Port Arthur

Before I can describe Port Arthur, I need to outline a bit of history. Industrialization in Great Britain resulted in increased crime for multiple reasons. As farms consolidated and less agricultural jobs were available, people crowded into growing cities looking for work. Even if they could find work the wages were very low. Some people resorted to stealing to eat; others turned to alcohol and opium to numb the misery of their lives. With jails jam-packed, the British transported criminals to their American colonies, relieving the pressure on jails while providing labor in America. Of course, that ended with the American Revolution, and the British had to look elsewhere. Meanwhile, industrialization picked up its pace and the jails were getting so full that convicts were kept in old unseaworthy ships in the River Thames.

Australia was strategically located in the Pacific relatively near Britain’s prized colonial possession, India, and there were high hopes for some Australian natural resources, so in 1788 the British founded Sydney as a prison colony. In 1803 Van Diemen’s Land (today known as Tasmania) was founded as a place to send convicts who reoffended.

Now we jump ahead in this whirlwind history to 1833, when a small timber station on a peninsula in southeastern Van Diemen’s Land came to the attention of the Lieutenant Governor, George Arthur. He needed a place to send convicts who continued to commit crimes. The last one, Macquarie Harbor on the west coast, had closed because it was too hard to get to and an unacceptable amount of ships were being lost. Also, convicts escaped too easily.

This small timber station had neither of those problems. If the weather was favorable, it was only an 8 to 10 hour journey from the capital, Hobart, by sea. The peninsula was almost completely surrounded by water; there was only a tiny strip of land to guard. Some convicts might try to escape by sea, but sharks frequented the area, providing a natural deterrent. (Also deterring sea escapes was the fact that in this time period, despite building an empire based on the strength of their navy, the British tended not to be very good swimmers. As one of the Port Arthur tour guides observed, “They spent so much time on the water but they were never in it.”)

Lieutenant Governor Arthur decided to name this new convict station Port Arthur, after himself. In addition to armed guards, a line of dogs was chained across Eaglehawk Neck, the only way out by land, and a few were put out on rafts in the water. Since Port Arthur was where male repeat offenders were sent, there wasn’t an emphasis on reform; the focus was squarely on punishment. The men were worked extremely hard. There were also heavy chains, whippings and solitary confinement on bread and water rations for further punishment.

First the men had to build barracks, then other buildings as needed. Industry was also important, as Port Arthur was ideally going to pay for itself. Timber was a large industry. The large trees around Port Arthur were chopped down by convicts, and then hauled on the shoulders of the men to be cut into useful timber. (Occasionally a tree-felling accident would kill one of the men.) What wasn’t used at Port Arthur was sent to Hobart where the government could use it. Convicts also cut the soft sandstone around Port Arthur and made bricks; these were used to make more sturdy buildings on the site.

With timber all around, a nice deep harbor, and free labor, it made sense to start a dockyard. This opened in 1834, repairing and building ships. While the work was hard – men often spent most of the day partially in the water – it was also considered a promotion because it gave the men a little more control over their lives and also a useful skill. The boats made at Port Arthur were considered as good as any made elsewhere. However, those other boat makers complained about the Port Arthur dockyard, as they found it hard to compete with a place where the workers didn’t have to be paid. As transportation began to decline there was less labor in any case, and the dockyard closed in 1848, although repairs were still made. Before closing, the convicts made 16 large ships and over 150 smaller open boats. You can still see the largest slip from which the ships were launched, although in my opinion it’s sullied by a strange twisting metal “artist’s interpretation of a ship.” That sculpture is my one quibble at Port Arthur; I am firmly against sticking post-modern artistic interpretations in the middle of genuine historic sites.

The last convicts were transported to Tasmania in 1853, and Port Arthur closed in 1877. It was parceled out and sold. Since Port Arthur had all sorts of unpleasant connotations, the inhabitants changed the town’s name to Carnarvon, after the then-current Secretary of State for the Colonies. The site was left to fall apart, although tours were soon operating, bringing curious tourists to see the infamous Port Arthur. Souvenirs were taken by many visitors, as one might expect. Recognizing the importance of the site, the government began buying it back in the 1920s, a process that took until 1949, and the name was changed back to Port Arthur.

Meanwhile, most of the buildings were no more than ruins. This appealed to late Victorians, who loved a good ruin but had few around them in Australia. A few of the structures, especially the military barracks, had been demolished and the bricks sold off. The decay was further aided by a series of fires. The first gutted the church; it started when local residents tried to burn some leaves and the fire got out of control. Then in 1895 and 1897 bushfires further ravaged most of the other buildings.

I spent the better part of two days at Port Arthur before doing research in their Resource Room on the few Americans who were sent there. It is truly an incredible place, and I think the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority is to be commended for their excellent work in presenting a difficult and complex subject with sensitivity and without descending into playacting for tourists.

Port Arthur offers different tour packages which include various extras. I never considered anything but the Gold Experience ticket which included everything: an introductory walking tour, the audio tour (sadly, I didn’t get to finish it because my battery died and there were no more units left, but this was informative and, I thought, well-done), a tour of Isle of the Dead, a tour of Point Puer, plus vouchers for morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea. I was extremely glad I got that package.

To be continued…