Monday 25th September, 2006
We are staying just out of Hobart on the shore of the Derwent River,which is where I took my run.
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/derwin.jpg
Some girls came to visit this morning and have a quick chat.
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/girls.jpg
We drove over to a town called Richmond. To get there we had to drive through a series of fairly steep hills.
I was surprised to see houses just plonked about ¼ of the way down the hill and the owners tractors and vehicles parked lopsided down from the house.There is not one bit of flat land there.
Imagine having a boozy backyard party there and having one too many swigs from the sherry bottle and falling over and rolling the 3kms downhill.
Is there an entire community of Taswegians bred with one leg shorter than the other?
How do they live there?
7.30pm
We spent most of today at Port Arthur.
It’s so difficult to express the feel of this most historical location. Its profoundly dark and difficult history is so thick that you feel it as soon as you see the building remains on the drive in.
It is as though the emotional and mental turmoil and emotional trauma of those who were incarcerated here over 150 years ago have been encapsulated in a bubble.
Sadly, it is also the site of a violent crime where 35 people were gunned down in 1996.
Regardless of all this bleakness, there is a natural beauty in the surroundings and the ruins that overpower your senses and leave you feeling a mixed sense of pride and sadness
Port Arthur was originally established in 1830, and soon after became a major industrial settlement. Convicts were sent there to work in the timber and agricultural industries and by 1841 it became a punishment station for repeat, serious offenders. This was Van Diemans land and was considered to be as remote from the rest of Australia,let alone the world,as one could get.
You can still get a sense of what the buildings would have looked like.
The penintentiary
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/pen1.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/pen2.jpg
The Guards Tower
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/tower.jpg
The Cottages one of which housed William Smith O’Brian,an Irish Protestant Parliamentarian and revolutionary who lead a failed uprising who tried to fight for Ireland’s independence from Britain.
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/cottages.jpg
It was also considered experimental in that they designed what became known as ‘the separate prison’. This was a new idea in prisoner reformation and it was though that complete isolation,where a prisoner could contemplate his sins in complete isolation would lead to reform.They would be locked in total darkness and silence for up to 30 days fed only on bread and water. 1 Hours exercise each day,after the first 3 days.
His name was no longer spoken,only a number. The wardens wore slippers so that they could hear their every move.
In the Chapel, they would be lead into a standing only pew, a door was shut between each prisoner so they they couldn’t see one another
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/chapel.jpg
and,the only view from their pew was of the minister.
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/chapelview.jpg
In the foreground to the right is the isle of the dead.The burial site of 1100 people, both convicts and soldiers and they families.
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/isleofdead.jpg
I am lucky enough to count this as my second visit here and it was as incredible as my first time.
‘Without hope, man is nothing”
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/derwin.jpg
Some girls came to visit this morning and have a quick chat.
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/girls.jpg
We drove over to a town called Richmond. To get there we had to drive through a series of fairly steep hills.
I was surprised to see houses just plonked about ¼ of the way down the hill and the owners tractors and vehicles parked lopsided down from the house.There is not one bit of flat land there.
Imagine having a boozy backyard party there and having one too many swigs from the sherry bottle and falling over and rolling the 3kms downhill.
Is there an entire community of Taswegians bred with one leg shorter than the other?
How do they live there?
7.30pm
We spent most of today at Port Arthur.
It’s so difficult to express the feel of this most historical location. Its profoundly dark and difficult history is so thick that you feel it as soon as you see the building remains on the drive in.
It is as though the emotional and mental turmoil and emotional trauma of those who were incarcerated here over 150 years ago have been encapsulated in a bubble.
Sadly, it is also the site of a violent crime where 35 people were gunned down in 1996.
Regardless of all this bleakness, there is a natural beauty in the surroundings and the ruins that overpower your senses and leave you feeling a mixed sense of pride and sadness
Port Arthur was originally established in 1830, and soon after became a major industrial settlement. Convicts were sent there to work in the timber and agricultural industries and by 1841 it became a punishment station for repeat, serious offenders. This was Van Diemans land and was considered to be as remote from the rest of Australia,let alone the world,as one could get.
You can still get a sense of what the buildings would have looked like.
The penintentiary
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/pen1.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/pen2.jpg
The Guards Tower
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/tower.jpg
The Cottages one of which housed William Smith O’Brian,an Irish Protestant Parliamentarian and revolutionary who lead a failed uprising who tried to fight for Ireland’s independence from Britain.
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/cottages.jpg
It was also considered experimental in that they designed what became known as ‘the separate prison’. This was a new idea in prisoner reformation and it was though that complete isolation,where a prisoner could contemplate his sins in complete isolation would lead to reform.They would be locked in total darkness and silence for up to 30 days fed only on bread and water. 1 Hours exercise each day,after the first 3 days.
His name was no longer spoken,only a number. The wardens wore slippers so that they could hear their every move.
In the Chapel, they would be lead into a standing only pew, a door was shut between each prisoner so they they couldn’t see one another
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/chapel.jpg
and,the only view from their pew was of the minister.
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/chapelview.jpg
In the foreground to the right is the isle of the dead.The burial site of 1100 people, both convicts and soldiers and they families.
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k160/sylvie_011/isleofdead.jpg
I am lucky enough to count this as my second visit here and it was as incredible as my first time.
‘Without hope, man is nothing”
posted by Wanda Ring at 2:10 PM
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