Our Tackling Tasmania road trip in an EV wouldn’t be complete without visiting Port Arthur. This is a place with a troubling history, both from convict times and a more recent event that shook Australia to the core. It’s an easy day trip from Hobart, but as you’ll read below there’s so much to see it might be worth doing an overnight stay.
Theoretically we could have made this trip on a single charge. The EV6 hasn’t been performing to it’s WLTP rating on this trip (fully loaded with a lead foot in the drivers seat), but still has plenty of range to spare. We’d be coming back in to Hobart at about 25 to 30% which is fine, but what if we get distracted by something and want to take a bit of a side trip. There aren’t any fast chargers for electric cars at Port Arthur, so we plan on topping up at Dunalley on the way down, and we have this same charger as a contingency on the way back. One of the reasons Port Arthur was chosen for a penal colony back in the 1830s was that the only road in or out went over two narrow strips of land. The closest to Port Arthur is Eaglehawk Neck. This made it easy for the prison guards to effectively seal of the entire peninsula as a prison.
There was a second equally narrow pass a bit further up towards Hobart at Dunalley, which was considered as a backup point in case the prisoners ever breached Eaglehawk Neck. All road traffic is naturally funneled to these choke points and this is where the charger is located. You can’t get to or from Port Arthur by road without going past Dunalley and the charger. It’s situated down a side street and in peak season there’s a cafe open. We’re travelling on the shoulder period though there’s not much here other than a few small walks and a children’s playgound. The kids are getting too old for kids playgrounds but nevertheless occupy themselves on the swings. We’re at 63% and it takes less than 15 minutes to get us up over 80% on the 60kW charger. We make a quick detour into the centre of town to get something from the convenience store and we’re on our way.
Port Arthur Historic Site
We pull in to the Port Arthur Historic Site car park a bit under two hours after leaving Hobart. We quickly spot the school group from Derwent Bridge and smiles are exchanged.
This is a place full of history and to a large extent cruelty towards our fellow humans. Port Arthur was a secondary prison, where those convists that didn’t behave out in the general population. Generally convists who were well behaved were often contracted out to free settlers as labour or domestic servants with some level of freedom to move about, albeit under the constraints of their masters. It was only if they mucked up out here that they got sent to Port Arthur.
The main aim of Port Arthur was to rehabilitate and reintroduce prisoners back to society after they’d served their time. It was only the worst prisoners who were subjected to the horrors of Port Arthur’s “Separate Prison” where prisoners were kept in strict isolation, unable to even speak, and only referred to by their cell numbers rather than name. We learn about many of the prisoners and are surprised at how few were “locked up”. The whole peninsula was effectively a prison and most worked in the quarries, forestry, boat building or other industries. Life was tough and safety standards low. There’s so much information to take in, and so many buildings to see that it takes us all day. Our tickets are valid for a second day, and we could probably have come back for more if we had time.
Isle of the Dead
Every visitor can go on a boat tour of the harbour, as this is included in your entry fee, but for a small extra fee, you can get a tour of the Isle of the Dead. We opted for this and the tour boat dropped a group of about 20 people off with a guide for a tour. Land ashore was very well utilised with the various industries that there was no room for a cemetary. Hence this small island became the final resting place of about 910 people. There are marked graves on the higher ground for the free settlers, soldiers, guards and civil workers. On the lower side there are a few hundred prisoners who while they have separate graves, have no markers. The authorities of the day didn’t think prisoners deserved a lasting memorial. The pictures above show the stark difference between those who ‘deserved’ a makred grave and those who didn’t. Mike, our guide, is excellent and really knows his stuff. The group listen intently and Mike easily answers our questions.
About 40 minutes later, the boat came back to drop off a second tour and we returned to the main settlement. The same school group is aboard the ferry and we wave and smile again. I’d highly recommend this tour, but as places are limited it’s best to book online well ahead of your arrival. They only run the tour once or twice a day depending on demand. Access to the island is not permitted unless you’re on an official tour. Tours run around lunchtime. If you’re pressed for time you can eat on the ferry, otherwise there’s a cafe in the visitor centre, and in peak season a second cafe operates up near the Separate Prison.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the various buildings, reading about the inhabitants, such as chaplains and doctors who helped keep the prisoners healthy. Ironically the life expectancy of prisoners was higher than that of the general population due to the care given to making sure they were well fed, clothed and housed, even with the high accident rates attributed to poor safety standards. Spiritual guidance was probably a little over the top for my liking.
Back to Hobart, and ‘free’ ice cream
We had planned to visit a Tasmanian Devil sanctuary in the area, but spent so long at the Historic Site that this became impossible. If you want to do both sites, then I suggest staying in the area. There are a couple of options with destination chargers for EVs, so you can top up overnight.
Doing the Tackling Tasmania road trip in such a short timeframe does have it’s drawbacks and we miss out on seeing the devils. Had we had more time we might have also taken the car ferry across to Bruny Island, but I feel we now have an excuse to return.
Next stop Hobart, and we’re back at our apartment by around 6 pm with 47% still in the battery. We possibly didn’t need that top up at Dunalley, but if we’d visited the Devil Sactuary that might have been different. We go downstairs to a thriving Mexican restaurant for dinner and then the kids want ice cream again. Thankfully it’s not raining and we drive over to one of the chargers near the ice cream parlour, plug in and walk back with our ice creams.
These are AC chargers, and I’m going to need about 4 hours to get fully charged up, but I’m happy and comfortable in the apartment while the car charges, and it’s a very short walk. There’s a 2 hour limit on the parking spaces, so about 9.30pm, I wander over to the charger to check on the car. I noticed one of the other chargers was free and decided it best to avoid the chance of a fine by moving. I also needed to verify the charger was working as expected, it was fluctuating and any eagle-eyes out there might notice it was at 0.1kW when I took this photo.
Click here for our review on our BYO Type 2 Charger Cable
Technically I’ve parked for 2 hours on one charger, and plan another 2 hours on the next one, so I’m not breaking any rules. We’re up from 47% to 74% at this stage. I stop to read about Mawson’s hut at the museum replica hut on the corner as I walk back to the aprtment. It seems every corner around the Hobart docks reveals another little piece of history. It’s a pleasant, although chilly night out, and the streets seem very safe. It’s Friday night and there are some party goers around, but it’s not busy. When I return at 11:30pm we’re at 96% and ready for tomorrow’s drive.
The slight inconvenience of having to go out a couple of times to get this charging done is tempered by the fact that it’s all FREE for electric cars here. How often did we get free petrol given to us in our ICEVs? Not very often I’m guessing. It’s only about $40 worth, but still, it helps keep the average cost of our electricity down for the trip. It more than paid for our ice cream. It very nearly paid for last night’s ice cream as well.
This is the third time we’ve found free electricity and the savings are mounting up. It won’t be the last. Again I’ll remind you: don’t forget your charging cable, as these freebie chargers are almost exclusively BYO cable affairs.
A note on the events of 1996.
In April 1996, a lone gunman was repsonsible for Australia’s worst gun massacre, killing 35 innocent people, including families with young children, in and around the Port Arthur Historic Site. The Broad Arrow Cafe was the scene of 20 of those killings. This shell of the cafe now stands as a solemn memorial for all 35 killed. A place of reflection and quiet. Please treat it with respect.
The killer was captured the next day at a farmhouse nearby, where he’d killed the elderly occupants and was hiding out. I’m not going to glorify the killer by naming him here. He is serving life in prison without the prospect of parole.
This led to the biggest shake up of Australian gun laws ever, and a massive buy back scheme was introduced where gun owners would be compensated for surrendering their weapons. Debate still rages in, and outside of, Australia about these gun law reforms.
The fact is, we haven’t seen a killing on this scale, or anywhere near it, in the nearly 30 years since. There has been a marked decrease in gun crime. Those with a legitimate need can still legally own guns provided they have undergone the necessary license checks.
Please pay a visit to the Broad Arrow Memorial, then try to put this out of your mind for a little while to really embrace the rest of the site.
