GUIDE TO PORT ARTHUR

Welcome to Port Arthur

Enter a realm of contrast, where stunning landscapes are haunted by the echoing memories of a history shrouded in desperation and despair. Beauty and sadness live hand-in-hand at Port Arthur Historic Site.

Explore remnants of brutal 19th-century convict punishment, preserved amidst a backdrop of natural splendour on the south-east coast of Tasmania.

Take time to delve beneath the surface. Discover sombre true stories of crime and misfortune, hear thrilling recounts of daring escape attempts, and sense the loneliness and heartbreak experienced by its less-than-willing inhabitants of the past.

From Hobart, there’s a convict trail with other fascinating historic sites to visit during your 100km journey to Port Arthur. It’s just 27km from Hobart to the quaint township of Richmond in the Coal River Valley. Wander the cafes, shop for handicrafts and stay overnight in its Georgian-era buildings. Convict-built attractions include Richmond Bridge, which is Australia’s oldest stone arch bridge, and Richmond Gaol, Australia’s oldest intact prison built in 1825.

From here, the Arthur Highway meanders down to the fishing village of Dunalley, and across the hand-cut Denison Canal that leads onto the Forestier Peninsula, before crossing a narrow isthmus onto Turrakana / Tasman Peninsula.

At this isthmus, the Officers’ Quarters Museum tells stories of the Dog Line. A string of savage dogs was kept at this neck of land, less than 100m wide at one point, to prevent convicts from escaping their fate at the feared Port Arthur penal colony. Port Arthur is now a famous historic site, presenting beautiful remnants of an ugly past, built on the backs of convict labour.

Port Arthur provides a portal into a fascinating and brutal history, sure to feed your curiosity and enrich your connection to this storied island. Listen on for more information about the historic site.

Port Arthur’s fabled buildings

Tasmania’s most famous convict settlement combines an idyllic coastal setting with a brutal history.

Established in 1830, Port Arthur Historic Site was once a ruthless estate where some 12,500 convicts served their sentences up until 1877. What remains is now preserved through its World Heritage listing. Each intricate building or example of historical architecture was founded in pain and suffering, as the convicts here lugged materials and laboured in extreme conditions.

Port Arthur comprises of vast vibrant green slopes, immaculate gardens, and historical buildings – some dilapidated, and others remarkably intact. Take your time wandering these grounds; explore the more than 30 buildings and ruins dotting the site, and visit gardens teeming with blue gums, fox gloves, Mediterranean spurge and colourful dahlias.

Sombre structures such as the much-feared isolation cells of the Separate Prison are contrasted by the neat homes and gardens of soldiers and free settlers that arose around the prison.

The huge 1845-built penitentiary is perhaps the most recognisable of the buildings – its rectangular edifice stretching beside the water’s edge. The yellowish masonry walls gleam in the sunlight, between the contrastingly shadowy rows of thin, barred windows. Before this was a penitentiary it was a mill – where convicts were sometimes forced to walk on a treadmill-style contraption to grind grain when water flows were insufficient.

There’s also a roofless church with patchy, discoloured bricks, lofty spires and arched windows. Boy prisoners from the nearby Point Puer worked on some of the stonework for this eerie construction.

The guard tower is a stark stone structure with imposing turrets and intact stairs. And a sandstone frame is all that remains of the old hospital, where sick and dying prisoners who laboured in harsh winter conditions were treated. These are just some of the convict relics to marvel at during your visit.

Your ticket to Port Arthur

Port Arthur is a peaceful and idyllic, but undeniably unsettling estate. Embrace the uneasiness and unearth the lessons history has to share.

Wandering the grounds at your own pace allows you to find your own time and space to reflect and absorb the atmosphere of the buildings and surrounding natural setting – including the calm waters of the bay and the immaculate grass lawns lined with native gums and heritage trees. But guided tours are handy for navigating the extensive site and learning the harrowing history from guides who know their stuff.

Tickets to the historic site allow entry for two consecutive days and include an introductory walking tour, access to the Port Arthur Gallery and a harbour cruise. Begin at the ticketing centre, then head off on your 40-minute introductory walking tour from the adjacent modern courtyard. This tour takes you around and inside some of the site’s main buildings: some with ornate sandstone detailing, others with crumbly brickwork falling away into rubble. Gain fascinating insights about the historic figures who once inhabited this remote part of the world through audio commentary provided on the tour.

The 20-minute harbour cruise glides past the Isle of the Dead and Point Puer in the distance, where more than 3000 boys were imprisoned in Britain’s first purpose-built prison for children. Board the spacious white ferry and relax as you cut smoothly along the harbour, past small cottages and looming stone buildings, which fall away into dense bushland. Listen to the onboard commentary and mill about the boat freely. Such freedom was the stuff of dreams for Port Arthur’s former inmates.

The entry ticket for two days represents good value. An extra lineup of tours awaits those even more eager to connect with this intriguing place.

Additional Port Arthur tours

Do you believe in ghosts? If not, perhaps the Port Arthur ghost tour will change your mind. As darkness falls, the stories loom larger on an eerie wander through the ruins, lit only by flickering lanterns. More than 1000 souls died here, each with a tale of hardship, loneliness and despair. No wonder the site is considered to be haunted.

On the immersive Escape from Port Arthur tour, hear about cunning and courageous attempts to flee the site’s confines. This convict prison was deliberately positioned to prevent escapes – with only the narrow Teralina / Eaglehawk Neck isthmus needing to be guarded against land-based attempts. This hour-long tour across 1.5km dips into the tales of those who tried to break out, and the extreme measures they took. Remember that this now breathtaking scenery with its raging seas and wild terrain was once a foreboding threat to the lives of fleeing convicts.

The Isle of the Dead cemetery tour offers you the chance to cruise over to this small circle of land surrounded by dark, cold waters 1km off the Port Arthur coast. From the boat, the isle appears to be entirely uninhabited, with gum trees and jagged rocks tapering out into the water. But soon you’ll discover a green clearing among the trees with the graves of more than 1000 convicts, soldiers and free settlers. Hear the larger-than-life tales of those buried here – from the children of free settlers to the convict forger who became Australia’s first novelist.

The 90-minute Commandant’s tour gives an insight behind the site’s most significant structures, and why and how they were built. Walk through the buildings like the penitentiary, the church and the dreaded separate prison – a remote, heavily guarded complex with four wings and high walls, where disobedient convicts were sent to anguish in silence.

Accessibility

This more than 100-acre site includes some hills and steps. Assistance is available and staff are happy to help during your visit, so call or email ahead. The visitor centre, café, restaurant and gallery are all wheelchair accessible, as is the introductory tour and harbour cruise. However, please note that due to rough and uneven terrain, some locations, such as the Isle of the Dead, are not wheelchair accessible, so assistance for people with limited mobility is recommended. A buggy service touring the site is available for visitors with limited mobility between 10.30am and 3.30pm.

The Port Arthur Audio Experience is available in podcast form for all visitors. It provides vivid descriptions of the significant buildings and ruins, while also detailing stories of the soldiers, free settlers and convicts.

Guide dogs and assistance dogs are permitted in all areas, and Companion Cards for carers are accepted.

Getting here via car involves a roughly 100km drive from Hobart, heading southeast to Port Arthur and taking about 90 minutes. There’s free parking on site, including accessible parking spaces located adjacent to the Visitor Centre entrance. The Visitor Centre has accessible bathroom facilities.

Public transport from Hobart is taken via the 734 Tassielink bus route, which leaves from the City Interchange Stop D4, from Elizabeth Street outside the Town Hall and opposite Franklin Square. This transport option should get you to Port Arthur in just under two hours. A host of companies also offer tours to Port Arthur from Hobart, inclusive of tranport.

There is accommodation available in Port Arthur, or nearby Taranna, Teralina / Eaglehawk Neck and Nubeena. Food is available on site at Port Arthur Café upstairs at the Visitor Centre, and at 1830 Restaurant and Bar for lunch on Sundays from 12 til 3pm, and dinner on Wednesday through to Saturday from 5pm. Hot drinks and grab-and-go food are also available at the Museum Coffee Shop.

Pack for all weather conditions – bring rain jackets, sun protection gear, layered clothing and comfortable walking shoes.