Port Arthur Sketchbook, Arthur Phillips & Patsy Adam Smith

Published 1974 | Pages 64 | Hardcover | English

Port Arthur was described by Anthony Trollope as “the most remarkable, as it is probably the most picturesque, prison establishment in the world.” To begin with, Port Arthur was a comparatively gentle prison, but when the reign of Capitan O’Hara Booth began in 1833 the convicts fell into the hands of one of the strictest taskmarkers since the Pharaohs. During eleven years, the town and prison were built by the convicts, and they worked so well that many of the walls, towers, and other features still stand as their monuments. “Convicts have no souls,” said the prison parson, and the prisoners, treated as beasts, often reacted bestially. In this book, Pasty Adam Smith tells the story of Port Arthur from its first almost Utopian settlement tot he days when the people of Tasmania somewhat reluctantly realised that the employment if convict labour was an abiding shame. She writes of the ladies and gentlemen who were insulated from the horrors which when on around them, of the convict rogues,heroes, craftsmen, and eccentrics, and of those who defied the system until at that they were rowed to anonymous graves on Dead Island. Her lively and informative text is illustrated by Arthur Phillips, who knows Port Arthur well and has captured its past and present atmosphere

Condition: used condition, some slight wear and tear, dust cover has some tearing.
Weight 0.2kg
Height: 22.5cm
Width: 14.5cm
Depth: 1cm