Most people that visit the Tasman Peninsula are here for one purpose - to either hike, or to see the penal colony at Port Arthur, a UNESCO site that is the best example of a colonial convict settlement anywhere in the world. We'd seen it twice before, so we weren't interested in it this time, but lucked upon a place that was just as interesting, near Lime Bay on the same peninusula. A twenty minute drive from the turn off to Nubeena and Port Arthur, it's off the beaten track a little, and we didn't see a single other soul there which was just to our liking.
Along the track that leads to the campground, there's many places to turn off and walk through the bush to see the various elements that made up this settlement, including old mine shafts and military barracks. However, we started at the main ruins - clearly not as well preserved as Port Arthur, but spectacular none the less.
One enters through an outdoor mock tunnel with plaques that detail the history of the place, including the timeline. It's really well done and worth spending a few minutes reading the walls.
The setting was beyond compare. Now, there's trees growing up all around but back then, it would be all open ground as they cut so much of it for shipping, the mines, and fires. There would have been no places for prisoners to hide.
I love old ruins, as they're so photogenic - it would have been great to come back at sunset. I also love the human history on the stones, noticing the cut of the axe, the carvings in the fireplace, the human effort that would have got toward building the place. I don't know whether they appreciated such views back then but goodness, if you could renovate and build a house there, I wouldn't say no. Some of these buildings were a bakery, some a chapel, some living quarters. It was all built around 1842. One of the plaques told of how they came to make the coal mine, and knowing nothing about doing it, had to hire a hard ass convict to basically run the place.
The discovery of coal here - a seam some 2m thick - was a bit of a boon for colony, because not only could it supply it's needs, it'd also supply a good punishment for convicts that couldn't follow the rules. You could imagine how tough these guys were having been convicted of crimes in the UK and shipped to the other side of the world. It was Joseph Lacey that had the only practical mining knowledge so they had to rely on a convicted criminal to run the place, which seems a recipe for disaster to me!
By the start of the next decade it was mechanised with a steam engine to pump water from the shafts. It's possible to find the old boiler. There was also a tram system to carry the coal from the mine shifts to the cargo boats. It must have been hot and uncomfortable work - men did double shifts of eight hours each in the hot shafts. No way was it an easy job:
This was the spookiest part - solitary isolation cells which were used to punish prisoners. I couldn't even imagine being locked up there in the dark on a freezing winter day or night. The penal colony believed that religious instruction, hard work and hard punishment could reform these men but if you think about it half of them would have carried trauma from their lives before even being shipped here, and it must have been hell being so far from family, forced into hard labour, and being in such squalid conditions. Reform was never going to be achieved.
About 500 metres up the track is the military barracks. It would be so awesome to restore, but if restored, you'd be paying fees to get in to see it. Sometimes ruins are more poetic and more beautiful.
We also spied a ghost mushroom on the track which would have been super cool to come back and photograph at night, as they glow in the dark. It was a gorgeous specimen and the warmer evenings would have been perfect to get the proper glow going. However, neither of us actually fancied a convict ghost encounter either, so we gave it a miss.
The stories on the plaques around the site, coupled with the buildings themselves, really filled in the bigger picture of the mine. It never was particulary successful and one of the excuses they had for shutting it down was because homosexuality was rife. THey say the dark underground places were 'sinkholes of vice' and they tried to curb it with better lighting and segregating the prisoners at night. They did work in close confines - I'm not sure we can blame them for getting close. I sure as hell would want to snuggle up to another body after a hard day's work - you gotta have some pleasure, right? Who knows what the truth is. History can be funny like that, especially if there's no one left to tell the real story.
In the end this was one of the excuses for shutting it down, and whilst I unde]rstand that it would have been really looked down upon, reading between the lines it looks like it was a political story as the mine wasn't that successful anyway and was costing the colony too much. It was shut in 1877, only producing 60 tonnes of coal.
Later, in 2010, along with 11 other sites, it was listed as World Heritage.
It's well worth a visit - there's so many stories to read and you get a real feel for the place, without the theme park, touristy vibe.
It's open all the time, and entry is free.
With Love,
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Hahaha! I'm a little disappointed, do you believe in ghost stories? You should have gone back there to take that shot so I borrow your image and use it as my favorite screen saver. That glow would have been the coolest.
Such historic place! It'll be definitely worth a visit. Nice photographs BTW.
I'm so keen to get back down to Tasmania...My 2020 trip was cancelled due to the shenanigans and fuckassery. I think next year for sure.
Oh yes I thought of you when I wrote this.
We will go back in Jan. Do the west coast in Defender. I hope!
I'm not jealous at all.
Yes I am. Lol.
January is a good time for it. Nice weather.
Let's hope we have the pop top ready by then! I might have to withdraw Hive to pay for it...😢
Hmm, well I think that it's a valid reason to do so. It's something that value-adds to your life and at the end of the day that's what we should all be doing because life doesn't come by twice.
Great that you had this area all to yourself, so much history and some not proud history with the conditions the prisoners were subjected to
Thanks for joining Wednesday Walk :), I truly enjoy exploring the world virtually each Wednesday seeing walks from all around the globe and feeling I am there and experiencing it all myself, such as I did in your post just now :)
Oh yes it was so fascinating. They sure did brutal back then. Tough life, tough men. Can't even imagine dealing with what they had to endure!
OHh yes I to would not want to experience what they had to back then
Good picture display I can see it clearly.Thank you very much, friends, for providing pictures of the mines.
I have been there a life time ago.
it is a powerful place to visit, being what it has been and with the modern history event that made it famous.
It's an amazing isn't it? Such well preserved history.
Please please do!!! It was awesome to see the ruins, but THAT would really make a post! Oh, and the glowing mushroom would be fun too :)
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Ahaha yes it would have been a cool post for sure!!! Maybe next time...thanks for stopping by!
YES!!! I want to see that convict ghost 🙌🙌🙌
Wow, great adventure there. Love the old ruins. You saw so much even mushrooms. Pretty cool.
Great views around. Thanks for sharing @riverflows 😊
Happy Wednesday 👋🏻☀️
Happy Wednesday to you too, beautiful!❤️❤️❤️🌻🌻🌻🦜🦜
Thank you soooo much dear @riverflows 👋🏻🤗🤗🥰🥰💃🏻💃🏻
Fascinating place steeped in so much history. I don't fancy ending up in one those penal colonies. I imagine that some prisoners were brought from abroad, right? I can only imagine what that must've been like, and then to be put to work in a coal mine to boot. Dang.
I know, the distance must have been mind fucking. It actually set the scene for the Australian gothic. Such isolation in such a harsh landscape!! Hey you missed my story this week, would soooo love you to read it 🙏 I mean maybe you didn't miss it and thought it was too awful to comment 😢 but I respect your feedback so much!!
Australian gothic? That sounds like a Steampunk genre. :)
Of course I read your story and loved it. Sometimes my social brain is running on low power, so I don't comment, but I think your story-telling skills kick butt. I always look forward to reading your rebellious and rugged brand of fiction.
Thanks love. I know what you mean about the social brain, totally get it. 'Rebellious and rugged' - ahaha. I'll take what I can get.
Think gothic with Australian tint. Creaking windmills in the desert. Lost children. Lone gum trees. We have our ghosts too. And the tyranny of distance and vast fright of the wilderness certainly made for gothic overtones in a lot of Australian films too. It's a fun genre to play with.
Hehe
I love the idea of Australian gothic. It makes sense that Australia passed through similar eras as Europe, including the Victorian era. I kind of forget that Australia derives from European culture. Sometimes it feels like a separate dimension- the upside down? 😄 Perhaps one day, you'll tell us a good yarn with an Australian gothic slant.
Oh yes, to claim true blue WHITE Aussie bloodlines you have to be descended from a convict or early settler. Most of us are migrant offspring from much later due to various wars and waves of migration.
Hmmm... "because homosexuality was rife" Okay.
Or one could just say, those guys have been dicked around so much, that all they wanted was to stick it to the man.
I once heard or read that rape is not so much about sex as it's about power. And if someone has been on the receiving end of the power structure, they are more likely to dole it out themselves, to those with even less power, whether it manifests in a sexual form or not. Prisons are a prime example, but I believe you can see the same pattern in other similar institutions, such as boarding schools, mandatory military service, and probably mental hospitals. Even though I'm clearly not speaking out of experience, I believe this makes pretty much sense. Which in turn surprises me how such a basic thing can be ignored, and ascribed to "a sinkhole of vice". Though what do I know. Maybe I'm wrong and it WAS those dark places that corrupted anyone who entered.
Great post, by the way! And yes, I was also going to mention the missed chance of a ghost encounter (not to mention a glowing mushroom pic), but others were already faster.
Rape is definitely power. None of the history said it was rape, although that would have happened too and for sure, abuse begets abuse. Maybe it was also just men drawing what little comfort they could from each other. Who knows. It's lost to history. Such a fascinating story though.
You are right, neither you nor any of the info signs mentioned rape. Was I just jumping to conclusions, merely because this is a convict colony? Could the situation have been less coercive over all? Maybe it was really just men cuddling up, seeing warmth and comfort in each other's arms? Kinda like on an arctic expedition, on long sea voyages, or when an all-male rock band has been touring for a long time? I should keep in mind that just as much as violence can happen outside institutions too, not all institutions are not necessarily based on violence (especially - or even though when it's at the far end of the world).
It's interesting that I thought the positive, whereas in all likelihood there would have also been rape. Jamie and I WERE joking about how you don't want to be on a rope in the mine shaft with Big Mick 🤣
Hahahaha! No, clearly not, especially if Big Mick is mean fellow, who enjoys doing bad things to you. But he could be a sweet cuddly teddy bear kinda guy, and in that case... the two of you may forget about work for a sweet moment.
Ahahahah.... honestly, Jamie doing Big Mick's accent (very London gangster) was absolutely hilarious. WE saw him as a bit of a cuddly one for sure - but you didn't want to be the 'butt' of his affections, as once he had you in a dark corner, there was no escaping. WE had a whole story worked out and were crying with laughter. It was the whole thing about going down on a chain or rope two by two, with one guy at the bottom and the other straddled over the top, both with axes..
'Please, Superintendent - don't make me work with Big Mick!'
'Why is he called Big Mick?'
'Well.....'
😅😂🤣 Hilarious!
You really have a knack for bringing the past back to life!
I wonder how many fingers were smashed to cut all those stones o\ The blue commentary is so cool, the way it's written. Is it English from that era? I wish I could write like that.
That boiler seems riveted. Noway I'd stay near that back then, imagine if it explodes. 🤢
Yes it's English from that era, they don't write like they used to huh! And oh goodness, imagine the mining injuries! Such hard labour.
OUUUUCCCH
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