Port Arthur and The Island Of The Dead

Port Arthur, Tasmania, is a beautiful, terrible place.

Port Arthur’s history as a penal colony is dark, having been the destination for the ‘hardest’ of convicted British and Irish criminals. It operated between 1830 and 1877 as a harsh prison but its more recent past as a significant historical site also involves an unspeakably tragic massacre in 1996, which claimed the lives of 35 visitors and staff, only adding to the palpable feeling of brutality at what would otherwise be a deceivingly pi...