PORT ARTHUR
Separate Prison Typology
Over its long history, Port Arthur has been a place of hardship and punishment, a place of opportunity, and a place of leisure. Now it is one of Australia’s most important heritage destinations, where the story of Australia’s colonial history is written in stone and brick. The Port Arthur penal settlement began life as a small timber station in 1830 and quickly grew in importance within the colonies. Ship building was introduced on a large scale to Port Arthur as a way of providing selected convicts with a useful skill they could take with them once freed.
Port Arthur Historic Site is a special place of vivid history, cultural heritage, and stories so compelling, you’ll want to hear them again and again. It’s a place of global significance – one of the 11 places that make up the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Australian Convict Sites. And it’s one of Australia’s favorite tourist destinations. Port Arthur’s story did not end with the removal of the last convict. Almost immediately the site was renamed Carnarvon and, during the 1880s, the land was parcelled up and put to auction, people taking up residence in and around the old site.
An English prison is a vast machine…
move with it and all is well. Resist and you will be crushed…
Austin Bidwell, prisoner, 1870s