Macquarie Harbour Penal Station
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The Macquarie Harbour Penal Station was an early penal settlement in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), Australia. It was located on Sarah Island, in the remote reaches of Macquarie Harbour, and was the first to be built in the colony, in 1822. It dealt with predominantly male convicts, though some women were also sent there. Though it only operated for eleven years before being closed in 1833, it achieved a reputation as one of the Australian colonies', if not the British Empire's, most notorious and harsh settlements.
The Penal Station was set up for two central reasons - firstly, as a place where the worst convicts and those who had escaped from other settlements could be banished. The only means of access was through a narrow channel known as Hell's Gates, which resulted in the deaths of many convicts before they even reached the settlement. As the island was separated from the mainland by treacherous seas, and then from the settled areas of the colony by mountainous wilderness, the odds of escape from Sarah Island were particularly poor. The surveyor who mapped out the site concluded that the chances of escape were "next to impossible". A tiny nearby island, Grummet Island, was used as a place of solitary confinement.
There was at least one recorded escape, however; bushranger Matthew Brady was among a party that escaped to Hobart in 1824 after tying up their overseer and seizing a boat. Convict Alexander Pearce also managed to escape twice, both times cannabalising his fellow escapees.
Lieutenant-Governor William Sorell, who was in charge of the colony at that time, was also determined that the new settlement be able to reimburse the government for their expense. In this way, many of the convicts at the site were employed in the shipbuilding industry, and for a time, it was the largest shipbuilding operation in the Australian colonies. Convicts were set the task of cutting down Huon Pine trees, tying the logs together, and rafting down the river. Most of the convicts were forced to do this work in chains, and under the watchful eye of guards.
The heavily-forested island was cleared to provide the guards a better view of the convicts. A tall wall was then built along the windward side of the island to provide shelter for the shipyards from the roaring forties blowing up the harbour.
The site proved unable to support itself in terms of food, and malnutrition, dysentery and scurvy were rampant, particularly in the early years of the settlement. Living conditions were so crowded that it was claimed to be impossible for a convict to sleep on their back, and floggings were regular, with 9,100 lashes being given in 1823 alone. Ergot was added to bread made in the bakehouse, so that it would turn mouldy quickly, thus preventing convicts from saving up their ration allowances. There was a reported case in 1824 where a prisoner killed another prisoner in order that he would be executed, rather than face continued detention on the island. The island was later used for pining purposes, and was known by the piners as Settlement Island, rather than Sarah Island, though it has since reverted to its original name.
The ruins of the settlement remain today as the Sarah Island Historic Site—part of the larger Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area—though they are not as well preserved as those at the more well known Port Arthur. The island is accessible via ferries and charter boats operating out of the town of Strahan.
[edit] Sarah Island in literature
Sarah Island has been frequently featured in Australian literature and theatre, often representing the worst excesses of the British convict system.
Books include:
- Marcus Clarke's For the Term of His Natural Life.
- Richard Flanagan's Gould's Book of Fish
- Robert Hughes', The Fatal Shore
In Strahan, the main port and town on the shores of Macquarie Harbour today the long running play "The Ship that Never Was" by Tasmanian author Richard Davey dramatises the last escape from the island. His book The Sarah Island Conspiracies - Being an account of twelve voyages to Macquarie Harbour and Sarah Island furthers understanding of the history and the recent archaeological work on the island.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Butler, Richard. The Men That God Forgot. London,1977 ISBN 0-552-10469-8
- Brand, Ian. Sarah Island Penal Settlements 1822-1833 and 1846-1847. Launceston,1984. ISBN 0-949457-31-0
- Collins, Paul. Hell's Gates/ The terrible journey of Alexander Pearce, Van Dieman's Land cannibal. South Yarra, 2002. ISBN 1-74064-083-7
- Davey, Richard Innes. The Sarah Island Conspiracies. Hobart, 2002. ISBN 0-9750051-0-3
- Flanagan, Richard. Gould's Book of Fish Sydney, 2001. ISBN 0-330-36378-6
- Julen, Hans. The Penal Settlement of Macquarie Harbour Launceston, 1976. ISBN 0-9599207-3-0
- Pearn, John. Sarah Island/The infamous prison island in Macquarie Harbour, Van Dieman's Land. Chapter 1 of:
- Pearn, John and Carter, Peggy. Editors. Islands of Incarceration/ Convict and Quarantine Islands of the Australian Coast by Seven Authors. Brisbane, 1995. ISBN 0-86776-599-2
- Pink, Kerry.G. Through Hells Gates/ A History of Strahan and Macquarie Harbour. Strahan, 1984. ISBN 0-646-36665-3 Chapter 3: Macquarie Harbour: Convicts' Hell
- Rees, Siân. The Ship Thieves. London: Aurum Press. 2006. ISBN 1845131401
- Whitham, Charles. Western Tasmania: A Land of Riches and Beauty.
- 2003 edition - Queenstown: Municipality of Queenstown.
- 1949 edition - Hobart: Davies Brothers. OCLC 48825404; ASIN B000FMPZ80
- 1924 edition - Queenstown: Mount Lyell Tourist Association. OCLC 35070001; ASIN B0008BM4XC
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- notably the 'Account of Macquarie Harbour' by T.G. Lempriere from the Tasmanian Journal of natural Science of 1842-6 on pages 39-46
