Port Arthur, Tasmania

“ Domestic servants are in demand and their wages are fair.
The Australians of the mainland seem to consider the people of Tasmania as slow as the New Yorkers do the Philadelphians. They have a saying: “Don’t send a live man to Tasmania; send flowers.” I have heard it said that the island used to be peopled by women, children, and graybeards; for as soon as the boys reached man’s estate they crossed Bass Strait to Victoria or New South Wales. This, however, is no longer true; Tasmania is waking up, and its people think it has a big future as a manufacturing centre for all Australia. ”

“ For many years the island was inhabited by greybeards and children; the young men and women of all classes, so soon as they bad reached manhood and womanhood, crossed Bass Strait, and entered upon the wider life and the more brilliant prospects which first Victoria, and subsequently New South Wales and Queensland, afforded them. It was not till the sixties that Tasmania embarked upon a new period of prosperity. ”

“ The dead past has buried its dead; the island is now purified; as in the parent colony, free immigration has gradually extinguished the evils and almost the remembrance of the convict days, and a new Tasmania has arisen on the ruins of the old penal Van Diemen's Land. As the island has one of the finest climates in the world, it is a favourite resort for excursionists during the summer season. ”

“ No one ignorant of the western country of Tasmania can form a correct idea of the travelling difficulties. While I was resident in Hobart Town, the Governor, Sir John Franklin, and his lady, undertook the western journey to Macquarie Harbour, and suffered terribly. ”

“ The new settler landed his rum duty free, when intended for his own use; but smuggling was carried on to a large extent, and the protection of the revenue required a [Pg 100] more severe supervision. The rigour was not always exercised with courtesy; and the vallise of Mr. Edward Lord, formerly acting-governor, was detained by the naval officer, with some expressions of indignity.
The merchants were deeply offended by the imposition of a duty at Hobart Town, higher than was fixed by Brisbane at Port Jackson, as injurious to their trade ”

“ Nearly fifty years have elapsed, since Van Diemen's Land was numbered with the colonies of the British empire. A generation has risen up and is passing away. Thousands, while they venerate the land of their European ancestors, with an amiable fondness love Tasmania as their native country. They will, hereafter, guide its affairs, extend its commerce, and defend its soil; and, not inferior in virtue and intelligence, they will fill an important position in the vast system of Australasia. ”

“ Notwithstanding that Tasmania is noted for the salubrity of its climate, and the magnificence of its scenery from one end of the island to the other, still there are localities which may claim the preference, perhaps, in the eyes of the visitor who is in search of health and the picturesque. There is no part of the beautiful island that offers the same attractions as the North East Coast in the neighborhood of George’s Bay, for here there is a combination of majestic grandeur with Arcadian beauty. ”

“ Earl Grey disallowed this ordinance, at the recommendation of Sir William Denison, as not only in itself oppressive, but calculated to retard dispersion, and counteract the royal prerogative. The great argument of the advocates for transportation in New South Wales was, however, founded on the impossibility of checking indirect transportation through Van Diemen's Land. Men landed in Tasmania, crossed over to Port Phillip, and were often traced by their depredations.
The sense of impotence is not the least painful element of unjust suffering. ”

“ Occupying a geographical position highly favorable to trade, and in the vicinity of extensive forests of valuable timber, there can be no doubt that within a few years their settlements will become of great importance. Within a few hours' sail of Port Phillip and South Australia, their timber will find an increasing market, and enable their settlers to turn to good account what often elsewhere proves an incumbrance. The population of the district, which is called Horton, is about 900, and the number of houses 137. ”

“ There is room for a very great further development of the resources of Tasmania; but the colony is now on the right track, and her future is certain to be prosperous.
The Tasmanian natives were of a different type from those of Australia, having more of the negro in them. They were even ruder and less advanced in their habits, although not without qualities of simplicity and good-humour that were attractive. When white men first landed in their island there were about 7,000 of them roving through the forest and living upon opossums. ”

“ The roads are equal to the best European highways, having been built at great expense by convict labor, winding through fields that recall, as we have said, the finest of American rural scenery, presenting at the same time scarcely a shade of newness. The people who have built such complete cottage homes here have surely done so with the intention of staying. The very sunshine seemed more golden, the trees more green and graceful, and the skies clearer and bluer than on the continent left behind. Indeed, Tasmania might be a big slice detached from England and drifted into the South Sea. ”

“ In the country districts, the police magistrates act as coroners, and in the districts of New Norfolk, Richmond, Oatlands, Campbell Town, Longford, Horton, and South Port, as commissioners of the court of requests. In the first five of these districts they are also deputy chairmen of courts of quarter sessions. The chief and best constructed road in the island is that which connects the towns of Hobart and Launceston. It is 121 miles in length, and 30 years were spent in its construction. The population, according to the census taken on 1st March, 1851, is 70,130 ”

“ Port Arthur, one of these, is on the last-named Peninsula, a sterile spot of about 100,000 acres, surrounded by sea, except where a narrow neck of land connects it with the main island; and this isthmus is guarded, night and day, by soldiers, and by a line of fierce dogs. Nothing particularly deserving of further notice presents itself, and therefore we may conclude our brief sketch of Van Diemen’s Land, wishing it and all the other British colonies in Australia a progress no less rapid in religion and morals, than their recent progress in commerce, agriculture, riches, and luxuries has been. ”

“ And since that time Tasmania has settled down to the production of potatoes, contentment, and jam. The guide-books call the island the Sanatorium of the South. That, of course, is the alliterative sort of thing guide-books usually give way to; but Tasmania really has a most delightful climate, which Sir Edward Braddon very justly describes, after dinner, as balmy, and which is as much its characteristic boast as is his Harbour to the Sydney man. The island is about twelve hours by steamer from Victoria: and for many years it has been known to jaded Melbourne folk as a holiday resort ”

“ His lordship lamented the revival of transportation to Van Diemen's Land, and said that it arose from unavoidable circumstances. He declared his adherence to the plan of dispersion, and his belief that South Africa, Port Phillip, and other colonies would afford an ample outlet for the prisoners. Circulars were accordingly sent to the Cape of Good Hope, the Mauritius, New Zealand, New South Wales, and Swan River. The Swan River colonists, a few hundreds in all, accepted the offer. South Australia refused. In New Zealand the people of both colors deprecated the plan. ”

“ The city lies amid surroundings of great natural beauty in a valley enclosed by lofty hills. Cora Linn, about 6 m. distant, a deep gorge of the North Esk river, the Punch Bowl and Cataract Gorge, over which the South Esk falls in a magnificent cascade, joining the North Esk to form the Tamar, are spots famed throughout the Australian commonwealth for their romantic beauty. The city is the commercial capital of northern Tasmania, the river Tamar being navigable up to the town for vessels of 4000 tons. ”

“ The town of Stanley, which stands on the eastern side, contains an episcopal church, a Roman catholic chapel, a post station, a custom-house, three inns, and some substantial buildings. It has also a benevolent society, and schools. There is a resident police magistrate. The Van Diemen's Land Company has an extensive establishment here, and a considerable trade is carried on between the settlers in the neighborhood and Victoria, to which large quantities of timber, potatoes, and other produce grown on the fertile farms on the coast, are shipped in small vessels belonging to the port. ”

“ They were perpetually disturbed by violence. One old man spent thirteen years on an island, alone. He cultivated a plot of ground, and sold the produce to the boats which floated about. Several times robbed of his crops and clothing, by these contemptible spoilers, he, at last, was compelled to renounce his rude independence. In King's Island, families sat down; but Colonel Arthur, sensible of the great danger of these associations, sent the harbour master to the Straits, who arrested absconders, and released native women from slavery. ”

“ The settlers purchased even the clothing of the prisoners, as preferable to the skins of animals by which they were often clad.
The resources of the colony were developed: Mr. Birch, an enterprising merchant, fitted out a vessel to survey the western coasts (1816) , and Captain Kelly discovered Macquarie Harbour and Port Davey: Captain Florence found [Pg 51] a new species of pine, very highly valued by artificers. Mr. Birch was rewarded with one year's monopoly of the trade he had opened.
The whale fishery was considerably enlarged: corn was exported ”

“ They find a ready market in Australia, a matter of only a few miles away. So in time Tasmania is bound to be one of the great fruit-growing countries in the world.
Where once the first convict colony made its camp the beautiful city of Hobart stands. It is every bit an English town. The business part of the city consists of fine, substantial buildings; most of the residences are low-built and half hidden in gardens of roses. The school-houses are as good as those in any American city of the same size, and the schools themselves are equal to the best anywhere. ”

“ The coast tract, as well as the greater part of Gipp's Land, assumes entirely the physical characters of Tasmania. Some of the plains along the coast, westward, near Port Fairy for example, boast of the richest soil in the country. Other parts are low, and subject to inundation, and in these are found the native tea-tree, which it is almost impossible to extirpate. Large tracts of heath are also found, and at intervals, especially at Wilson's Promontory, and the eastern part of Gipp's Land, reaches of shifting sand extend continuously for miles. ”

“ You see, Tasmanian women have many points of difference compared to those in the other colonies. Tasmania is only a small island and the inhabitants, especially in the South, do not trouble themselves much about business or anything that conduces to worry. They pass their days in happy serenity so long as they have enough to live upon. Being a very healthy country, the birth-rate is enormous, considering the population. ”

“ The first crops were prolific: the early settlers chose the more fertile and open plains; and many selected sites for their dwellings on natural lawns of surpassing beauty.
The dispatch of vessels direct from England rapidly increased the population: in one year (1822) six hundred settlers entered the port, and by the capital which they invested, and the habits of decency and enterprise they exhibited, gave a new tone to the colony. A succession of publications drew attention at home to the capabilities of Van Diemen's Land. ”

“ At the southern extreme of the peninsula lay Port Arthur, having an excellent harbour, of difficult entrance but wide within, and with plenty of deep water. To Port Arthur were sent all convicts in the classes little less criminal than those of Norfolk Island, their number being some 1,200, their work chiefly what is called in the Western Hemisphere "lumbering," or procuring wood for the sawyers and shipbuilders, who were also convicts. ”

“ Tasmania is an island rich in beautiful scenery—extremely beautiful all Australians tell you,—its mountain-ranges culminate in the lofty peaks of the Cradle Mountain, Ben Lomond, and Mount Humboldt. It is clothed with forests, in which the gum-trees attain to an extraordinary height. The climate is perfect, with a clear atmosphere and cool breeze, so that Tasmania has come to be the great sanatorium of Australia. ”

“ The Telegraph hotel is considered the principal one. There is a Bank, Post Office, and Telegraph Office in one neat building. A Police Office and Commissioner of Mines combined. There are two general stores. The climate of George’s Bay is unquestionably the finest in Tasmania. [11] It is warmer than the Capital and not subject to such sudden transitions of temperature. There are very keen frosts in Winter, and also occasional frosts in Summer, but the sun beams out with resplendent glory through soft blue skies, flecked with fleecy clouds, after them. ”

“ The island is within three days' steaming distance from Adelaide, one from Melbourne, two and a half from Sydney and four from New Zealand. With several fine harbours, a soil and climate equal to any in the world, a considerable coal supply, and as yet only a limited population to resist attack, Tasmania {225} would present to any hostile power not merely an opportunity but almost a temptation to establish a Gibraltar in the Southern seas. Tasmania has strong commercial reasons for wishing to federate with Australia. ”