We were up early, excited to explore the Port Arthur Historic Site. What an amazing place! The short version of Port Arthur -
It was established in 1830 as a timber getting camp, using convict labour to produce sawn logs for government projects. From 1833 Port Arthur was used as a punishment station for repeat offenders from all the Australian colonies. Prison reformer Jeremy Bentham designed a new Penitentiary at Pentonville in England which he described as a “machine for grinding rogues into honest men”. This became the model for Port Arthur. The clogs of this machine included discipline and punishment, religious & moral instruction, separation, training & education. Many men were broken, but some left rehabilitated & skilled such as blacksmiths, shoemakers or shipbuilders. By 1840 more than 2000 convicts, soldiers & civil staff lived here. It did become an institution for aging and physically and mentally ill convicts. It finally closed in 1877. Many of the buildings were destroyed in fires. The whole site is 100 acres.
Included in a entry ticket was a boat ride around the Isle of the Dead. It is roughly 2 acres & nearly 2000 people are buried on this small island with the convicts at the bottom so even after death they would still be looked down on.
We were given a card, which was a clue, for us to find out which convict we were & why we were sent to Port Arthur. It was great! Spent all day walking around the site (which was freezing I might add) & still could have stayed longer.
Mike & I thought this place was fantastic. They girls found it a bit hard to imagine & all they could think about was what food they could eat & picking out gay couples.
Believe it or not, we came back to Port Arthur for a ghost tour at 9.20pm (which was still light). Kirsty & Jade were petrified but they lasted the whole tour(others did not)! My hand is still blue from Jade squeezing it. Kirsty nearly threw up she said. They both said it was the scariest thing they have ever done! Needless to say we swapped beds that night.
Can you see the spirits?
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