Port Arthur

Tuesday 2 November 2010

We got up early and waited for a while. Mark was our tour guide, and he was incredibly talkative. He kept saying, "Mandy...", "Mandy..." as if Alison wasn't even there. "Mandy, it's going to be a weird day." We picked up three other ladies. He eventually used other people's names. He would always start a statement with one of our names as if that person was the only one in the car. Every time he would say Alison's name, he would say it twice as if she didn't hear him the first time. It was very awkward and it felt as if we were back in the classroom.

He also made so many stereotypes. I HATE stereotypes, and he was quite bad. It drove me crazy. He made statements and say, "Did you like that, Mandy?" I never answered him, because I thought it was always completely inappropriate. Anyway, our first stop was Goal, which was the prison for Hobart. There were several prisons. Tasmania was the place prisoners were sent to from England. The tour focused on three different prisoners. One was James Travis who was a naughty boy and very defiant. He had many punishments. One was Big Mark Jeffreys, who was another naughty man who had anger issues, which he lashed out on his judge. Not very smart. The other was Martin Cash (the most famous), who escaped several times from prison, which was unheard of. Prisoners were sent to the chains on hands and legs. Some men were never able to walk the same (Big Mark being one of them). Some were given lashes (James Travis). Some were sent to the most feared place, Port Arthur...especially in the dark room (Martin Cash). I won't go into detail about their stories.

We first came to the town of Richmond that had several historical places. Then we went to Port Arthur. There were lots of ruins (Mom you would LOVE this place). We saw the cells, houses of officers and other things. Port Arthur was horrible. Instead of the physical punishment, they worked on the mind. They had the dreaded place of punishment. Prisoners were taken out with hoods over their heads, so they couldn't see. They couldn't talk, communicate, or look at others. They could be beaten,and they could be placed in a pitch black cell that men would go mad in two days. They had an insane asylum for prisoners. It was an eerie place.

They have a ghost tour at night, but we didn't want that. They have all these pictures posted on the wall or "unexplained things." It was freezing and raining a lot, so we huddled under an awning until it slowed down. Then we went to the dock and went to the bathroom. The blower was warm, so I dried my hands and attempted to get feeling back. Then I warmed my knees, backside...Then we went on a 30 minute cruise. It went around the boys Puer Prison. It also went around the Island of the dead where 3,000 people were buried.

After Port Arthur, we went to the last stop, Devil's Kitchen. It was a type of ravine and water cascade into the ocean. We then got at text from an airline saying our flight has been changed. We were really upset. We got back and made rice. I tried to get our room deposit back, as we would be leaving early. The windows were closed, so I rang the bell. I could tell someone was in there, but no one did anything. Finally, someone came in and opened the doors. The person already inside was on the phone (probably a personal call) and just ignored me. I told him what I wanted and he asked if I was Katie. No. He asked the room number and I told him. He asked if I paid. YES!!! It was like he didn't trust me. He asked if I stayed 3 nights. He said he was in the right month. He finally gave me the money. Arrrrgh! We worked out a shuttle for tomorrow and went to bed.
This was in our tour van. The closest I ever got to a wombat.

Richmond Bridge. The Church is in the background.

The Church. Richmond is the oldest city in Tasmania. It used to be the biggest.

What the dogs guarding Port Arthur looked like.

The cells where prisoners were held.

The most dreaded place in Port Arthur.

Ruins.

More ruins and houses.

Island of the dead.

At the beginning of the tour, we were each given a playing card. Each card represented a prisoner at Port Arthur. I wrote down the information of my prisoner.

Devil's Kitchen.