Convicts in Tasmania - Australia

We saw this sailing ship on the way. How appropriate.

I love history, yet much of it is built on the hard labour of others.
On slavery, bond servants and convicts.
Many of these people were oppressed into an empty life.
Such was the penal colony of  Port Arthur in Tasmania.
Tasmania (Tassie)  is an island that sits on the bottom of Australia under the state of Victoria.

 

Remember, Australia is approximately the size of the U.S.A. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur,_Tasmania
Ray and I visited this notorious place where only a remnant of what once was, now remains.
Once a bustling harbour side town, built on convict labour, it has ended a tourist destination.
As I sat on a bench and reminisced, I thought of the cold, hunger and inhumane conditions.

I imagined the whip cracking over skeletal backs and the cries of powerless men.
Many went mad.
Here are some of our photos.

On the way to Port Arthur: A wild coastline.

 
Port Arthur as viewed from the water.

The Commandants House.
This was built and added to, over a period of time. It has three levels.

To the right side of the Commandants House is the Guard Tower.

The ruins of the main prison was used for those considered to be hardened criminals..
There was another which was know as the separation prison..This was built later to help rehabilitate.
Where the grass is, was once just dirt.

Many of the men went mad and were placed into this building,  an asylum.... It chills my blood..

 

The church, it was compulsory to attend. 

The Isle of the dead.
This was where everyone was buried.
The convicts were placed in pauper graves down towards the water.
The upper class and officers in a graveyard on the hill with stone monuments.

 

There was another island.... designated especially for boys. 

As young as nine years old, they were considered responsible for their actions and sent here.

This may once have been an officers cottage?

I liked the lovely shrub at the side.

On the way back to Hobart we stopped for a rest and I saw this little fellow.

He is an echidna or spiny anteater. They are mammals and lay eggs. 

Ray picked it up to give me a closer look.

Ray also found a bearded dragon.

 "There is a time for everything,
  and a season for every activity under the heavens:

A time to be born and a time to die,

A time to plant and a time to uproot,

A time to kill and a time to heal,

A time to tear down and a time to build,

Ecclesiastes 3:1-3