It was another early start today - bags out and breakfast by 7, in the bus by 8, and we left Bicheno and set off for Port Arthur. Now that we are completely on the East coast of Tasmania, we are not aware of so much variety in the landscape as we have seen before. The country looks much like England in many ways, very green hillsides with lots of sheep. We climbed a little, into some dry eucalyptus forest, but there was more agriculture obvious as we descended into the valley beyond. There were more sheep, but what didn't look quite so English was the number of vineyards! Olives - a special cold climate variety - were also being grown, and some walnuts.
We passed through the town of Swansea, where there was a very early old stone building dating from 1836 which I failed to photograph - when the bus doesn't stop, you have to be quick, and I wasn't quick enough. The coast was very pretty, with lots of bays and inlets, and lots of offshore islands. There were occasional lagoons which were protected from the sea by a sand bar.
A town called Buckland has a small church which contains a stained glass window sent there from London for safe-keeping during the Blitz. Apparently, nobody has ever asked for it back! I did manage to get this church roof into my camera lens, but was defeated by the large tree which suddenly rushed into the picture and obscured the rest of the church. This is one of the perils of photos from the moving bus. If you can be quick enough, avoid fumbling, avoid pressing the power button by mistake, and get the camera sufficiently close to the window to avoid reflections, you can still be defeated by the moving tree, signpost or lamppost that wasn't there when you pressed the shutter!
After a quick coffee stop, we drove further south, into the area of huge linked bays, one of which leads up to Hobart. Ships leaving Hobart would have to sail far to the south to round the peninsula that forms the far south east corner of Tasmania, into very rough seas, until it was spotted that only a narrow isthmus separated Norfolk Bay from Marion Bay on the east coast. Convicts dug a canal through this isthmus and saved a lot of dangerous sailing.
We drove on down to Port Arthur, which was the site of a repressive penal colony, in fact it was the punishment colony for those who re-offended after having been transported to Australia, as well as being the destination for many hardened criminals as well as Irish political prisoners.
It was supposed to be very difficult to escape from Port Arthur, as it was on a peninsula separated from the mainland by an extremely isthmus only 30 metres wide. This isthmus, called Eaglehawk Neck, was fenced and guarded by a line of savage half-starved dogs and the prison was presented as inescapable. In 1836, a tramway was established between a settlement just south of the fence and a jetty just north of the penal colony. The method of propulsion for this tramway was convicts!
After lunch, we took a quick trip round the harbour to view the main slipway - Port Arthur's Dockyard was responsible for building hundreds of whaleboats, brigantines and barques for both government and private customers. We also viewed the Isle of the Dead, where everybody was buried, and Point Puer, the destination for juevenile convicts.
Back on land, we had a guided tour and explanation. The main prison building was quite extensive - it had originally been built as a granary, but the surrounding agricultural land proved too cold for wheat, so the granary was altered to become a prison.
Our tour guide suggested places we might like to visit, and we started with the Commandant's house, originally built in 1833. This ended up as quite an extensive house as the prison grew in importance and size, and was furnished accordingly.
We also visited the Junior Medical Officer's House, built in the 1840's, and also furnished.
Perhaps the most fascinating visit was to the Separate Prison, a punishment block for persistent offenders. This, it is claimed, was influenced by the theories of Jeremy Bentham for the 'Panopticon'. The prison was in a cross shape with exercise yards at each corner. These wings were connected to the surveillance core of the prison as well as the chapel.
Each prisoner was kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day.
His hour of exercise was also solitary - the exercise yards were also individual. No talking at all was allowed, and the prisoner was kept hooded when moving around the prison. The only variation to this was the weekly visit to the chapel, and here each man was kept separate in something like a vertical coffin so he had no contact with other prisoners.
An Asylum had to be constructed, as so many went mad - this is now a museum.
After a four and a half hour visit, we were quite tired, and for once, it has been hot. I was actually down to a short sleeved shirt in the afternoon. So we were quite glad when the bus picked us up and took us to our hotel for the night. It is near Port Arthur, but the view from our window is the best on this trip so far.
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