St Helena Island...

On New Year's Day, DH and I went on a cruise to St Helena Island in Moreton Bay. The day included a guided tour of the island. Our day out had been a gift to DH for Fathers' Day from DsD1. These days the 166 hectare island is a national park, but from 1867 until 1932, it was a high security prison with the last prisoner leaving the island in 1933. A brief history is here. 

 

About 15 years ago I went to St Helena Is on a school excursion; its a very popular excursion for schools because of the historical aspects of the island. That trip, we left from Brett's Wharf in Hamilton. For this tour, we left from Manly, so it was a much shorter cruise being only 30 minutes.

Manly Boat Harbour

Our tour guides were 2 'convicts'...and what an entertaining pair they were; wickedly funny actually! lol.

Arriving at the island...

 The group on the tour gathered together to  hear some of the history of the island before we started our tour/walk. We discovered that St Helena and its convicts made a lot of money for the government from the industries carried out on the island when it was a prison.

 

And then we started walking...

First stop was the old lime kiln where quicklime was made from shells and coral...

 

Just near the lime kiln were the cemeteries; these were the only things that I could remember from that school excursion in 2000.

Early in the jail's history, warders could have their family living with them on the island. Unfortunately children died from common childhood illnesses...this little cemetery was for those children...

 

 

 

And this larger cemetery was for prisoners who died...each grave is marked by a concrete cross which was made on the island.

Then it was another brisk walk to the site of the old sugar mill; in its heyday, this mill made lots of money...

 

 

Grazing cattle was also an industry in the prison...and it still continues today as cattle can be grazed in national parks according to our guide.

From when we landed on the island we couldn't help but notice all the wallabies...they were hopping madly all over the place. Our guides told us that these were not native to the island; they had been brought over from the mainland years ago by rangers...and then they just kept breeding.

 

Our tour continued with another brisk walk up to some more building ruins; cell blocks, meal areas, kitchens, bakeries etc.

Then once again we had a brisk walk to our lunch stop...

We sat under some lovely old trees in an area that originally contained cottages that warders etc. lived in...note the Poinciana and mango trees, not the usual flora in a national park...but kept for their historical significance.

After lunch we learned a bit about the punishments meted out to prisoners...pretty horrific in today's terms.

Then it was time to stop sitting and once more walk on...first stop was the old cannon. This cannon wasn't really for defence; it was for signalling the mainland. The cannon would not be loaded with cannon balls but would just be fired with a certain number of booms to indicate for example that a prisoner had escaped, or that a doctor was required etc .

We then headed to the Museum which would have been a warder's home during the time the island was a prison. The complex also included an external kitchen and various other outbuildings. I took photos of some of the old photos on display too.

I went out on to the back veranda of the Museum and took photos of the island that I could see from there...very pretty setting!

  The Museum was our last stop, so then it was another walk back to the boat...luckily it was all downhill as after walking the 5 km around the island on a hot summer's day, we were a bit weary. But it had been a very interesting and enjoyable day thanks to our 2 guides.