Year 5 visit to Port Arthur

On Tuesday Year 5 visited Port Arthur as part of their Term 2 History unit. The students enjoyed amazing weather, allowing them to experience the site at its best. Year 5 experienced a cruise on the harbour, a 50-minute educational tour and an afternoon spent searching for historical clues in competing teams as part of a special ‘The Amazing Race.‘

Here are some of the students’ recollections:

In the hospital at Port Arthur, convicts were helped if they were sick or hurt. The hospital had 80 beds. The building was a ruin and some of the walls were knocked down. There was no roof either. The hospital was up on the hill. Joel Bresnehan 5A

In the hospital the surgeons didn’t have any anaesthetic, so the operations would have been very painful. When a convict was shot in the arm, their arm was sawn off. This would have taken about ten minutes! Youngjae Kim 5B

We took turns going into the Punishment Cell. It was a bit scary at first, then I found it interesting that the convicts were punished by being put into the cell. The cell was very dark and you couldn’t see anything. Chloe Tarvydas 5B

The Chapel was located in the asylum. The convicts weren’t allowed to talk in there but they were allowed to sing. When the convicts went into the Chapel there were narrow, claustrophobic boxes they had to stand in. They were in rows and quite small. If they were standing in the boxes, you could only see their heads. Neena Fraser 5A

You can see more photos on our web gallery: Port Arthur

Ms Beth Graham and Ms Michelle O’Grady - Year 5 Teachers