1. Travel

Prison Ruins

Port Arthur

View across the water

Across the water, ruins of a convict past

© Tourism Tasmania and Sarah Quine
South Port Arthur was established in the 1830s as a penal settlement and remains a physical chronicle of a dramatic part of Australia's history. Historic Port Arthur, a National Heritage site, has become Tasmania's most popular tourist destination.

Across the water, all that remain are the walls of the colonial penitentiary which housed the convicts of a past era. Much of the penitentiary structure that could be preserved remains on its original site.

©2012 About.com. All rights reserved.

A part of The New York Times Company.