Port Arthur

Port Arthur is a small town and former penal settlement on the Tasman Peninsula in Tasmania, the island state of Australia. The town is about one and a half hours drive from the state capital Hobart.

It is home to the Port Arthur Historic Site, a magnificent site preserving a rich slice of the former British colony’s rich convict heritage.

Port Arthur is today an amazing assemblage of colonial ruins and restored buildings, set amid 40 hectares (100 acres) of English oaks and open space.

Port Arthur is located about 100 km south-east of Hobart on the Tasman Peninsula. Motorists should allow at least 1.5 hours to enjoy the scenic drive along the Tasman and Arthur highways. It is recommended that you allow 4-6 hours, preferably an overnight stay to fully appreciate the Historic Site and the many visitor services on offer.

To enter the site bypassing the Port Arthur visitor centre, there is a small bush track near the second and third parking area, a little up form the lookout. The bushwalk down the slight slope will take about one minute and will take you directly into the site.

Port Arthur was first established as a timber station in 1830, supporting the infant colony of Van Diemen’s Land. It became the site of a major penal (prison) colony for male convicts from 1833, a place of secondary punishment for re-offenders, in the 19th century era of convict transportation to Van Diemen’s Land (the former name of Tasmania). It very quickly gained a reputation as a “hell on earth”. At its peak in the late 1840s, Port Arthur became a near self-sufficient settlement, driven by the labour of its tormented inmates.

Ultimately, after a couple of decades of decline in the 1850s and 1860s, Port Arthur finally ended its days as a penal settlement in 1877.

In 1996 Port Arthur became the site of Australia’s most deadly gun massacre when a single shooter opened fire on visitors, killing 35 people. Memorials to those who died can be found at the site.

Port Arthur Massacre

The Port Arthur massacre of 28 April 1996 was a killing spree which claimed the lives of 35 people and wounded 37 others mainly at the historic Port Arthur prison colony, a popular tourist site in south-eastern Tasmania, Australia. Martin Bryant, a 28-year-old from New Town, eventually pleaded guilty to the crimes and was given 35 life sentences without possibility of parole. He is now interned in the Wilfred Lopes Centre near Risdon Prison.

Resulting in the deaths of 35 people, the Port Arthur massacre remains Australia’s deadliest incident of a mass killing spree and is among one of the deadliest such incidents worldwide in recent times.