Port Arthur is a historic site in Tasmania, Australia, that was once a penal (prison) settlement for British convicts. It lies on the Tasman Peninsula on the southeastern corner of Tasmania, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of Hobart. Port Arthur is a popular tourist destination.
Britain (later the United Kingdom) began transporting (deporting) convicts to Australia in 1787, and the first group arrived there in 1788. Port Arthur was established as a penal station in 1830. It was named for George Arthur, the lieutenant governor of Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen’s Land) from 1824 to 1836. Port Arthur soon became a settlement primarily for secondary offenders—that is, convicts who committed additional crimes after arriving in Australia. The site was remote and well-guarded. Savage dogs stationed at the isthmus on Eaglehawk Neck made convict escape more difficult.
Probably the best-known commander of the Port Arthur penal settlement was Captain Charles O’Hara Booth, who served from 1833 to 1844. During his command, the settlement received almost 6,000 prisoners. Using convict labor, Port Arthur became nearly self-sufficient, producing bricks, clothing, furniture, timber, and other products. Booth established Australia’s first passenger railroad, in which convicts pushed cars carrying passengers and supplies over rails. The line ran between Norfolk Bay Station (now Taranna) and Long Bay, a distance of about 41/2 miles (7 kilometers). He also developed a semaphore signaling system to communicate with Hobart Town. It used a series of tall poles with arms that could be set in patterns to represent coded messages.
In 1834, Booth established a settlement at Point Puer, across the bay from Port Arthur, to separate young male prisoners from the adults. By 1842, there were more than 700 boys at Point Puer. Trades taught there included baking, blacksmithing, boatbuilding, carpentry, coopering (the production and repair of wooden containers), sawing, shoemaking, and tailoring.
Booth also developed coal mines at Plunkett Point on Norfolk Bay that served as a punishment center. Convicts transferred there worked under harsh conditions and at times were kept in underground isolation cells.
In 1853, the British government ended convict transportation to Tasmania, and the last convict ship arrived in May. However, the Port Arthur settlement remained in use until 1877. More than 12,000 convicts served time at Port Arthur.
Beginning in 1880, several bushfires destroyed much of the settlement. The most serious fire occurred in 1897.
In 1979, the state and federal governments began a seven-year project to develop the penal settlement as a historic site. Officials preserved or redeveloped many of the settlement’s structures, including houses, a church, prison buildings, and a hospital. In 1987, the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority (PAHSMA) was created to oversee the preservation of the site.
On April 28, 1996, Port Arthur was the site of a tragic massacre by a gunman. Martin Bryant, a Hobart area resident with a history of mental illness, shot at tourists and residents, killing 35 people and wounding 21 others. The shooting was the greatest mass murder of white people in Australian history. The gunman pleaded guilty to the murders and was sentenced to life in prison. The massacre led many Australians to call for stricter gun control. In response, the federal government overcame opposition from gun supporters and passed sweeping reforms of Australia’s gun ownership laws.
In 2004, PAHSMA was given responsibility for the Coal Mines Historic Site, near Saltwater River. This site features the remains of Tasmania’s first coal mine. In 2011, the Authority was given responsibility for the Cascades Female Factory Historic Site in South Hobart. This site was the home of an institution for female convicts.
In 2010, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) added the Port Arthur, Coal Mines, and Cascades Female Factory historic sites to its World Heritage List as part of the larger Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Property. The UNESCO World Heritage List recognizes areas of cultural and natural importance. 
See also Convicts in Australia; Tasmania (History); Transportation of convicts.
