It is now Wednesday Australian time and we spent yesterday at Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania and today we are at Port Arthur, the site of a notorious prison where transported convicts who offended in the colonies were sent for rehabilitation. However, the treatment they received here was tantamount to mental cruelty in that they were never allowed to have contact with any other prisoners. It was considered more humane than flogging but was actually a form of psychological torture.
It became a delelict ruin later and then an historic site popular with tourists. It was here that Australia's last gun massacre occurred in 1996 when a weird fellow by the name of Martin Bryant systemattically shot anyone in sight, killing 35 and wounding 23. Thie event resulted in national laws concerning gun ownership that have had the effect of making Australia a safer place than it was before.
It is hard, walking around this well kept site, to imagine such an horrific scene on that fateful day.
.. I hope someone else is hosting your Christmas dinner this year ..