PORT ARTHUR, TASMANIA

                                             NEVER A PORT

Port Arthur, located on the isolated Tasman peninsular,  was just as much a natural prison as Alcatraz was in the US. The peninsular was surrounded by hungry sharks, and was connected to the mainland only by the 100-yard wide Eaglehawk Neck peninsula that was guarded by chained angry dogs. The possibility of escape was nearly impossible. In the history of the prison there were only two successful escapes.     

Our driver told us, “Convicts in a chain gang built a causeway in 1872-74. All deliveries to the prison were by boat, as the overland road from Hobart to Port Arthur was not built until 1893.  Of the 73,000 English convicts sent to Australia, 12,500, mostly second offenders or violent criminals, found themselves in Port Arthur. These worst offenders also included women and juveniles. The young boys were sent to Puer Island, (abandoned in 1849) and were required to attend school. This was a progressive concept as school was not yet required for the general youth population. Males and females were separated.

   In 1830 Colonel George Arthur with 68 men established Port Arthur as a timber station. The first three years 1½ million cubic feet of lumber was cut and sent to England. There were no permanent buildings for three years. Over the next eleven years Port Arthur saw 6002 convicts in the settlement. Although the prison generally held 600-700 prisoners at any time, at its peak in 1840 the prison held 2000 prisoners plus a complement of soldiers and supporting personnel numbering 1200.

Although the conditions at Port Arthur were brutal, the prison also was progressive. All convicts were gainfully employed in one of  47 trades. The trades all evolved with a commercial bias. Included in the complex were a sawmill, granary and flour mill, railroad, shipbuilding workshop, tannery, coppery, gardeners and cobbler shop. The brickyard produced 50,000 bricks a month. The blacksmith made nails and fasteners. Between 1834-49, the shipyard produced over 200 long and whale boats. The largest boat was the size of the Mayflower. When the shipyard was closed down, a lime kiln was built to produce lime for mortar. Shells were collected and crushed as a limestone source. The bakery produced 1000 loaves of bread a day.

There still was a lovely 1800 church on the grounds.  There had been a hospital on the grounds and the guard towers were close to the officer housing. Today the ivy-covered ruins and restored buildings are a lovely historic site with a feeling of  peacefulness--a bit of a contradiction from its history. I couldn’t help but wonder what we would hear if the walls could talk!

It was a delightful van ride to the isolated site and a fascinating look back into Australia’s early history.

VENETIAN GONDOLAS

VENETIAN CANALS AND GONDOLA RIDES

            Arriving in Venice we quickly learned that the hotel chains are across the canal on the mainland. Our hotel was in Venice which meant we arrived by water taxi. Our luggage arrived by water boat. On the main island there are no vehicles and no bikes. It’s foot power or a boat ride. The canals are the roads.

            Before I embarked on this trip I’d made a deal with my traveling partner. I’d go to the Moulin Rouge with her if she’d go on a gondola ride with me. A gondola ride in romantic Venice was high on my to do list, no matter the cost. One quickly learns that the gondolas are strictly for tourist traffic. Venice is easy to walk, and even though yellow signs around the city direct you to Piazza San Marcos, the Rialto Bridge, Pizza Roma, or the train station, the many alleyways make it very easy to get lost.

            After dinner one evening we ventured down to the canal to find a gondola. That was no problem as they were lined up like taxi cabs outside an airport. Each gondola had an accordion player to accompany the singing gondolier. We were lucky to have a very pleasant gondolier who happened to have a fantastic voice. He serenaded us with lovely Italian love songs which we enjoyed but that would have been very romantic if one were with her honey. He took no requests and appeared to speak only Italian. It was a nice way to end a long busy exciting day.

            Everything in Venice is old. Our hotel was comfortable and clean and had no air conditioning. The windows had no screens, but after we turned off the lights we simply opened the window and actually were serenaded to sleep by the singing gondoliers below. That was nice!