Today was the day to confront the tragic history of Tasmania, traveling North about 85 km, one encounters the Historic place of Port Arthur, it sits in a beautiful and very protected bay, discovered by a ship transporting convicts in 1830 and immediately was deemed ideal to establish a prison and/or a rehabilitation and training center.
In my previous trip to Australia I recommended the reading of “The fatal shore” by Robert Hughes, and for anybody coming to Tasmania this is an indispensable source of information which will help to understand the tragedy that happened here. And why like many people say this? We have to contemplate the context of the times: In 1976 the American colonies gained their Independence from England , leaving the British without a human waste basket, there was mounting political pressure on the english leaders to get rid of thousand of convicts, result not only of the criminal element present in every country, but many other men, women and children that had broken the restrictive laws passed to protect the people of means, which became completely inhumane and truly irrational.
An example was to consider children as young as 4-5 years old capable to commit crimes susceptible to imprisonment as early as 7 y/o as they were supposed to know already right from wrong and by 9 they could be put to death !!!!!! History shows that one of these children became a convict in Tasmania after stealing 3 toys and was condemned to serve 7 years !!!
The children were confined to a nearby island (Point Puer) where they were trained to work, but they suffered extensive sexual abuse by adult convicts and the jailers although the British always refused to admit it.
The women had it much worse than the men, whether they already were prostitutes before being convicted or not, once they were imprisoned practically all became prostitutes as they were customarily abused and raped, with the usual results of pregnancies and/or sexually transmitted infections, some were used as maids and other were taken to factories in Hobart
The men depending on their crimes or how they behaved, were confined to different sections of the prison, they had to obey more than 100 rules and if they broke any of them , anywhere from 5 to 100 lashes would be applied, and the lash was known as the cat of nine tails, and was kept in a box until was needed (hence the expression “the cat is out of the bag”) and the way it was constructed was designed to inflict maximum pain and injury.
It was made with a rigid handle and 9 strips of raw hide to which the guards would tie knots and let dry , therefore when it hit the back of the prisoner, it would cut the skin causing bleeding and actually stripping the tissue exposing the spinal and/or thoracic bones (ribs and vertebrae)
There was always the doctor present to decide whether the prison could take all or only part of the punishment requiring his attention consisting in washing the wounds with salt water, anesthesia , antibiotics and pain medication were not available. The average life of a convict was 37 years, the guards faired slightly better at 47.
Sadism or mercy seemed to have been the different characteristics of the Governors of the penal colony.
At some point there were around 2000 inhabitants between convicts and guardians, some were rehabilitated, stayed out of trouble and recovered their freedom becoming productive citizens, others were incorregible and either died, tried to escape and were either killed or put to death by hanging. A group that escaped to the Australian outback, were so ill prepared that to survive had to kill each other and practice cannibalism, others were either killed or saved by aboriginals.
Around 1200 that died were interred in the Island of the dead, their tombs marked with a stone if they were guards or free men, but in unmarked graves if they died as convicts, even in death they meant nothing and deserved accordingly.
In summary this was a sobering day to reflect on the cruelty of men, always excusing themselves with the principle of authority and with religion. There were two churches in this settlement which lasted about 20 years and then it was closed and abandoned, but soon reconstructed after becoming a tourist attraction.
In my previous trip to Australia I recommended the reading of “The fatal shore” by Robert Hughes, and for anybody coming to Tasmania this is an indispensable source of information which will help to understand the tragedy that happened here. And why like many people say this? We have to contemplate the context of the times: In 1976 the American colonies gained their Independence from England , leaving the British without a human waste basket, there was mounting political pressure on the english leaders to get rid of thousand of convicts, result not only of the criminal element present in every country, but many other men, women and children that had broken the restrictive laws passed to protect the people of means, which became completely inhumane and truly irrational.
An example was to consider children as young as 4-5 years old capable to commit crimes susceptible to imprisonment as early as 7 y/o as they were supposed to know already right from wrong and by 9 they could be put to death !!!!!! History shows that one of these children became a convict in Tasmania after stealing 3 toys and was condemned to serve 7 years !!!
The children were confined to a nearby island (Point Puer) where they were trained to work, but they suffered extensive sexual abuse by adult convicts and the jailers although the British always refused to admit it.
The women had it much worse than the men, whether they already were prostitutes before being convicted or not, once they were imprisoned practically all became prostitutes as they were customarily abused and raped, with the usual results of pregnancies and/or sexually transmitted infections, some were used as maids and other were taken to factories in Hobart
The men depending on their crimes or how they behaved, were confined to different sections of the prison, they had to obey more than 100 rules and if they broke any of them , anywhere from 5 to 100 lashes would be applied, and the lash was known as the cat of nine tails, and was kept in a box until was needed (hence the expression “the cat is out of the bag”) and the way it was constructed was designed to inflict maximum pain and injury.
It was made with a rigid handle and 9 strips of raw hide to which the guards would tie knots and let dry , therefore when it hit the back of the prisoner, it would cut the skin causing bleeding and actually stripping the tissue exposing the spinal and/or thoracic bones (ribs and vertebrae)
There was always the doctor present to decide whether the prison could take all or only part of the punishment requiring his attention consisting in washing the wounds with salt water, anesthesia , antibiotics and pain medication were not available. The average life of a convict was 37 years, the guards faired slightly better at 47.
Sadism or mercy seemed to have been the different characteristics of the Governors of the penal colony.
At some point there were around 2000 inhabitants between convicts and guardians, some were rehabilitated, stayed out of trouble and recovered their freedom becoming productive citizens, others were incorregible and either died, tried to escape and were either killed or put to death by hanging. A group that escaped to the Australian outback, were so ill prepared that to survive had to kill each other and practice cannibalism, others were either killed or saved by aboriginals.
Around 1200 that died were interred in the Island of the dead, their tombs marked with a stone if they were guards or free men, but in unmarked graves if they died as convicts, even in death they meant nothing and deserved accordingly.
In summary this was a sobering day to reflect on the cruelty of men, always excusing themselves with the principle of authority and with religion. There were two churches in this settlement which lasted about 20 years and then it was closed and abandoned, but soon reconstructed after becoming a tourist attraction.
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