The rows of cells are unroofed,
a flute for the wind’s mouth,
who comes with a breath of ice
from the blue caves of the south.
Mid-summer 2010, we continued our journey circumnavigating Tasmania by driving down to The Port Arthur Historic Site in South-West Tasmania. It was surprisingly good fun... for convict ruins. The outfit is extremely well presented with interpretive displays, organised activities for children and live theatre.
Here we are making bricks the old fashioned way.
The Port Arthur prison system was described as a ‘machine for grinding rogues into honest men’.
We spent the entire day exploring the furnished period homes, including the Commandant’s House, Parsonage, Trentham Cottage and Junior Medical Officer’s quarters as well as the historic buildings and ruins of the Penitentiary, Barracks, Guard Tower and military precinct, Hospital, Paupers’ Depot and Asylum. It is a fascinating complex, impeccably restored in a beautiful setting, and yet another reminder of our less than salubrious past.
Here we are doing some excavating.
Not so much as a dinosaur bone, until Ro-Ro found a few shards of glass.
Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr.
Poem, The Old Prison by Judith Wright
Source: Port Arthur Historic Site
