Nowhere is more evocative of convict Australia than at Port Arthur, on the Tasman Peninsula. It was an isolated location on a rugged coastline making it an ideal penal colony. Port Arthur was home to up to 12,500 convicts from 1830 to 1877. They lived under the threat of the lash and an isolation system that often drove them to madness. Escape was rare and many stayed until the end of their lives.
Today’s Port Arthur rests in peace amid English oaks and green lawns that roll to the water’s edge. You can wander around by yourself but I strongly recommend taking one or more guided tours, which leave the Information Office at regular intervals. The guides are excellent and each will concentrate on a different aspect of the site. Tours visit the penitentiary, asylum, officer’s quarters, and the notorious Model Prison. The Model Prison was operated on the theory that complete isolation was an effective form of rehabilitation. Prisoners were not allowed contact with each other, and you can now inspect the chapel where wooden partitions isolated each of the inmates from others even during worship.
A ferry trip to the Isle of the Dead is a chilling experience. As night falls, guided ghost tours operate and there are screenings of the classic Australian film, "For the term of his natural life", filmed at Port Arthur in 1926.
Allow several hours to see the site and enjoy a picnic in the grounds or take a meal or snack at the restaurant. There is a museum and other attractions enough for a complete day.