Episode 306 - Convict Days

(and yes, I haven’t finished putting all the photos on this page yet. You can buy the book from book sellers like Winnings Newsagency, the Port Arthur Historic Site gift shop, Sorell Antiques and Fullers Bookshop)

Also available online; HERE

The Tasmanian Government wanted to forget about Port Arthur. They even tried to burn the written records.

Scottish photographer, John Watt Beattie arrived in Tasmania in 1879, just a few years after the prison at Port Arthur had been abandoned. The farm hands on his father’s New Norfolk sheep station were former inmates of Port Arthur. The stories they told sparked an obsession in him. He collected photos of Port Arthur, acquired relics and started a museum. He published books and travelled Tasmania presenting slideshows about Port Arthur.

G’Day and welcome to Forgotten Tasmania, I’m John Stephenson and I’m the current owner of John Watt Beattie’s photographic collection. From the original photos and lecture notes, I present a recreation of Beattie’s “Convict Days of Port Arthur”. 

<slide 1, Tasman Peninsula, 1249>

Beattie:

The history of the convict days of Tasmania will always have its focus on Tasman Peninsula, because the peninsula in general, and Port Arthur (it’s chief settlement) in particular, contained the principal machinery of the whole convict coercive system.

The convict system, as a system, may be said to have commenced in Tasmania with the administration of Colonel George Arthur in 1824. Previous to his advent there was practically no system at all, but his wonderful administrative capacity, indomitable will, and iron hand, rapidly changed the position of things, and the huge prison, “Van Diemen's Land” for it was really a penal colony, and Colonel Arthur regarded it as essentially a prison - soon assumed somewhat of the routine and character of a vast penitentiary.

For a long time after the settlement of the Colony, convicts committing fresh crimes received additional punishment by being sent to chain gangs, working on the roads of the colony, or else were transported to either Port Jackson or Newcastle, where harsher measures for their control were in operation, there being no isolated secondary punishment or penal station then in the colony for their reception.

Colonel Sorell, Tasmania's third Governor, realising the necessity for such an establishment, supplied the want by creating the Macquarie Harbour Station, on the wild, western coast of the island, an establishment which rapidly became notorious for its severity of punishment and was a veritable ‘‘Hell upon Earth’’ until its abandonment. The inaccessibility of Macquarie Harbour induced Colonel Arthur to break it up and he decided that Tasman Peninsula should be the future ultra-penal station of Van Diemen’s Land, and as soon as suitable buildings were erected at Port Arthur the “old hands'' at Macquarie Harbour were transferred to the new station.

Port Arthur was born in September 1830 and during the long period of 47 years it passed through all the phases of a human existence; had its childhood, its manhood, and its old age, and it died, and was buried in 1877. The wrecks of its vast prisons are, today, just like the ruinous tombstones of a neglected old graveyard, giving evidence of the magnitude of its past, and creating a hungering desire in the minds of the curious to know something of its wonderful history.

Tasman Peninsula, as the map will show, was splendidly adapted for a penal settlement, being sufficiently isolated from the settled parts of the colony, and easily guarded, the only means of escape being at Eaglehawk Neck, where a narrow strip of land was all the connection between the peninsula and another peninsula called Forrestier’s, which, in its turn, had a similar connection with the mainland, called East Bay Neck.

These strips of land, or “necks’’ were strongly guarded, and during the life of Port Arthur, although a vast number of prisoners completed their sentences there, remarkably few escaped to the mainland. The absconder from Port Arthur was, from his first dash for freedom, very heavily handicapped, for, apart from avoidance of the army of vigilant guards of men and dogs, with sharks also, for they were induced by feeding to frequent the narrow parts of the bay in the vicinity of the neck to prevent swimming.

He had put in operation against him a most comprehensive and effective Semaphore Telegraph System, which operated all over Tasman and Forrestier's Peninsulas, also communicating with Hobart, the moment an escape took place, every station on the peninsulas knew of it, and all the guards were on the alert, making the chances of success next to impossible. There were 21 semaphore stations throughout the peninsulas, and, to give some idea of the rapidity of communication, a message of 20 words has been sent to Hobart from Port Arthur, passing through five stations, and a reply received within fifteen minutes time.

Work on the peninsula was varied to suit all phases of convict demands. At Port Arthur there was ship and Boat building, log-getting - the logs being carried on the shoulders of the men from the bush—sawing, splitting, quarrying and shoe making and at the various out stations agriculture and timber-getting were the usual occupations, except at Coal Point, on the northern extremity of the peninsula. There coal-mining was carried on and as the work was arduous and the discipline exceedingly severe, the coal mines station was the worst, in every sense, on the whole peninsula. There all the “out-and-outers” were sent, and the station seethed with wickedness of the vilest and most abominable kind.

The principal stations on the peninsula were as follows; Port Arthur (head station). Eaglehawk Neck (guard). Cascades (timber station), Impression Bay (invalid station). Saltwater River (farm and sheep station), Coal Point (coal mines).

<slide 2, Eaglehawk Neck, 252g>

This being the “key” to the peninsula, it was strongly guarded, both by military and dogs. In the centre of the Neck is a gap through the sand, and at the mouth of this gap was a guard room, and on the ridges of the sand banks, above the guard-house, commanding a view of the Neck, two sentries were posted by day, and four during the night. Through the gap in the Neck, on either side, were posted a line of savage dogs, bull and mastiff, each being chained so that they could reach within six inches of each other; and along the shore of Eaglehawk Bay, in the vicinity of the Neck, stages were built out into the bay, on which were placed dogs, for still greater security. These dogs received the same ration as the well-conducted prisoners. The Soldiers' Barracks can be seen in the right foreground of the view, the officers' quarters being lower down on the left, all being built on Forrestier's Peninsula. The beach, shown in the distance, leads to the Blow Hole and Tasman Arch.

<slide 3, Tasman Arch, 33g>

This is the great “Blow Hole” described in Marcus Clarke's “For the Term of His Natural Life,” down the sides of which the convict John Rex made his perilous descent. It is the most wonderful natural curiosity of Tasman Peninsula. Situated about 3 miles from The Neck, it faces the ocean, which during long ages has shaped it. Its depth, from top to bottom, has been computed to be about 192 feet. During stormy weather, the scene below is awfully grand; the waves roll in with terrific force and noise, producing an indescribable scene of weird chaotic grandeur, sending their spray high into the opening above.

<slide 4, Port Arthur in 1848, 241g>

This photograph shows the principal buildings of the settlement during its palmiest days. The church, in the foreground, was the most beautiful building on the station, and was built in 1836 from the designs of a prisoner—an architect by profession—who for his exertions received a pardon from the Governor, Colonel Arthur. The buildings on the extreme right are the old prisoner’s barracks; the large building seen above the roof of the church was, in 1848, used as a commissariat store and flour mill, but ultimately it was converted, at very great expense, into a penitentiary for the men, the old original barracks being pulled down.

The group of buildings in front of the old prisoners’ barracks were used as tannery, shoemakers’ shops, bakehouses, and blacksmiths’ shops. The large two-storied building just above the old prisoners’ barracks is the hospital, and the group of buildings on the hill, above the hospital, is the soldiers’ barracks. The villa like house on the point above the large commissariat store is the residence of the commandant.

The shipyard was situated round the point on the extreme left. Above this point can be seen Dead Island, the cemetery of the station, with Point Puer opposite. On which a large establishment existed for the convict boys.

The mountain in the background is called Arthur’s Peak, which faces the open ocean. The little bay close to the station is called Russell’s Cove, after Dr. Russell, who first opened up the settlement, and the bay running to the right, along the shores of Point Puer is called Opossum Bay.

<slide 5, Prison Buildings; Port Arthur in 1868, 429g>

Port Arthur had very fine wharfage accommodation, the view here showing part of it. There was a long wharf running out into the cove from the left side of the picture, where all the vessels to the settlement discharged, the large houses for storage purposes being shown at the end of the wharf, with their cranes and pulleys.

The Commandant’s and Police Offices and Engineer Department are shown close to the end of the Penitentiary, a one-storied stone building. The soldiers’ barracks are shown overlooking the group, and the hospital stands up behind and above the great Penitentiary building.

<slide 6, The Commandant’s Quarters, 524g, 1992, 1816 >

This is most picturesquely situated on the south point of the cove and occupies the finest position on the settlement. The grounds are planted with English trees, and delightful vistas of the settlement, and the cove and bay around, arc obtained at almost every turn. There is a fine stone boat jetty by the water’s edge in the cove, which was for the Commandant’s private use. This building is now used for an hotel.

<slide 7, The Church, S2478g>

This building is now one of the most picturesque reliefs of Port Arthur, its ivy-covered walls and surroundings of English trees producing quite an “old country" effect. In the prison days the vicinity of the church was always kept scrupulously clean and tidy, and it was approached from the front by along oak avenue. having at the entrance two high, finely carved stone pillars supporting a handsome gate.

The church was designed by a prisoner named “Mason," who, after receiving his pardon, went to Sydney, where he practised as an architect, made his fortune, and ultimately settled in New Zealand. It was built within twelve months and was capable of seating 2,000 persons. It had a clock-tower, with a fine peal of bells, now hanging in the steeple of the old parish church of New Norfolk.

The long, tapering steeple which covered the tower was blown down during a heavy gale in 1875, and the church itself was, unfortunately, burnt by a bush fire some years later. While the church was building there was a murder committed in one of the trenches, another while the roof was being completed, and one of the men, while engaged in arranging the spouting, was caught manufacturing spurious coin from the lead.

<slide 8, The Penitentiary, S2652>

This large prison was capable of accommodating 657 men in separate cells and dormitories. The first floor was arranged with a double tier of cells, with galleries connecting them. The second floor was used as a mess room; and the third, or top floor, as dormitories, hammocks being slung in ship fashion. The bakehouse, cook, and washhouses were built on the right-hand end of the building, a complete system of lifts being in use to deliver the food, etc., to the Penitentiary rooms.

<slide 9, Hall and Cell Corridors, 424g>

This view shows the ground floor of the Penitentiary. The door shown in the centre of the picture, on the gallery, leads to the mess-room on the second floor.

https://stors.tas.gov.au/AI/NS1013-1-1825

<slide 10, The Mess Room>

This magnificent room occupied almost the whole length of the building and had mess tables arranged on either side. On very wet Sundays, divine service was performed in this room instead of the church.

<slide 11, The Model Prison, 498g>

This was the “terror" of the settlement, and was, indeed, the most dreadful of penal institutions in Australasia. It was built on the Pentonville Prison system, and contained 60 cells, and 2 solitary, or dumb, cells, the whole being surrounded by a high, circular stone wall.

The building was arranged in the form of a cross, having a central hall, from which radiated the corridors of cells. The segments of the circle were utilised for workshops, storerooms, cookhouses, exercise-yards, etc.

The system in force in this prison was that known as silent and separate treatment, and it was carried out with stern rigour. Inside the building the silence was intense, the effect being heightened by the whole of the stone floors of the interior being laid down with matting, and once a prisoner entered the “Model” he was as one “out of the world,” being unable to hold communication with or see any occupant during the period of his sentence and he was punished if he conversed with the warders.

Only one prisoner ever escaped from this prison, and he was captured on the peninsula three weeks afterwards. Two others made an attempt but failed.

<slide 12, Hall and Cell Corridors,  Model Prison, 425bg>

This view, taken from the central hall, shows one of the cell corridors. On the wall, by the side of each cell door, near its top, may be seen a small, dark, square looking projection. These were signal tablets of metal, each bearing the number of the cell painted upon it and were used by the occupants of the cells to call the guard, if required. The tablet was hinged to a flat piece of metal screwed into the wall, through which a long iron rod passed into the interior of the cell.

Inside the cell the end of the rod was furnished with a handle, the outside end being fitted with a short iron cross-piece, one end of which operated, when turned from inside, against the tablet, which was always laid back against it, levering it straight out, the same action by the means of a wire which was attached to the opposite end of the small iron cross- piece of the rod rang a gong placed in the corridor. The attention of the guard was at once attracted, and the signal instantly located by the outward tablet, and as the tablet could not be again turned back by the prisoner from inside, no deception or tricks could be practised.

<slide 13, The Dumb Cell>

This was the place of extreme punishment in the Model Prison. The cell was situated in one of the narrow exercise yards, which were built in one of the segments of the building, for the use of the occupants.

To render the cell perfectly “dumb" and dark, it had four heavy doors, placed at right angles to each other, along the passage loading to the interior chamber. When this was reached, and the door’s closed, neither light nor sound from the outside could possibly reach the inmate.

Sentences of 24 or 48 hours were passed without any outside exercise being allowed, but men undergoing longer terms had a short time allowed for outside exercise, once every 24 hours. The ration for men doing “solitary” was bread and water, and it was passed in to the prisoner through a panel at the bottom of the inner door of the cell.

<slide 14, The Model Chapel, S2474g>

This was the department used for the spiritual instruction of the prisoners in the Model Prison, and it was remarkable for the novelty of its construction. At one end of the large room were the pews for the prisoners, rising from the floor in tiers, one over the other, and divided into two sections by a passageway leading into the great hall of the prison, the passage itself being divided by a partition running down its centre.

Each of the tiers of pews was divided up into separate compartments with doors, the numbers in each pew varying according to its length, and each prisoner was, in this way, shut up separately, and most completely, during service, seeing only the clergyman and the guards in front of him.

Guards with loaded rifles, occupied the boxes in front of each pew division, noting any infraction of the regulations during the service (which was, of course, punished in due course), and with others, posted elsewhere in the room, preventing any disorder, and preserving the safety of the establishment.

When the time for the service approached the men were marched out of their cells, one at a time, in the same manner as they were taken out for daily exercise in the yards. The warder would open the cell door, make a sign, and the prisoner would take a large grey cap from a peg on the wall, and place it upon his head. This cap was so large that it completely covered the head and rested upon the shoulders; three holes cut in the front allowed of seeing and breathing, but nothing else. In this fashion he was marched to his pew in the chapel, and shut in, and when each pew had received its complement, its doors were simultaneously locked by means of along rod running through the length of the pew and worked from the outer end.

The whole of the pews occupied, at a given signal all the caps were removed from the heads and hung up behind, on little brass hooks, placed there for that purpose, and the service commenced. Sunday was the “great" day in the Model, for on it, and it alone, the inmates could give vent to their vocal powers—only during service in the chapel, however, and at the appointed time—but when the opportunity arrived for joining in the service, the intolerable silence of the week was relieved in the most vigorous manner possible, accelerated undoubtedly by the knowledge of complete absence of any punishment for all such manifestations.

<slide 15, The Magazine, autas001125643056>

This building, as its name implies, was used for storing the arms and ammunition of the establishment and is built in front and within the area of the military barracks. In the earlier days of the establishment prisoners. who by fresh crimes of a serious nature, were committed to the Supreme Court at Hobart, were lodged for safer keeping in this tower, in cells lined with 3/8 inch plate- iron. It was built in 1835.

<slide 16, The Convict Railway, 482Bg, 612g>

This railway, worked entirely by the prisoners, was used for the transport of stores and passengers from Norfolk Bay to Long Bay, a distance of 4 1/2 miles. Fifty short sentence prisoners were employed at this work, and were lodged at what was known as the Tramway Station, halfway between Norfolk and Long Bays. A good deal of the running was easy on account of the grades, but, on the whole, the work was very arduous. From the terminus at Long Bay, the stores and passengers were shipped to Port Arthur by water.

<slide 17, Smith O’Brien’s House, S2656>

This was the residence of Mr. William Smith O’Brien, one of the Irish rebels of 1848, while he was confined at Port Arthur. O'Brien was. on his first arrival in Tasmania. placed on Maria Island, then a probation station on the east coast, on account of his refusal to accept a ticket-of-leave. Being a man of high principle, the acceptance of a ticket-of-leave would have deprived him of any opportunity of effecting his escape from the colony, except by violating its conditions, which his sense of honour would not allow him to do, so he preferred confinement on a penal station, to the comparative freedom which he would otherwise have enjoyed.

From Maria Island he made an attempt to escape, which, however, proved a lamentable failure, owing, it is alleged, to treachery. The Government then removed him to Port Arthur for greater security, this house being specially built for him. He enjoyed every comfort and convenience while at Port Arthur, the only inconvenience being the constant surveillance to which he was subjected, which was irritating to a man of his temperament.

<slide 18, Underground Cells Point Puer, 263g-2>

These ruins are all that remain of the large establishment for boy prisoners, which was built on Point Puer in the early days of the Port Arthur settlement. Boys from 10 years of age were confined here, and were taught various trades; but, if rumour is reliable, they underwent great hardships, and many actually committed suicide to escape from the misery of their situations.

Flogging was freely administered, and it was generally admitted that the worst class of criminals in after years had been Point Puer boys. The establishment was broken up in 1857. not being considered satisfactory, and, during its occupation, no successful escape was ever recorded.

<slide 19, White Rocks, Point Puer, 821B>

This is the locality on Point Puer where, legend says, boys committed suicide by throwing themselves over the rocks into the sea beneath.

<slide 20, The Isle of the Dead, 731>

This small island, in size barely two acres, was used as the settlement cemetery, one-half being set apart for the free, and the other for the bond. The total number of bodies buried on the island is recorded as 1,769, 180 of which are free people. On the free section there are many curious headstones, the prisoner part being unmarked, except by mounds.

<slide 21, Relics of Convict Discipline, an23796165_nla>

These “engines of coercion” were the stock-in-trade of the cruel, old system. Leg-irons varied in weight, ranging from four pounds to seventy-two pounds. It may appear improbable, but it was, nevertheless, a circumstance of frequent occurrence, that men wearing heavy irons—56lb. weight—used to abscond, and many with successful results. Ovaling the irons, by means of stones, etc., was a usual method of getting rid of the encumbrances, the irons once ovaled, being slipped over the heel.

After a sentence in heavy irons had been completed, it was, for some time, very difficult for the prisoner to keep his equilibrium after the irons had been knocked off.

The cat-o-nine tails were used for male and female prisoners, the instrument on the left being for females, the other on the right being for males. One hundred lashes was the maximum sentence allowable in Tasmania, but on Norfolk Island three hundred lashes were often administered at one time on a prisoner. Flogging ceased at Port Arthur at the end of the forties.

The large iron ball in the centre of the group was used on board the hulks. Dangerous convicts, when brought on deck for exercise, were fastened to this ball to prevent escape by leaping overboard.

<slide 22, Runaway Notice, 580g, S2684>

This shows the character of the “Hue and Cry” police posters of the period, which were distributed all over the island when occasion demanded.

<slide 23, Convict Transport, Lady Franklin, S6570>

This barque was built at Port Arthur in 1838, and was used for carrying prisoners and stores between Tasmania and Norfolk Island, At that time Norfolk Island was the ultra penal station of the Australian colonies.

There were several daring attempts made by the prisoners to seize the ship while making the voyages, and the commander, Captain Willett, received injuries which he carried to his grave in one of these attempts, in which, after a desperate combat, he was instrumental in saving the ship.

They had rather a rough-and-ready, but admirably effective, way of subduing uproar amongst the prisoner below decks, a cable chain ran the full length of the ship below, one end being attached to the capstan on deck. The prisoners’ leg-irons were all attached to this chain, and when a disturbance arose which could not be quelled by ordinary methods of persuasion the capstan was immediately manned, and in a very short time the poor wretches below found themselves dangling, feet up, between decks. This treatment promptly brought about submission.

After the penal station of Norfolk Island was broken up the Lady Franklin was sold, and for many years was employed as a whaler.

<slide 24, Underground Cells at the Coal Mines, 1386, 3218>

These underground cells are all that remain of the large separate treatment prison built at the Coal Mines Station, situated at the northern end of the peninsula, Norfolk Bay. On this station the “out-and-outers,” the doubly damned of the system, lived and moved and had their being. It was, by all accounts, a “hell upon earth”.

The work in the mines below was exceptionally severe, and unless a regulation amount of work was performed by the unhappy wretch, flogging and starvation invariably became his portion, and his abode one of the cells shown in the photograph, pitch dark, damp, and miserable. Flogging was frequent and unmerciful, and the attempts at escape very numerous, although mostly unsuccessful.

Although the coal obtained at this station was of a very inferior quality, it was largely used in Hobart. and wholly in the Government establishments.

<slide 25, Cape Pillar, 29>

This is another of the natural wonders of the peninsula, being on its southernmost extremity, and passed by all vessels going to Hobart. It was named after the pilot of the French survey ship Recherche, which visited Tasmania with the famous navigator, Rear-Admiral Bruny D'Entrecasteaux, in 1789. while on their voyage in search of their countryman, the missing explorer, La Perouse.

On Mount Raoul, the highest part of the headland, a signal station was at one time established, but, owing to its inaccessibility, was discontinued, and, years afterwards, the skeleton of an absconder was found hiding in the signalman’s hut. He had died of starvation.

The Port Arthur establishment was broken up in 1878, the whole of the prisoners, lunatics, invalids, and officers being conveyed to Hobart by the SS Southern Cross, belonging to a local shipping company. In 1844 the returns for the number of prisoners on Tasman Peninsula gave 7105 men, on the evacuation the number stood at but 70 effective prisoners, and they completed their sentences in the Hobart Town Gaol.

The lunatics were placed in the women’s prison, or “factory” at the Cascades, Hobart, and the invalids went out to the Invalid Depot at New Town. Some of the prisoners had not seen Hobart for 20 years, and many were most reluctant to leave the old station.

The land and some of the buildings were sold by auction, the material of the buildings utilised for other purposes throughout the colony. The largest of the structures; the Penitentiary, Prison, Lunatic Asylum, Hospital, and Church ultimately burned down by bush fires, and today the whole of the once magnificent establishment is but a crumbling heap of ruins.

John:

The amazing thing is that you can visit those ruins today. The Australian Convict Sites were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2010.

I think there were a few more escapes than Beattie let on. In my documentary on Bush Rangers, I discover some of them. That’s available here.