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Port Arthur, Tasmania

Convict-built church at Port Arthur
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Convict-built church at Port Arthur

Port Arthur is a town and former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula, in Tasmania, Australia. It is located approximately 60 km south east of the state capital, Hobart, though it is approximately 120 km by road.

Although it started as a timber station in 1830, it is best known for being a penal colony. From 1833, until around the 1850s, it was a destination for the hardest of convicted British criminals. It contains one of the best examples of a working panopticon based on the Pentonville Gaol model, which signaled a shift from physical punishment to psychological punishment. The prison closed in 1877.


As penal colony, Port Arthur was secured by shark infested waters on three sides and a thin peninsula crossed by fences and guarded by guard dogs. In 1979 it received funding to be preserved as a tourist destination, due to its historical significance. Several magnificent sandstone structures, built by convicts working under hard labour conditions, were cleaned of ivy overgrowth and restored to a condition similar to their appearance in the 19th century.


Port Arthur has been home to many reputed cases of haunting and ghosts - particually of convict origin. These include cases of cells with ghostly screams and empty rocking chairs that move.

On April 29, 1996, the small community was scarred by an event known as the Port Arthur Massacre, where a man named Martin Bryant opened fire, murdering 35 people.


Last updated: 11-11-2004 00:02:03