Explore Tasmania’s dramatic coastline on a Cape Raoul cruise that launches from the historic Port Arthur jetty. Photos: Supplied.
Travel teaches you to understand. Education teaches you to think. Combine these two maxims and the enlightening result is an excellent way to learn about history and culture.
The awareness of being at a place where historic events took place is important. Port Arthur, Tasmania, remains a physical chronicle of a dramatic part of Australian history, with a past that’s diverse and horrific. The Port Arthur Historic Site, a UNESCO World Heritage location, is the main draw, showcasing Tasmania’s convict past. It is considered a favoured tourist destination, consistently ranking high in popularity.
While many other locations on the island attract visitors, Port Arthur is a major historical attraction showcasing Tasmania’s convict history. It was once a brutal prison for convicts in the 1800s. Over its long history, Port Arthur has been a place of hardship and punishment, a place of opportunity, and a place of leisure.
It is considered one of the best-preserved convict sites in the world and is a popular day trip journey’s end for families. Now it is one of Australia’s most important heritage destinations, where the story of Australia’s colonial history is written in stone and brick.
Visitors have the chance to look into the lives of convicts and other historical figures, and can explore more than 30 buildings, ruins, and gardens, including on a boat trip to the Isle of the Dead. Beyond the historical site, the region boasts stunning coastal scenery, hiking trails, and wildlife attractions such as the Tasmanian Devil Unzoo.
On the scenic Turrakana/Tasman Peninsula, in southern Tasmania, Port Arthur, a village and historic site, is about 100 kilometres south-east of the state capital, Hobart. It’s known for its dramatic coastline, including sea cliffs, caves and waterfalls, as well as its rich history as a penal settlement.
The Guard Tower at historic Port Arthur in Tasmania.
The well-preserved remains of the 19th-century penal station include a large penitentiary, solitary cells and a roofless church built by inmates. Cruise to the Isle of the Dead to see the settlement’s graveyard, and stick around after dark for a ghost tour through the historic site – said to be Australia’s most haunted place.
About 12,500 convicts served sentences at what is now the historic site combining sombre prison scenes with the neat homes and gardens of soldiers and free settlers.
The peninsula’s second World Heritage-listed convict site flies under the radar, but is itself a special and evocative place. Tasmania’s first operational mine was worked by the “worst class” repeat-offending convicts, and today it presents a scene of uncrowded ruins and historic tales. A two-kilometre walking trail – one of Tasmania’s 60 Great Short Walks – meanders through the site, which once housed up to 600 convicts.
The small peninsula combines rich cultural sites with a raft of coastal features. It hangs by a thread to the Tasmanian mainland, with only the 100-metre-wide isthmus of Teralina/Eaglehawk Neck preventing it from becoming an island.
Much of the promontory is protected as Tasman National Park, which wraps along the highest sea cliffs in the Southern Hemisphere and around a trio of capes that poke into wild seas.
Tourism Tasmania says cruises offer close-up views of the dramatic coast, with opportunities to spot wildlife such as dolphins, seals and whales.
The Three Capes Track has been hailed as Australia’s premier coastal bushwalking experience, spanning four days and three nights.
Explore Tasmania’s dramatic coastline aboard Cape Raoul Cruises’ new luxury catamaran, launching from the historic Port Arthur jetty. This 90-minute wilderness journey showcases the Tasman Peninsula’s most spectacular natural wonders, just 90 minutes’ drive from Hobart/Nipaluna.
Aboard the Tasmanian-built Port Arthur Explorer, sightseers cruise beyond World Heritage-listed convict sites into Tasman National Park. Marvel at Cape Raoul’s 170 million-year-old dolerite columns soaring 300 metres skyward, spot lounging Australian fur seals and witness the white sands of Safety Cove waving at the azure waters.
This $2.2 million initiative by Pennicott Wilderness Journeys continues the company’s commitment to eco-tourism with cutting-edge fuel-efficient technology and low emissions.
Become an intrepid traveller. Tasmania’s Three Capes Track is 48 km of cliff-hugging wildness. Linger along the coast and cliffs on this walk, which begins with a boat trip from Port Arthur and ends four days later on the white sands of Fortescue Bay. The track ventures south to Cape Pillar and the sharp-edged Blade, overlooking Tasman Island. Few places on Earth feel so remote, so raw, so removed from the ordinary.
A captivating journey through Tasmania’s convict past, Port Arthur Historic Site blends chronicled exploration with stunning natural beauty!
