We took a trip to Port Arthur which holds some early history of the Australian Convict Story.
In 1833 Port Arthur became a punishment station for convicts that were repeat offenders from all Australian colonies. By 1840 over 2000 convicts, soldiers and civil staff lived there. Transportation to Van Diemen's Land ended in 1853 and eventually the penal settlement closed in 1877.
This is a photo of the penitentiary - which was formerly the flourmill and granary.
It was converted to have 136 separate cells on the bottom two floors. This building and many others were gutted by fires in 1897.
This photo was taken from the harbour cruise in Carnarvon Bay. In the centre of the photo is the hospital - it contained wards for 80 convict patients.
This is the church, the grounds look so peaceful during the day....
But at night, it looks very eerie...
We attended the Historic Ghost Tour after dark. It began at 9pm and we were led by lanterns. The setting was perfect... as we began our tour, thunder could be heard!!! The kids found the stories somewhat frightening, but they enjoyed the experience.
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