Day 41 - Port Arthur and surrounds to the west and north west

Today we visited Port Arthur, the penal settlement that was developed to replace Macquarie Harbour and Maria Island convict settlements in around 1830.  It was established as a timber-getting camp, using convict labour to produce sawn logs for government projects . From 1833 it was used as a punishment station for repeat offenders from England and from all Australian colonies.  By 1840 more than 2000 convicts, soldiers and civil staff lived at Port Arthur, which by this time was a major industrial settlement.  A range of goods and materials was produced here, including worked stone, bricks, furniture, clothing, boats and ships.  With the end of convict transportation from England in 1853, Port Arthur then became an institution for ageing and physically and mentally ill convicts.  The settlement finally closed in 1877 and many of its buildings were dismantled or destroyed in bush fires.

Today the site is beautifully maintained and is a mecca for tourists.  There were many hundreds there while we were there.  We did not see every building but we did take the ferry cruise which took us to Point Puer Boys Prison site and the Isle of the Dead, the cemetery for Port Arthur.

090415 The Government Gardens at Port Arthur

090415 The hospital building

090415 Two of the homes built in the mid 1880's for Shipwrights. Symbolic
representation of the ships built on this site is in the foreground

090415 The Penetentiary - was originally a store house and a flour mill
but was converted progressively to cells, dormitories etc

090415 Point Puer Boys Prison site

090415 Isle of the Dead - cemetery site for over 1100 people

090415 the ferry for the cruise at Port Arthur

In some respects the history of Port Arthur is overshadowed by the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, when a lone gunman killed 35 people on the site.  The event is only mentioned in passing as there remain many locals affected by the massacre.  A permanent memorial and garden have been erected in the memory of those killed.

090415 Plaque from the Memorial Gardens for the 1996 Port Arthur massacre

090415 A Cross of Remembrance

After our visit to the Port Arthur ruins we headed off to look at more of the Tasman Peninsula, including a visit to the site of a convict coal mine to the north.  There were some spectacular views of the coast south of Port Arthur.

090415 Carnarvon Bay south of Port Arthur

090415 Crescent Bay from Maingon Lookout

090415 From Maingon Lookout looking west - think that
 might be Cape Pillar.  It was a long way away

090415 From Maingon Lookout looking NW.  Mt Brown is the
high spot on the LHS

090415 Cape Raoul from Maingon Lookout looking to the far south

090415 Immediately below Maingon Head looking south

090514 Remarkable Cave, 120 steps below Maingon Lookout

090415 Remarkable Cave with the outline of Tasmania evident

090415 White Beach

090415 Roaring Beach RHS

090415 Roaring Beach LHS - and the wind was roaring at the time

090415 From a high spot on the road looking west towards
north of Eaglehawk Neck

090415 From same spot as previously but looking a bit further south

090415 The main shaft at the Coal Mines Historic
Site - filled from its edge collapsing

The sun came out today but our car's thermometer registered a maximum of 14 degrees and the wind chill "hurt" a bit too.  We guesstimate we had a 70:30::cloud:sun day.

This was what one might call "An Historic Day".  It certainly was for us.

We leave the Tasman Peninsula and Port Arthur tomorrow.