Port Arthur, the first ‘industrial prison complex’ in the British Colonies

In the early 1820’s, transportation to Australia was no longer a sufficient deterrent to crime in Britain. At the same time, a British commission found that a more severe punishment was necessary for convicts who were committing more crime in Australia. That was when then governor George Arthur proposed to have a penal settlement on the Tasmania peninsular in 1827. The geographic shape of the peninsula offered an isolated area of land that was a natural prison. Furthermore, the Tasman Peninsula had many natural resources-- freshwater, timer, stone, lime, and coal. Instead of another prison, the governor wanted an actual settlement in which prisoners could work and sustain the system. Thus in 1830, the Port Arthur penal settlement, which covered 300 acres of land, opened to new convicts. 

At Port Arthur, convicts had to work in labor gangs, which were delegated to various tasks such as tree-felling, timber collecting (timber was in high demand at that time), road making, fishing, ship-building, brick-making. In fact, Port Arthur has been credited to jumpstarting the infrastructures to Tasmania’s main industries. For example, timber tramways connected the settlement to forests and quarries. Roads were also built to connect the settlement to coal mines. A ‘convict railway’ was completed in 1836. Port Arthur was the only settlement in the colonies to employ its prisoners in this way, marking it one of the first industrial prisons in the colonies. 

However, life was brutal for the prisoners in the settlement, especially for the second offenders. An extreme form of solitary confinement, in which prisoners were locked in total darkness for days, was practiced. Many were driven insane. Half starved dogs were stationed to guard the outskirts of the settlement to kill escapees. 

In 1853, Australia stopped transporting convicts to Tasmania, so by 1860’s, the convict population was aging as the settlement itself started decaying from lack of upkeep. In 1877, the settlement officially closed and the buildings were left to the elements. It wasn’t until early 1900s when the government decided to preserve the site. Nowadays, Port Arthur is one of Tasmania’s top tourist attractions. The setting is idyllic and pastoral, stark contrast to its brutal history. There’s even a ghost sightings and Paranormal Activity Investigations tour. In 2005, Port Arthur became one of Tasmania’s National Heritage sights.