Port Arthur prison
Richmond the historic farm town
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Having spent the night in what was an excessive house for four people, next to a field of wallabies and a cemetery, we went to go pick up the others.
With them on board all seven of us handed off for a couple of local seaside look outs.
At the coast we visited Remarkable Cave. To get to the look out platform for this one we had to climb down several flights of stairs to get level with the cave. In reality it's more of an extended arch- we stood above the sand and looked out onto the sea beyond. One of the remarkable things about the cave is that when you look through it the space through it looks like the out line of Tasmania!
There were also a collection of bones on a boulder behind us. My professional opinion is that these were Wombat bones. Probably an animal that had fallen through the foliage and down the cliff. Wonder who put them up on the boulder though, so that the wombat stared at every passing visitor?
Next to this was also stopped at Maingon Lookout- more beautiful cliffs, more clean sea water.
The big event of the day was Port Arthur- "Australia's Best Known Penal Colony". And there was me thinking it was Sydney.
In the early 1800's we were filling Australia with people who stole bread to feed their families or £1 handkerchiefs from men worth thousands. Some of these made it to Hobart, but so had many civilised people. With the growing number of prisoners there were complaints from the free people. Thus Port Arthur was built. The peninsula is nearly an island, with an isthmus of only a few hundred metres across separating it from the main island. This made it an excellent prison- this little piece of land could be guarded by a small number of troops. Eventually the would get some "wild" dogs too, chained at regular intervals including on rafts on the water, to help the work too. The dogs were introduced after one convict tried to escape dressed in a kangaroo skin. He didn't realise that the guards were as near starvation as the prisoners though. Kangaroo's good, tasty meat- he nearly got a musket ball through his head until he surrendered. Now there's a memorial set up to the dogs here. The guards don't get one though.
We visited the main site and were given a short introductory tour. There's a large collection of buildings, many still in fairly good condition after the many years of visitor in the 20th century being encouraged to take home souvenirs from the buildings. The main prisons still stand, including the psychology destroying silent prison- in which prisoners could never interact with anyone for years at a time. This was a new idea that had come across from Europe which sounds like it caused more problems in the long term than it solved.
There are also a couple of churches. One is the old, simple, wooden church. The other is a huge church that could hold nearly every inhabitant of the colony, prisoners, staff, and wives included. Most of the stone was, surprisingly, quarried by young boys.
Not long after the prison was opened it was noticed that young children were staying with the men. Boys as young as 9 could be sent to the colony. They were learning bad traits from the men as well as taking abuse in there. There was an island out in the harbour so this was opened as the world's first ever children's prison- the idea soon spreading to Britain. However, boys will be boys- the first shipment made up purely of boys sent to Port Arthur had been too clever. They'd worked out that their position in the ship was next to where the crew kept their supplies of alcohol. The boys cut their way through the wooden wall, arriving at the prison hammered. As punishment they were forced to stand outside, under the sun, for two days!
There was also a boat trip out around the harbour. They showed us some of the areas the prisoners had worked- such as forestry, timber, quarrying, and boat building (which they were apparently very good at).
We also saw the boys island and the Isle of the Dead. This was the cemetery for the port, where even staff and free people could be buried- although most of the prisoners went without any form of headstone, not even a wooden cross.
On our way back we were informed of the other major escape attempt that was managed. The governor would take his boat out every day to inspect the harbour and the boys. This boat was rowed by a gang of trusted prisoners. These men would go down to the boat shed each morning, get the boat, row to the governors personal pier, and pick him up. One day they just missed the last bit, and carried on out of the port. So began many months of them in a whale boat rowing around Tasmania. At first they'd steal supplies from small settlements, but once parties had been sent out for them they'd even pretend to be a search party and ask for supplies to help them in their search! Eventually they were caught and returned, never to be given such freedom ever again. What's more the governor was personally charged £10 for the safe return of his favourite boat by a transport company!
Down the road we visited the "Unzoo"- named as such because it would like to not be a zoo. But if we're quite honest it presently is, if one with much larger enclosures than most.
Our stop here was quick so we spotted a few Eastern Quoll- a shrew-like cousin of the Devil- and took photos for the wallabies. Then we went to go see the Devil feeding! The Unzoo has 7 Devils captive at present and it feeds them at irregular intervals, with one feeding a day being to show tourists these mini-hyenas. Today they were feeding one of the older, less dominant old males. Mostly they live a solitary life but they will work as a team on bigger carcasses. The Unzoo keeps most in pairs in large enclosures. This male, however, was often bullied by others and so didn't get enough food. So he's happily alone, this day being fed bits of wallaby, skin, meat, and bone- all of which he crunched and swallowed.
More coastal scenery- this time Tasman Arch and Devils Kitchen- two large holes in the cliff where the sea had eroded one section more than others. Around here we also passed through the town of Doo. Nearly every house here is named with a Doo based pun. Just Doo It, Scooby Doo, Doo Me, etc.
We stopped in Richmond. This area was found early in the days of the colony and has extremely fertile, dark, soil. It was settled by a good number of well to do people who managed to borrow trusted prisoners from Port Arthur to he put build the place. Everything's made out of stone, and it has Australia's oldest still functioning bridge and Catholic Church. In the centre of the town it does feel very like an old English town, maybe even Richmond in Yorkshire.
Our final stop was at the wine and oyster shop. Two neighbouring farms joined forces after tha last massive fire that swept over this part of the island. One has a vineyard, the other farms oysters. These they sell at a small cafe on top of a hill over looking the vines and the bay of oyster lines. We tried out a few of their wines and even various oysters.
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