, but with people from the 3 capes walk. As part of the walk through of Port Arthur there was a tour and the boat cruise that I was booked to go on. The tour guide was pretty knowledgeable and put the lives of the people at that point in time into perspective. It was the beginnings of the industrial revolution and the sky of London was black along with two other cities due to the smog, water sources were not clean and could kill you, people grew up with rickets and were simple people with issues that could likely be fetal alcohol syndrome. It cost money to send people to the settlements and the time of Port Arthur was when the colonies had been established with the convicts being sent here. Port Arthur was one of the first places to stop flogging prisoners as they knew it wasn’t helping them reform, though other states didn’t stop flogging like NSW until the 1970s. Apparently with the convicts working as labour the harbour was humming with activity. Not all the buildings were part of the convict settlement as there were more modern ones like a police station. Once Port Arthur had been closed the Tasmanian government at the time had a dismantling sale and most was sold off including some of the sandstone bricks that ended up in Hobart.

 

Once the introduction tour was done, I had time to kell before the lunchtime cruise where I had a look through the first building was the penitentiary that was once a flour mill and a granary before being converted to house prisoners. It does seem a few of the buildings on the heritage site were burnt during the bushfires in the late 1890s I wandered my way up the hill visiting the remains of the hospital before taking a bush walk that was known as the Convict Water supply trail, though there were little bits about the water it also meant I had to keep an eye on the time as I was running out. I popped out where the commandants house is as that was all to do with the highest official at the site. I had to rush back down the hill as I seen people gathered ready to board the boat. I passed the guard tower that looked exactly like a turret for a castle. What I had originally thought of a 1230pm boat cruise leaving was actually a 1220 leave. As I tend to be is early even though I needed the loo. I had been on time by 5 mins and looked at my ticket wondering why we were leaving early. Really I should pay more attention.

 

The tour would take me past the Isle of the dead, and the point Puer Boys prison that was a purpose built prison for young offenders to basically protect them from the older prisoners as they would teach them bad habits. They did receive an education and learnt a trade even if the discipline was harsh. The Isle of the Dead was where the people were buried that included convicts and notable people. Convicts were buried on the lower side of the island and usually no headstone. The prominent people were buried on the higher end of the island with a marker of some sort. If I had chosen that tour I could have gotten off the boat, but I had not so stayed. There is always another time. The boat basically did a loop before returning to the dock. Once I was off I made a quick walk to the ship yard where they launched and built ships at Port Arthur, on my way to another part I came across the Port Arthur Massacre memorial for the 1990s and that was really sad to see, but at least they were remembered and was the eeriest place at the whole site.

 

I headed to the Asylum where the cafe was and I was getting hungry and wanted to sit down somewhere. That was until I tried to find it and it wasn’t open, but there were chairs. I was annoyed and hungry though I had a quick look at the separate prison that was later a hotel. It was all to do with isolation of prisoners. I didn’t really stick around as at the time I was tired and hungry. Outrside I found I had a museli bar in my bag and I was happy for the 20 min rest. Turns out this cafe might only be open at certain times, but I had something to eat so felt energised and ready to move on. I made my way around the top half of Port Arthur where a house had been converted into a post office that once housed the local reverend to the penal colony, a church that was just a shell as it had burnt during a fire in the 1890s and government house with its gardens, although through painful research the garden was recreated. I headed off to the cafe where I had a coffee and a sandwich as it was getting close to the time for me to leave. The bus did come on time, but we ended up in Hobart after 6pm, which wasn’t too bad, but I was feeling exhausted after my long day out running around.