Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage

Port Arthur. 60 kilometres south-east of Hobart on the Tasman Peninsula. From 1833 to 1853, Port Arthur was home to some of Britain's hardest criminals. It was the place they sent the convicts who had re-offended or who just would not 'behave'. Port Arthur had some of the strictest measures of the British penal system. Port Arthur was an example of the Separate Prison type or 'model prison'. This was based on theories put forward by Jeremy Bentham, an English author, jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. The Separate Prison model signaled a shift from physical to psychological punishment. The idea behind it was that physical punishment such as whippings and beatings only hardened criminals and did nothing to reform them. The Separate Prison and its Silent System was supposed to allow time for the prisoner to reflect upon the actions which had brought him there. Prisoners were hooded and made to stay silent. Many of the prisoners in the Separate Prison developed mental illness from the lack of light and sound.

Walking around the property and exploring the buildings, the weight of the things that had gone before was palpable. The memories or the ghosts, perhaps, were almost like a presence.