Tour to Port Arthur and the Unzoo (Kangaroos, yes!)

Friday March 22 had a bit of drizzle and was mainly cloudy with a high of 18C.   We were picked up just after 7:00 a.m. by Tours Tasmania for our tour of Port Arthur Historic Site (former penal site) and the Tasman Peninsula.  We also chose to include a visit to the Tasmanian Devil Unzoo.  

We stopped briefly at Dunalley, just as we crossed into the Forestier Peninsula which after driving through the Eaglehawk Neck becomes the Tasman Peninsula.  There were a number of posters outlining the history of the area.  Interestingly, while the Penitentiary was in operation at Port Arthur (1830-1877) there was a prohibition on private ownership of land on Forestier and Tasman Peninsulas.

Spirit of the Wedgetail-- marked the upgrading of the Highway-- Stephen Walker, sculptor

We then stopped at Waterfall Bay Lookout for a walk along the coast at the Eaglehawk Neck.  The walk took around an hour including a number of viewing stops.  The bus picked us up at the end of the walk.

Beautiful views

We walked trough a beautiful smelling eucalyptus forest 

Alain en route

Eucalyptus trees- smelt like a wonderful spa

Another view

Great cliffs and water

As we continued to walk, we saw some wallabies in the wild.

One wallaby...

Two...

Each one of the rocks had a name.  The thin rock in the middle is known as the candlestick.

Near the end of the walk was a lookout called Devil's Kitchen- a rugged 60m deep cliff.

Panoramic view

At Devil's Kitchen Lookout

We also passed the Tasman Arch, a beautiful natural feature.



We then split into two groups.  A number of us had opted to spend some time at the Tasmanian Devil Unzoo before heading to Port Arthur Historic Site.  The Unzoo is the world's first intentional Unzoo- a project which began over dinner when two innovative zoo design consultants were chatting about the future of zoos.   The Unzoo is a reversal of the traditional concept of a zoo.  Instead of exhibiting animals in traditional enclosures for the benefit of humans, an Unzoo brings humans into natural habitats in which cages and barriers are removed or concealed.  There is a lot more interaction between humans and the animals in their natural habitats.

The Unzoo used to be a 40 year old family animal park that was turned into a "zoo without cages" about 10 years ago.  The Unzoo is located at Taranna, about 10 km from Port Arthur.

Our first time at an Unzoo

Feeding time for the kangaroos

Alain taking a photo

Alain petting the kangaroo

So cute... feeding the kangaroos

Feeding the 'roos

Petting the kangaroos-- very soft fur and very friendly

After our exciting encounter with the kangaroos, we passed by the wallaby area, and saw a few wallabies hanging out.

Wallaby and a bird

Very cute wallaby

We then went to see the Tasmanian devils being fed by one of the staff.  They apparently are not too smart and they make a terrible screeching sound.  Unfortunately, the population was almost wiped out by a horrible cancer that spreads by saliva and results in a horrible death by starvation.   The population is slowly coming back.  However, they often are killed as road kill when they come out of the woods to feed on other road kill.

Tasmanian devils

Screeching

We then had an opportunity to hear a wonderful presentation on birds in the bush.  The first bird we saw was a beautiful pink Galah, from the cockatoo family.  After the bird left a shed, she flew to a perch and then went back to the staff person, who fed her constantly and told us about the bird, whose name is Bossy.  The staff person spends two hours a day with the bird.

With Bossy

Flying to the perch

A bit nervous at this point 

Gorgeous colour

She then brought out a Corella, a subgenus of the white cockatoo.  These birds are very smart and can also be very destructive, eating leaves on trees, and destroying city infrastructure, including expensive copper wiring.

Corella

Members on the tour who volunteered were asked to stand and hold a coin in their hand.  The bird would land on the person's arm and then take the coin and give it to the staff person.

Holding the coin and the bird landing

Bird taking the coin

The bird took coins from about 9 people and brought them to the staff person.  The bird then returned the coins to the volunteers, one by one.  The staff person said the bird learned the trick in only 10 days.

After about an hour at the UnZoo, we were picked up by our tour bus and taken to Port Arthur Historic Site.  The Port Arthur site contains more than 30 historic buildings, extensive ruins and beautiful grounds and gardens.  

View of site--- Port Arthur Historic Site occupies 100 acres of land

We decided to take a 45 minute introductory tour of the site.  The tour gave us the history of the site, described some of the buildings and provided a good background.  The Port Arthur penal station was established in 1830 as a timber camp, using convict labour to produce sawn logs for government projects.  From 1833, Port Arthur was used as a punishment station for repeat offenders from all the Australian colonies.  The English prison reformer Jeremy Bentham had designed a radical new Penitentiary at Pentonville in England, which became the model for Port Arthur.    The cogs of the Port Arthur machine included discipline and punishment, religious and moral instruction and classification and separation.  There was also training and education.

The guide explained that it was really the hardened criminals that ended up in Port Arthur.  He said they were offered two paths-- either behave and learn a trade or be punished (first by flogging and manacles) and later in the prison's history by solitary confinement.

By 1840, more than 2000 convicts, soldiers and civil staff lived at Port Arthur, which by this time was a major industrial settlement.  The community of military and free men and their families lived their lives in stark contrast to the convict population.  Beautiful gardens were created by the convicts, although they could not spend any time in them.

With the end of convict transportation to Van Diemen's Land in 1853, Port Arthur became an institution for aging and physically and mentally ill convicts.  The penal settlement finally closed in 1877 and many of its buildings were dismantled or destroyed in bush fires.  The area became the centre of a small town, renamed Carnarvon in an attempt to erase the convict stain.  However, it became a big tourist draw.  By the 1920s, some convict-period buildings had become museums and the settlement was once again named Port Arthur.

Our guide also explained that children as young as 9 could be deported from England to Van Diemen's Land (the age of responsibility was 7!).   While women convicts could get jobs in the service industry in Hobart, the children were harder to place.  A number ended up in Point Puer Boys' Prison across the water from the Penitentiary.

Port Arthur was chosen by Governor Arthur as an ideal place to confine prisoners as it was a 'natural penitentiary'- the Tasman Peninsula is connected to the mainland by Eaglehawk Neck, a strip of land less than 100 m wide, which was guarded by ferocious guard dogs (the infamous Dogline) and tales of shark-infested waters deterred escape.  While most attempts to escape failed, several convicts made successful bids for freedom.

One last sad note about Port Arthur-- in April 1996, a gunman fired indiscriminately at staff and tourists in Port Arthur killing 35 people and injuring 37 more.  He remains imprisoned north of Hobart and his attack led to the strengthening of Australian gun laws.

Tour guide

The location and grounds were quite spectacular

Gardens

Entry to officers' gardens

Penitentiary- only the shell remains - this was originally a flour mill and granary.   

Our entry ticket also included a harbour cruise that passed the Dockyard, where the prisoners built ships; Point Puer Boys' Prison, where juveniles were imprisoned between 1834-1849.  It was the first  juvenile reformatory in the British Empire.  Most  of the boys were between 14-17, with the youngest just 9 years old.  It was renowned for its regime of stern discipline, but the boys were educated and some given the opportunity to learn trades.

The Ferry

View back of the Penitentiary and other Port Arthur buildings

We first passed the Dockyard which has a sculpture of a ship and the Clerk of Works' House and the Shipwright's House.  Port Arthur's Dockyard produced 16 large decked vessels and around 150 small open boats.  At its peak, more than 70 men worked there.

Area where ships were built by convicts-- eventually other ship makers got the facility closed down as they couldn't compete with the cheap labour.

We passed by the Isle of the Dead where around 1100 people were buried between 1833 and 1877.  The military and civil officers were buried at the height of land and the convicts on the lower slopes.  The most common cause of death among convicts were industrial accidents and respiratory disease.

Isle of the Dead

Tombstones on the island

Larger tombstone

Point Puer Boys' Prison-- remote location across from the Penitentiary

When we returned from the boat, we headed up to see the Separate Prison.  The Separate Prison was designed to deliver a new method of punishment-- reforming the convicts through isolation and contemplation.  Convicts were locked for 23 hours each day in single cells.   This was the most interesting of the remaining buildings.  It had undergone a major conservation program that began in 2007.

The Separate Prison

Individual cells

Hallway with cells

Part of the Rules for Prisoners--"the convicts are only to be addressed by the number of their cells, and no man must ever use his name in communicating with the officers placed over him."

Another cell

One corridor had the cells with spartan furniture.  The other corridor had plaques with info on a variety of authors, prisoners, reformers etc. during the 19th century.  When one peered into a room, a film with a picture of the person and their quotes was projected.

Dickens--opposed to solitary confinement

James Boyd- Commander, Port Arthur- replaced heavy punishment  (flogging and manacles) with "separate treatment"

After the visit to Port Arthur, we made a quick stop at Federation Chocolate Factory for a chocolate tasting.

We then stopped at historic Richmond Village northeast of Hobart for about 30 minutes.  We walked down to the historic bridge located in the town.

List of Coal River Valley wineries in the area

The bridge over the Coal River was built by convicts in 1823 and it is the oldest road bridge in Australia.  We drove over the bridge when we entered the town.

Richmond bridge-1823

Our last stop was  Rosny Hill Lookout.  There was a great view of the Derwent River, Tasman Bridge, Hobart, and the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens.

View from Rosny Hill Lookout - Tasman Bridge

MONA boat going under the bridge

We got back to Hobart at around 6:00 p.m. and got dropped off near Franklin Square where they have a street eats with music event every Friday from 4:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. from November to April.  A number of locals had recommended we check it out.  Lots of locals as well as tourists were there (we ran into some who had been on our Bruny Island food tour).

Signage on the square

Folks bring their own blankets-- there is a seating area near the music and then the food stalls are located on a flatter area

Seafood BBQ

Meat skewers

We shared a BBQ squid lollipop with a great sauce

We got a cherry cider from Simple Cider, where our tour guide from Tours Tasman also works

Funk Collective provided the music-- good band.

Leaving just as the sun was setting

We decided to have a fish and chips dinner at Fish Frenzy on the waterfront.  Definitely a busy place on a Friday evening.  We ordered the blue-eye trevalla as our fish (Antarctic butterfish), which was very good.

Buzzy Fish Frenzy

Fish, chips and salad

We walked up the Kelly steps to Battery Point and our hostel and saw the sign that we had seen earlier in the week, this time lit up.

We are Made of Stardust.

It was a very full day-- hiking, scenery, the Unzoo, social history at Port Arthur and the Hobart Friday night scene.  We would definitely sleep well tonight.