Port Arthur is one of Australia's most significant heritage areas; it remains part of Australia's dramatic history. It represents the best surviving examples of large-scale convict transportation and the colonial expansion of European powers through the presence and labour of convicts.
Port Arthur was first established in the 1830s by the British Empire as a penal settlement for convicts. Port Arthur is one of Australia’s most signicant heritage areas; it remains part of Australia’s dramatic history. It represents the best surviving examples of large-scale convict transportation and the colonial expansion of European powers through the presence and labour of convicts. The complex contains 60 buildings set on a picturesque landscape, its mix of beauty and horror has driven Port Arthur to become Tasmania’s most popular tourist destination.
Port Arthur was named after George Arthur, the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land. The settlement started as a timber station in 1830, but it is best known for being a penal colony.
From 1833 to 1853 it was the destination for the hardest of convicted criminals from Britain. Port Arthur had some of the strictest and violent security measures of all of the British penal system.
Port Arthur was designed and portrayed as an inescapable prison, much the same as the famous prison called Alcatraz, of course many prisoners tried to escape. Martin Cash and two other convicts George Jones and Lawrence Kavenagh successfully escaped, forming a gang called Cash and Co, they went on a 20 month long bushranging spree.
Port Arthur is located approximately 60 kilometers south east of Tasmania’s capital city Hobart. The drive from Hobart is quite scenic as you pass through Sorell travelling on the Tasman highway then onto the Arthur highway.
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