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18301830–1877 · Port Arthur

Port Arthur penal settlement

The ruined Penitentiary building at Port Arthur, Tasmania
Photo: Andrew Braithwaite from Melbourne, Australia. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Port Arthur on the Tasman Peninsula held convicts who reoffended in the Australian colonies, under a regime that moved from flogging to the 'separate system' of silence and isolation. Nearby Point Puer was a prison for boys. After closure, bushfires gutted the buildings. The site is also remembered for the 1996 mass shooting that led Australia to tighten its gun laws.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Port Arthur Historic SiteRuined penitentiary, Separate Prison, church and Isle of the Dead.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Coal Mines Historic SiteRuins of a convict coal mine and its solitary cells.Map ↗

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Also in Hobart & Port Arthur

More from the 18th & 19th Century

Read more: reference. Summary written by History-Tours.com.