"Lock the door and throw away the keys"...20 Nov 2006
|
|
Port Arthur
Throw away the key
Oldest bridge in Aus
| "Lock the door and throw away the keys"... .....said Angie and Anne! Our final full day in Taz featured a visit to 2 prisons - firstly Port Arthur, which was the main penal colony for those sentanced to "transportation" from England in the 1830s -1860s, holding nearly 1,000 convicts at the height of its use. The site of Port Arthur is fantastic, even though some of the buildings had been demolished by bush fires after it closed. Each cell was an average of only 8' x 6', and the convicts had to go to church 4 times a week as well as carry out hard, physical labour After Port Arthur, we waved goodbye to Nick at the airport and went back to Hobart via Richmond, a small town which features the oldest road bridge in Australia (1823, constructed using convict labour) and a number of 19th century houses. We also visited the small gaol there, which was first opened in 1826. The cells were even smaller and more inhospitable than those in Port Arthur. Tim and I are glad we live in the 21st, rather than 19th, centuries. |
Advertisement 
|
