Port Arthur on the Tasman peninsula was a penal station was established in 1830, initially as a timber-getting camp using convict labour. From 1833 Port Arthur was used as a punishment station for repeat offenders.
By 1840 more than 2000 convicts, soldiers and civil staff lived here. Port Arthur had become a major industrial settlement, producing a range of goods and materials
Walking around the historic site on a beautiful day and seeing the well kept and restored places, it’s difficult to imagine what life must have been like.
The Separate Prison is probably the best place to get a feel of how sombre life must have been. The Separate Prison was designed to deliver a new method of punishment and reform through isolation and contemplation
The Travels of Birgit 