When one finds themselves in the southern parts of Tassie, there are a few things that capture one’s attention. Tasmania is a terrific place to delve deep into convict History, there are numerous buildings, Bridges, gravestones and settlements to view…. In fact everywhere you look there seems to be something else harking back to the days we were a Penal colony. It’s funny you know, we were driving through Historic Battery Hill the other day and we’d said to the children, “make sure you look out for old convict built buildings”….only to hear them saying, moments later….”look there’s an old building, old, old, oldish, new, weird, old really old” Isn’t it interesting how children classify things….
Port Arthur was Great! The guides there were very knowledgeable. It was amazing to think that children as young as 7 years of age were sent there. They didn’t have chaperones or family members with them. Well, you can imagine how Rosa and Coonor felt about this. I suddenly found both of them clinging to my side….just in case.
We went for a boat ride around The Isle Of The Dead, and the Port au Prince where the young boys were sent…. It was fascinating to see the industries that were established there. There was a shipyard, that produced whaling boats, a bakery, shoe-making, brickmaking, timber, forging, black-smithing… It became a self-sufficient site.
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