Port Arthur - Dockyard

[xenith]

The road leading to the dockyard. The eucalypts along the edge of the road were apparently planted in 1860, just in case you ever wondered what 150 year old gum trees looked like.



The dockyard was established in 1834, soon after settlement , to build boats and ships. It made use of the abundant timber available locally and provided an opportunity to train the prisoners who worked there with new skills. It closed in 1848, because private ship builders found it too hard to compete against the cheap labour. Admittedly there was a recession in the 1840s.

IIRC there were two slipyards. A large ship-shaped sculpture now occupies one. The house on the left was built after the closure, on the site of the blacksmith's forge. The house on the right was the home to the Master Shipwright and his family. The other buildings of the yard are marked out on the grass with metal lines. You might be able to make out one on the far left, this side of the path. When you approach one, it triggers associated sounds, which is rather effective outside.


The shipwright's house, coming up the driveway.


Dark inside, making the windows reflective and hard to see through. For me.


The camera managed it. The walls are brick nogging (the timber studs are filled in with non-structural-brick) covered with what I take to be old-style plaster (not the sheet stuff that's used these days) on the inside and weatherboard on the outside.


View from the water's edge shows the commandant's house and the military section. Although I don't think the officers' accommodation (the orange cottage) was built then, but the barracks would have been visible. Maybe a place to pause your work just for moment and plot revenge on those across the cove?