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Point Puer
Point Puer from the Isle of the Dead, photographed in 1880
(AOT,
PH30/1/1203)
Point Puer
operated from 1834 to 1848 on the Tasman
Peninsula, the first British purpose-built reforming institution
for criminal boys. It predated Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight by
four years and was initiated by Lt-Governor Arthur
at a time when children were being seen in their own terms,
rather than as small adults. The objective of making constructive
colonial citizens out of transported teenagers was to be achieved by
separation from adult convicts, with education, trade training and
religious instruction being the vehicles to change immoral habits.
Point Puer peninsula and
buildings can be seen in the background in this sketch by N Remand,
'Etablissement penitentiare de Port Arthur' (ALMFA, SLT)
A combination of
management and resourcing issues, together with the defiant culture of
many boys, resulted in the establishment producing mixed results. While
some boys continued to offend as adults, others used their trades and
pursued honest and successful lives. (See also Port
Arthur.)
Further reading: P MacFie & N
Hargraves, 'The empire's first stolen generation', THS 6/2,
1999.
Nigel Hargraves
Copyright 2006, Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies |