Port Arthur and Historic Coal Mine

The plan for today was to visit Port Arthur and if time permitted to visit the historic coal mines that were part of the convict life on the Tasman Peninsular. We arrived at the Port Arthur site and after some discussion we decided to buy the silver pass. They have a range of passes available depending on what you want to see and how much time you have. The silver pass gave us entry to the area, a cruise on the bay and in our case an escorted tour of the Isle of the Dead, la nice lunch and a 40 minute talk on the area and the history.



We then drove to the area on the other side of the Peninsular where the coal was mined. It is spread over a large area and is much larger than I anticipated. The area had barracks for housing prisoners, soldiers and key staff. They had a signal station that used their flag system to pass messages from hilltop to hilltop back to Port Arthur and even to Hobart. There is evidence of large holes or shafts that have collapsed as well as the main shaft and Air vent. There is a lot of walking to get to some of the places and their are 3 car parks in key locations, so you don't have to walk the whole area if you don't want to.