Port Arthur

On our last day in Tasmania, we did a lightening visit to Port Arthur on our way to the airport.  Port Arthur was one of the terrible prisons of colonial Australia. After trying to hide their criminal past for decades, in recent years, the Australians have taken some pride in exhibiting the artifacts of that past.  Port Arthur is a prime example.  The prison was built as a "penitentiary" inspired by the writings of Jeremy Bentham, along the lines of the Eastern Penitentiary in Philadelphia.  It now looks like a beautiful a spot rather than the hell hole it undoubtedly was in the middle of the nineteenth century.  Of course, seeing it on a bright spring day helped.