Port Arthur: Australia's Infamous Penal Colony 

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I like how you only called him “the gunman” instead of mentioning his name therefore taking away his infamy.

As brutal as my hometown's history was, thank you for the amazing episode and good use of Aussie slang.

“To the land of Drop Bears.” A sign of a well researched report.

I was lucky enough to go there a couple of years ago. Even after all the years being closed standing in the cell blocks was an earie experience like being surrounded by a thousand ghosts. What a truly unforgettable place. Would recommend to anyone. Plus Tasmania is beautiful.

As an aussie who has visited there I loved this. And I wanted to share a story I read there about a convict. This particular convict was a struggling actor and was convicted for stealing bread or something of the like. And was sent to port Arthur. He managed to escape and spent 2 weeks find a kangaroo killing it, skinning it then practicing to be a kangaroo. Once he mastered the act he hopped down the dog line (a stretch of man-made land connecting the port to the main part of tazzy). All the dogs on the line started going nuts. The guards shook it off as it was just a roo. Until one guard felt hungry and eyed off the roo. Very quickly that convict jumped up yelling please don't shoot. To think he would have made it if it wasn't for a hungry guard.

1:30 - Chapter 1 - In strange southern lands 4:55 - Chapter 2 - The inescapable prison 8:05 - Mid roll ads 9:35 - Chapter 3 - Too late for tall ships 13:20 - Chapter 4 - The panopticon 17:50 - Chapter 5 - End of an era - Chapter 6 -

As a Tasmanian, it's great to see Port Arthur get the recognition it deserves.

Thank you for making the 1996 massacre a fleeting mention, it was the catalyst in making Australia relatively gun free and where no such massacres have occurred since.

Haha the word penal makes me chuckle because I'm a 5 year old trapped in a 31 year old body.

It's a strange place Port Arthur. Today it is extremely beautiful with breathtaking scenery. And then it hits you, your brain starts to process the uncountable atrocities and you feel small, insignificant and sad. Well done to your researchers and writer, they nailed it. And thank you for mentioning the Port Arthur massacre. That is something that all Australians still feel to this day and deserves a mention here, but rightly it's own video.

If you are interested in more Australian ideas, I recommend the Beaconsfield Mine Collapse, it keep pretty much the entire nation on edge for over a week.

Loving the mention of Drop Bears, well played Simon

The use of Australian idioms was noted and appreciated. :)

One of my favourite places. It has a somber, haunting atmosphere that stays with you long after you leave.

Thank you for only briefly mentioning the 1996 incident and not mentioning any names, that is something most Australians want, the killer not to be remembered.

One other thing to note is that the Port Arthur Massacre was the turning point for guns in Australia. While a tragic event it has saved countless lives since then, and in a way Port Arthur went from a place of terror to historical ruin, to a place where such a heinous act was committed that Australians declared "No more." and restricted gun ownership.

I visited Port Arthur on a school trip a month after the massacre. It was absolutely chilling. I don't know why the school decided to go ahead with the visit but it was a lot for my 15 year old brain to comprehend, not just the incarceration and torture of the first prisoners but also that mass killing. There was a simple wooden cross erected at that time, the cafe was boarded up. We toured the ruins and listened to terrible stories. A grim day.

As an indigenous person from aus that ending made me cry so much

Hey Simon, great video mate, truly. Any chance you can get David to Wright a Casual Criminalist on the events at Port Arthur that occurred in 1996? He's a fellow Aussie mate, so he'll do it justice. Thank you. Edit: Please, Do Not say the Name of that Labotomised Bell End. David will understand.

SIMON where did you learn the word bogan?! I can only assume your Aussie writer (is it David) either way you are amazing for including this in your video!!

Thanks Morris for a penning a great episode on Port Arthur history. Very good foundation understanding before the (no doubt you have in progress) Casual Criminalist on the 1996 mass shooting. Excellent work! 👏

Can I suggest an episode on Macquarie Harbour penal colony on Tasmania’s west coast which achieved a reputation as one of the harshest penal in Australia? Where its most infamous escapee was Alexander Pearce who managed to get away twice. On both occasions, he cannibalized his fellow escapees. Interesting reads: Clarke, Marcus (1892). For the Term of His Natural Life; and Hughes, Robert (c. 1986). The Fatal Shore. PS: Governor Franklin later was commander of the ill-fated expedition through the North-West passage on the ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. These two ships also visited Tasmania while he was Governor on their way to explore Antarctica. Apologies, I’ve found myself becoming a real nerd on this stuff.

I’ve visited this place as a tourist and as an archaeology student. All of it is hauntingly beautiful and you can feel the weight of history here, both brutal and homely. And sometimes see it too. More than one ghost encounter on the grounds and that was just me. Excavated part of one of those waterfront saw pits (only the upper layers), but amazing how many finds there are there.

as an australian i'm impressed with the number of jokes you got in there. also i thinkyou should do the womens factory as a follow up to this video.

Totally forgotten about this place. I visited it about 20 years ago. It was a pretty creepy place. The same night, I was driving up North and drove straight through a bush fire. Aussie is a crazy place

Visited Port Arthur once. A penal colony seems like a long-ago situation, but at Port Arthur you can see the portrait photographs of the last six prisoners i the 1900s.

I visited Port Arthur 12mths after the terrible massacre. The coffee shop was boarded up and a commemoration was erected to the victims. I did all I could do to not cry. It was the most emotional I've ever been connected to a place. There is an eerie feel to the whole place as you walk around and imagine life for the prisoners. A very educational and humbling attraction to visit. Go and see it as it's beautiful scenery belies its past.

Fantastic and informative video as always. I visited Port Arthur in 2004 the Separate Prison was an eerie place to visit especially at night. I couldn't begin to imagine what it would have been like to have served time there. I had a few strange experiences while I was in the Separate Prison and around the site.

I'd love to see a video covering Zone Rouge in France. Such a fascinating area that is still uninhabited due to the devestation from the first world war

“Utter silence and no human contact”. Interesting approach to prisoner obedience. The padded outer walls and slippers on guards is a nice touch too.

I went there forty years ago as a kid. Such a sad and eerie place. I ate my first ever shepherds pie at the cafe which later became the place of even more tragedy.

Beautifully presented 🙏🙏

G'day Simon & Morris M., I love hearing your retellings of Australian History, Some Amazing & some Inhumanely Horrific, I hope we can keep continuing to Advance to a Better Australia that is More Compassionate & Inclusive of All, plus nice use of our Colloquialisms in the script 👍

I was in Port Arthur yesterday. The tour guide told us that they sent convicts there because slavery was starting to be seen as a no-no by the British, so they needed somebody to do the physical labour of building the colony, hence the convicts, and what constituted a crime worthy of transportation was arbitrary and changed based on required demand for labour

Been waiting for this for a while . You should do the history of Tasmania it self

I'd always thought Botany Bay was the most infamous, but that just may be the trekkie in me, the S.S. Botany Bay being Kahn's sleeper ship as found by the Enterprise in TOS episode "Space Seed"... :P

Currently obsessed with Phryne Fisher detective series (by Kerry Greenwood) so Australia is particularly interesting! Our ancestors did some awful things.

Inescapable doesn't do this place justice. You do need to visit there to get a sense of how hopeless inmates must have felt. Yes the buildings and guards are there to keep you in place but the surroundings cut you off from the outside world. There is only a narrow strip of land that connects you to the rest of Tasmania, it's so isolating. Also, a few years ago - Ancestry DNA showed me that I'm one of those 20% of modern day Australians that have convict roots. Apparently my family came to Tasmania as part of a convict settlement. So there you go 😅

The words of Frost are chilling to the bone! The fact that we, the British, were always on the cutting edge of misery and inhumane behaviour, is such a dubious honour that we would be wise not to be in a hurry to forget.

Thank you Simon, Morris and co, my greatx5 Grandfather, Henry Rowbottom landed at Port Arthur in 1844, stole 7 pence, 2 Hankies and 1 charge of Assault. Proud of the History and ability to get a Pardon and get on with life, can’t wait to take my 2 children there, now they’re old enough to understand the place and take it in, hopefully latter this year (we’re in now living in Melbourne).

Very nice Star Wars burn, Simon. 😄

Hats off to the writer for this one!

Thank you Simon for highlighting Australia and our History. Not many people know it, even Australians today. I would like to point out that Port Arthur was actually a place of " Secondary Punishment", a place for Convicts that had committed offences after being transported, particularly from New South Wales. Transportation was the most brutal system ever devised ( 250,000 Convicts were transported to Australia). I am also privileged to be a descendant of one of those ( Second Fleet). If anyone wishes to educate themselves on Transportation to Australia and the Penal System that was established here please read a book called " The Fatal Shore" by Robert Hughes. On a side note, there was one other place that was worse then Port Arthur, it was called Macquarie Harbour I think. It was on the west coast of Tasmania.

Awsome wok Simon. I lived near there for a few years as a kid. Scary place which has bad feeling hanging over it

I went there at the beginning of 2020 as part of a youth crew. It is such a beautiful place of Tassie. We went during the day and came back during the night to do the night tour. When we were in the isolation pods of the prison, I have never in my felt so depressed. We had been to other parts of the grounds and the roofless church gave me the strangest feeling of being watched yet more in a protective kind of way. That prison on the other hand, the second I got through the doors, instant, heavy and the most awful depression. Such an interesting place. Would definitely recommend and especially recommend the night tour if you can!

Another fantastic episode.

My family came to Tas because 2 out of 3 brothers were transported to Port Arthur for horse stealing in the 1830s (the third one followed them as a free settler), and were eventually freed and became wealthy residents of Beaconsfield. I went to PA in 2003, which was 7 years after the massacre. The staff wouldn’t talk about it and you were warned not to ask. It was a hauntingly beautiful place, but you definitely felt the heaviness of all the hardship - and more recent tragedy - there.

*Dunnys* and *Drop Bears* ... Mate...!!! Good one Morris M.

😮 no mention of escapee Billy Hunt. a good yarn worth looking into. While you are looking you might as well check out the stories about Black Bobs, I reckon you will get a good laugh😁

Great to see a video related to my home. Perhaps a Geographics video about Tasmania overall would get some nice attention too.

10:45 was legitimately about to get up and get another timtam...

Port Arthur is one of the most uncomfortable and disturbing places I've ever visited. It's well worth going but be prepared to feel very out of place and like your constantly being watched

She'd a tad further than 31km from Hobart old mate...it's approximately 90 min drive..I'm a local 😁 fantastic video and series keep up the great work ✌️✌️👍👍

Good video 👍

A very thorough retelling of the history of the settlement of Port Arthur and Tasmania. One thing I should point out is the use of the word "Aboriginals" at 3:51. "Aboriginal" is the adjective (i.e. some artefacts there are of Aboriginal origin), while the correct noun is "Aborigine" (the area was the home of several groups of Aborigines). However, a very informative program, as always.

OMG! I love you Simon Whistler! you are a genius.

Do a video about Yuma Arizona state territorial prison. Very interesting story!

Hahahha that star wars gag was pure gold

Bloody well done lads and lasses. 🤘👍👍🇦🇺👍🤘

16:32 Made me a subscriber for life my friend!

it's a beautiful but somber place. there used to be a youth hostel in the '80's where you could stay on site.

Thank you for a great episode. Tasmania is one of our beautiful states, and it has an interesting history.

Even worse than port Arthur was it’s outstation for repeat PA offenders, Macquarie Harbour and Sarah Is on the west coast. So bad it made PA look like a holiday camp. One of the more infamous prisoners was the convict cannibal Alexander Pearce, both the penal outpost Sarah Island and Alexander Pearce are worthy of episodes in their own right. Also of note was the “Ship that never was” a ship that was stolen by convicts to escape. Some reports put the escapees as far away as Japan.

Sadly this shipping of prisoners still happens now. A world wide known pair England natives once lured and murdered a child when they were young teenagers. Despite constantly being given new names and identities people kept finding them, not helped when both had their criminal lifestyle continue. One was eventually granted government funded plastic surgery and was shipped to Tasmania with a new identity. In the following investigation it was found that the UK has continued to do this for decades, probably still does.

Yes! The legendary drop bear got a mention! You are truly a God among men, Mr Whistler.

I'm impressed to hear of Tim Tams lol. Nothing like drinking through a Tim Tam.

More Australia please 👌

You mention Jeremy Bentham and all I think of is the little joke that Ask a Mortician used to have on their channel. They did an episode on Jeremy Bentham and for the longest time at the end of the show Bentham's head would appear on a part of the screen and someone would say "Bentham's Head" in a musical way.

I’ve been to port Arthur and you can go in the dark isolation cell and the chill I felt there was horrific, I lasted about 2 and a half minutes before I had to get out, let alone 30 days

Ayyyy! Tassie Vid!

One other use of convicts in the early days to make there life miserable was the use of a small convict powered railway. Built as a shortcut across the peninsula to bring in dignitaries. It was ran like a stage coach line with small wagons pushed by convicts with periodical staging areas to change the convicts for fresh convicts. I believe it was about 4 miles. Probably better than being locked away indefinitely in the dark.🇦🇺

I can't hear Port Arthur without thinking of Alannah and Madeline. They tragically lost their lives along with their mother fleeing the shooting, their father was instrumental in fighting for gun control. They have a foundation now that supports children suffering from or fleeing from domestic violence. They will always be remembered and thousands are helped every year in their name 💓. A side note about the convicts, I have seen recently coins and other contraband have been unearthed so somehow the convicts were getting up to stuff regardless of the inhumane conditions. Almost feel like giving them an encouragement award for effort...

Thank you.

“The great penal colony in the sky.“ haha

If people think that port airy hut was bad, they need to research mcquarrie island as it had a reputation for being one of the harshest prisons in colonial Australia if not the most

One of the worst ideas humanity ever had was deciding that instead of having convicts work it was better to have them sit in cells all day & contribute nothing to society

I would like it to be put before the Australian Parliament that their country's name be changed to "The Land of Drop Bears"

"In favor of sending people to the land of drop bears" 😂😂

Rest In Peace to those that passed away.

I've been here, it's worth the visit

Pt Arthur is a hauntingly beautiful place to visit.

1:57 VAN Diemen's Land. It was named after Anthony van Diemen by Abel Tasman, who it is now named after.

Not quite so interesting and memorable, Fremantle Jail is another colonial era prison that is on the World Heritage list which is worth a visit. No where quite has the haunting feeling of Port Arthur however.

Martin Bryant biographics or casual criminalist would be interesting 🤔 great vid as always

Don't believe in ghosts? Spend a night at Port Arthur. You will.

What's that song at 2:22? I want more music like this 🙏🏼🎻

Sarah Island is where the bad ones were taken. There's a movie called, Convict. It's about some prisoners trying to escape, and eventually eating each other to survive. True story.

Arguable Macquarie Harbour and Norfolk Island where atrocious and notorious too

I realize that knowledge of mental health has come a very far way. However, I still find it astounding how much treatment in the past was damaging rather than beneficial. It appears it was fairly obvious to some including professionals but was still adopted as treatment. I do suppose that is still very clearly occurring in modern society as well. Still so much progress needs to be achieved. 😔

My covict ancestor was "assigned" to his own wife on release and granted property in the Launceston area. What was unspoken is now a proud history good and bad.

Simon and his Drop 🐻 Bears 🐻

You should do Boggo Road prison if you haven’t already done so

Wow will have to look see if my Australian ghost hunting channel has investigated there

You should cover the Port Arthur Massacre on The Casual Criminalist. It's had a profound lasting impact on Australian society.

Thanks for that insightful and sensitive script. A gold star for the bogan reference. $0.02 from Tassie.

The comments are a cesspit, but the video was well done. Have been there myself and it truly does feel haunting in a the past is the worst sorta way. The fact that you can see how small the rooms were and what the conditions were 100 years later from the rubble just shows how shitty it must have been at the time

Would like to see a deep dive on the port Arthur massacre and the change on Australia's gun laws on one of your channels one day !

I feel famous when you mention where I live, even when you say it wrong! 🤣

Even visiting seperate prison today you feel you have to whisper