Some places will instil fear in most people, and the Port Arthur prison must have done that back in the day when it was a fully functioning convict prison in the largely unknown country of Australia. I can tell you that because even as it stands now in ruins on the tip of a little bay, it still has the power to make you feel a slight shiver of fear on your Port Arthur day tour
Standing in the sun, you could feel beautifully warm, but as soon as the wind picked up, it could cut you to the bone with its iciness. I can only imagine how much the Port Arthur convicts would love the beauty of this place but hate it at the same time. Port Arthur is one of the best-known Dark Tourism sites in Australia.
Port Arthur, Australia is one of the country’s top attractions
We boarded our day trip to Port Arthur from Hobart at the docks area of the city. We arrived at 10.45 after making the trip from Hobart to Port Arthur with Gray Line. I made a beeline to get my first look at the Port Arthur Historic site after taking the girls to the toilet after we first arrived.
We made our way quickly down to the oval to take some pictures before the Port Arthur Historic Site got too busy with visitors for the day. We then made our way back up to a small balcony just inside the entrance so we could join the free tour which started at 11.00.
The tour was conducted by an employee of the Port Arthur Historic Site and the knowledge he had was amazing. We were taken to the majority of the main buildings or a central point where they would tell us about what had gone on there.
As you toured more of the Port Arthur historic site the harsh conditions that the Port Arthur convicts had were made more and more evident. From harsh working gangs that built so much of Tasmania to the brutal punishment of the separate prison where Port Arthur convicts were sent into solitary confinement.
The tour only goes for about 45 minutes and gives you a taste of what to expect as you tour the actual buildings yourself. After the tour, you can ask the guide as many questions as you like and the girls found this time with the guide fantastic. Not only could they ask about the Port Arthur Historic site but they could also ask about the 1996 Port Arthur Massacre that took place here.
It was something that I remembered being on television, but I was not sure of the exact details that took place here. It was great for us all to learn what exactly happened on that day, even though it was harder for them to understand how something like this could happen in our modern times.
It also reminded us that Port Arthur Tasmania, Australia was again the source of so many people’s pain but to a whole new generation of people.
Port Arthur Convicts had a hard and horrible life
From there we took out our map and plotted a course around the Port Arthur Historic Site. We decided that we should go and get some lunch before it got too late and before we headed off on our Isle of the Dead tour. We headed up to the Asylum to have lunch so we could maximize our time wandering the Port Arthur prison site.
The Main Buildings of Port Arthur Tasmania.
There are many buildings within the Port Arthur Historic Site but there are some that you should not miss as they have so much information about the colony back in its early days,
The Visitor Center (The entrance)
You enter the Port Arthur Historic Site here. Downstairs you will find a small gallery that will show you.
The Penitentiary (Ruins)
This is the large sandstone building that dominates the Port Arthur Site. Now in ruins, it was originally the flour mill and granary but it was converted into a 4 story prison as the prisoner numbers increased at Port Arthur Tasmania. The two lower floors had cells that held 136 prisoners and the upper levels held around 480 better-behaved convict prisoners in bunks.
The Law Courts, The Guard Tower, and The Commandant’s House
As you make your way from the penitentiary you pass the ruins of the law courts and the guard tower before you pass through the beautiful gates to the Commandants House. The beautiful gardens that surround it must have been such a tease for the convict prisoners that had to look at it every day.
Inside you will be taken back in time to see what life would have been like for the Commandant and his family. There is a bedroom, a sitting room, and a kitchen where you can see what items were like back in those times. You can also get a beautiful view from the verandah over to the Isle of the Dead
*It is also said that here is where the spirit of a little girl likes to show herself to some people. She actually passed away as a young lady but seems to appear now as much younger in age. There was a Port Arthur Historic Site worker our ion the verandah the day we were there and she was able to share some of her knowledge with us about the young girl.
The Asylum and the Separate Prison
In the Asylum now houses a small museum displaying convict artifacts. This is where we ate lunch. we then headed over to the separate prison where prisoners were sent for solitary confinement. It was a new way of reforming some of the Port Arthur convicts that hard labour was no longer working on. It was