Page 10 - 1978 NAB Calendar Early Australian Maritime Life Part Two
P. 10
PORT ARTHUR, TASMANIA
APRIL The long building to the right of the centre of the work is the penitentiary. This four storey
Anthony Trollope described Port Arthur as the most remarkable, as it is building housing 657 men was completed in 1848. It was constructed on a grand scale
probably the most picturesque, prison establishment in the world This and elegantly furnished; indeed it was said to be “more like a mansion than a house of
tranquil scene gives little indication that Port Arthur was intended for the correction”. Today it is one of the settlement’s most impressive ruins.
secondary punishment of Australia’s most hardened convicts. It was On the hill to the left stands the sandstone powder magazine, which served as a look-out
opened in 1830, but most of the buildings were completed by convict labour post and guard centre. It was flanked by twin store watch towers. Between the magazine
between 1833 and 1844. Although the settlement closed in 1877, its and the penitentiary are army barracks, officers’quarters, the court, library and the
construction was so solid that much of the stonework remains. Port Arthur hospital.
is now one of Tasmania’s major tourist attractions.
This engraving is after an original drawing by the English painter John Skinner Prout, who
On the extreme right of the engraving stands Government Cottage, where was born in 1806 and died in 1876. Prout lectured and painted in Sydney after his arrival
the Governor and his entourage came for relaxation. It was noted for its fine there in 1840, then went to Hobart in 1844. While there, he organized Australia’s first art
English gardens. James Blackburn, later Town Surveyor of Melbourne, exhibition. He travelled and worked in Victoria before his return to England in 1849. The
designed the church beside it, which dates from 1836. The spire seen here original drawing was probably completed during Prout’s period in Tasmania, although the
fell off in 1875, but much of the original stonework has been restored.
engraving was published.
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