The Convict History (in brief)

The Convict History (in brief)
At Port Arthur
Prisoners transported to “Van Diemen’s Land” were incarcerated in some of the most brutal gaols and penitentiaries in Australia if not the southern hemisphere, to write all the history on a convicts time here would take forever, so we have made it simple and brief, (there are some other historical web site that explain it better that can be found on our link up page), the convicts came from the British Isles and Norfolk Island, their crimes and atrocities ranged from, Rape/ Murder/Violent attacks, to theft and small misdemeanors. These were arranged classes;
Class One; Convicts given “Ticket of leave” and were granted leave and also helped to find higher paying work.
Class two; Convicts were placed with settlers to become their servants and to do jobs in and around the property, some of it paid work.
Class three; Convicts worked with the Government (no pay), they built bridges, churches, towns and large homesteads.
Class four; Convicts were assigned to road gangs
Class five; Convicts worked in heavy chains and in hard conditions.
Class six; Convicts worked hard labour for they time at Port Arthur.
Class seven; the most vicious and harden convicts were placed in isolation and in heavy chains.

Convicts were giving clothing; both men and boys

Woolen Jacket
Waist Coat
Trousers
Shirt
Cap
And a pair of boots

Food given;
Men

¾ lb of uncooked meat
¾ lb of vegetables
½ oz of salt
1 ¾ of flour

Boys

1 ¾ bread
¾ salted beef or pork
½ lb potatoes
1 lb of cabbage or turnips
¾ oz of salt

Cell Hell
The cells at Port Arthur arranged in different sizes;
Penitentiary Cells were four foot wide, six foot long and nine foot high, with three shelves (shelf one was for plate, shelf two was for water and shelf three was for the rolled up hammock). The door was thick wood, with a small window and a smaller door for food.

Isolation Cells
Those placed in these cells would have no light, no window, and alone. They would be placed in there for certain acts and placed in there for just days or weeks only being let out for church services and some times hard labour. In side the cells convicts would wear irons and ball that weight up to 30 kg, weeks alone would do terrible things to the mind, some went insane, some committed suicide and others came out changed almost shut off from all around.

Labouring for convicts
The convicts are the foundation for starting Tassie, towns like Richmond, Oatlands, Ross, Campbell Town, Fingal Valley Region, Norfolk Plains and Port Arthur, were built by the blood, sweat and death of convicts. They would work ten hours a day, working in the freezing winter or the blazing summer, they would lift large rocks the weight (fifty kg) and turn them into bricks, lifting large timber and carrying it hundreds of meters. They even pushed higher society folk around in carts that were on train lines for miles even from Port Arthur to Richmond.

Punishments

Floggings of the “Cat O nine tails” a arm length handle with nine strips of leather, with metal ball bearings or small sharpened pieces of metal, which they would whip convicts, serving deep embedded cuts to the back and arms, no modern medical creams to help with the wounds, instead they would rub salt into the wounds, some convicts would receive 30 to 100 lashes of the Cat O nine tails.
Hard Labour wearing 7ft chain attached to both legs and another chain attached to right leg with a fifty kg lump of wood.
Isolation in chains with the fifty kg piece of wood

Point Puer
The boys prison, mostly aged from five to eighteen, the treatment was just as brutal as the men’s, but also copped it from the other boys if they dobbed one of their own in. Some young fellows though suicide was best by jumping of what is known as Suicide point, they would jump into the ocean, death would take them by drowning or the sharks, the boys would get constant whippings, days without food, but the worst was isolation, horrible place for a five year old.

Eaglehawk Neck
A place missed sometimes of history tales; those who worked the area were in for extreme backbreaking work, for one there was the pushcart on a train line, which went from Port Arthur to Richmond? Working the forest cutting trees and carting them on a make shift cart, building roads, homesteads. The work was unforgiving and if convicts had any thoughts of escape, they had to pass the Dog Chain, a few miles of dog, savage bastards ready to tear a man to pieces. The terrain was harsh and temperatures dropped into the minus especially in the winter (during the day) snow would fall on them as they worked.

Saltwater River
Those who worked there never saw sunlight again, they worked in the mines and their cells were under ground aswell. The conditions were unbearable up to 8 men per cell (no bigger than the average toilet) a lot of deaths from fighting and male love happened under ground…. Many a men were executed under ground; you only got this punishment if you raped another man or killed another man. They would work up to 15-hour days, sleeping when they could if they could that is…. Some described the place worst that Port Arthur. The ruins are still standing today and it’s only a short walk to the opening of the mine.

Around the state there were other Penitentiaries, which were just as fearsome as Port Arthur

Sarah Island

Maria Island

Female Prison

Richmond Gaol

Hobart Penitentiary and Chapel

Old Launceston Courts