Port Arthur

A trip to Tasmania is not complete without a visit to Port Arthur. To get to or from Port Arthur you must go though Eagle Point where the Dog Line was situated during the convict era. Eagle Point is a very narrow strip of land joing Port Arthur to the island. The greater number of convicts got on with their lives in Tasmania and made something of it, many even prospered. Port Arthur housed the most recalcitrent of the convicts in some terrible conditions. The model prison was developed after Port Arthur was built. It was based on theory coming from the Quakers in America which held that prisoners given the chance to reflect on their actions could be rehabilitated. The very bad boys were in solitary confinement, with only the bible to read, in their own cell in the model prison. A group of cells had an exercise yard but only one prisoner was allowed into the exercise yard at a time. In the chapel each prisoner had his own secluded box.