Guided Hobart Shore Excursion: Port Arthur Historic Site & Tessellated Pavement

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Port Arthur Historic Site, Arthur Highway, Port Arthur, Tasmania 7182 Australia

Port Arthur Historic Site. Over its long history, Port Arthur has been a place of hardship and punishment, a place of opportunity, and a place of leisure. 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. Well when you have a reference quote as ‘a machine to grind rogues honest’ that’s not going to end well for the people that were sent there. You will get the chance to meet some of the people who have passed through this place, walk where their stories unfolded, and learn about Port Arthur’s evolution from a feared convict settlement to a World Heritage-listed Historic Site.
The Port Arthur penal settlement began life as a small timber station in 1830 and quickly grew in importance within the colonies. Ship building was introduced on a large scale to Port Arthur as a way of providing selected convicts with a useful skill they could take with them once freed. You can see where the boats were built while on the harbour cruise, with many of the best ships of the time coming from these docks.
Port Arthur Historic Site is a large site holding a great many stories. Places like the Penitentiary, which was originally constructed as a flour mill and granary in 1843, before it housed hundreds of convicts in dormitories and solitary cells; or the much-feared Separate Prison where the notorious quiet cells were, as well as the punishment cell - a fully enclosed no light cell, where harsh physical punishment was replaced with punishment of the mind; and the unconsecrated Convict Church, where authorities sought to reform Port Arthur’s convicts through a regime of religious instruction and worship.

Duration: 3 hours

Stop At: Tessellated Pavement, 380 Pirates Bay Dr, Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania 7179 Australia

The Tessellated Pavement is something that is unique in the world. The strand connecting the Tasman Peninsula to the rest of Tasmania is covered in a pattern of regular rectangular saltwater pools. Although these depressions look distinctly manmade, they are the result of a rare type of natural erosion. It is a phenomenon that only happens in a few places worldwide. It has a mosaic like formation where the saltwater has eroded the rock to form these small crater-like squares, hence forming a ‘mosaic’ like pattern, in reference to the Roman mosaic floors that were common in the era that they would have formed.
The area in general is of great historical importance, because in 1832, a military outpost was setup to watch for escaping prisoners coming from Port Arthur penal colony, and dogs were positioned along the isthmus / neck to raise a ruckus if they spotted an escapee & you are able to see a statue of one positioned on the Eaglehawk Neck Road.

Duration: 40 minutes