SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

SCARY THOUGHT

            Tasmania, Australia’s island state, is picturesque with a good deal of the island inaccessible because of rich forest. On the way to Port Arthur we rode over rolling hills and farmland. We passed Barilla Bay, famous for its oysters, and stopped to visit the Tasmanian Devil Park to learn all about that unique animal.

Port Arthur was not a town at all but a prison from the time of its settlement in 1830, until its closing in 1877. It operated as a prison for 47 years.

Original punishment was whipping with a cat ‘o nine tails—nine leather straps, each knotted nine times was dipped in salt water before striking the offender. Punishment was carried out in front of all other prisoners. This punishment was abolished in 1849 in favor of solitary confinement.

Taken to a separate building the prisoner was placed in a small totally dark room (no windows) for 72 hours where guards would then play mind games. Fed only once in 24 hours, sometimes the guards would bring a meal just before midnight, then an hour or so later bring the next day’s meal. Prisoners totally lost track of time and became disoriented. In 1867 an asylum was built, and when the prison closed in 1877 the asylum housed 100 prisoners. Charles Dickens visited Port Arthur for research material before writing Oliver Twist.

   As we walked the grounds, we found the isolation room. Of course  I had to check it out. I entered the room leaving Jan outside to open the door when I yelled. When I was inside she turned off the light.  I don’t think I made it even a full minute. If you’ve ever been in a cave when the lights were turned out you know what total darkness is like and as a prisoner there would be no end.

I stepped out of the room saying, “Oh that is awful. I’d go insane real fast! I'd rather take the beating.”

            Before leaving Port Arthur we took a short boat ride out to the Isle of the Dead. All 1769 prisoners who died are buried on the low south side of the island, often in common graves, and. 180 free settlers are buried on the top northern side of the island. Headstones were not permitted until 1852, and prison stonemasons often cut head stones for the settler graves.

            Following  closure of the prison, buildings were sold or gutted by fire. In 1884 in an effort to remove the ‘convict stain’ the name was changed to Carnarvon. The name Port Arthur was resumed in 1927. The National Parks and Wildlife Service acquired the site in 1970. The Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority, established in 1987, now manages and maintains the site.