Sarah Island:

If Port Arthur was the Alcatraz of Tasmania, Sarah Island was the devil’s backyard.

From 1822 to 1833, this isolated speck in Macquarie Harbour was home to the worst of the worst. You didn’t get sent here for stealing a loaf of bread—you landed on Sarah Island if you rebelled, escaped, or fought backsomewhere else.

And yet, somehow, this place wasn’t just punishment—it became a shipbuilding powerhouse, cranking out some of the best vesselsin the colony.

•   Boat cruise from Strahan:
  • It’s the only way in, there are no roads to Sarah Island.
  • Cruises weave through Macquarie Harbour and down the Gordon River (those misty views? Unreal).
  • The ride in sets the mood: wild, remote, and untamed.
• Walking on the island:
  • Short, guided walks with story-packed stops, but be warned, the stories aren’t pretty.

•  Shipyard ruins: Where convicts built high-quality boats, under brutal conditions.
• The old tannery and workshops: Reminders that even in hell, the colony found ways to turn a profit.
• The solitary cells and remnants of the prison: Imagine being trapped here, cut off from the world, with brutal overseers and the bush at your back.

• Alexander Pearce, the Cannibal Convict:
  • Escaped from Macquarie Harbour, wandered into the bush with six other convicts, and came out alone.
  • His crime? Cannibalism.
  • The wilderness here didn’t just kill you, it twisted you.
• Convict Shipbuilders:
  • Despite the horrific punishments, Sarah Island pumped out over 130 ships, including the Frederick, which a group of convicts stole to escape to Chile       (yep, they built their own getaway ride).
• “The Hell of Macquarie Harbour”:
  • The name wasn’t for show. The iron collars, chains, starvation, and floggings were relentless.

• Take the Gordon River Cruise:  It’s not just about the island, the journey is part of the experience.
• Layer up: Weather can turn cold and wet fast.
• Stay in Strahan: A sleepy town with charm, but it hums with history and ghost stories.

Macquarie Harbour Penal Station wasn’t your average punishment post, it was hell at the edge of the world. Sandwiched between the roaring seas and dense, unforgiving rainforest on Tasmania’s wild west coast, this place ran from 1822 to 1833, a short stint, but it packed in more brutality per square inch than most.

The main settlement sat on Sarah Island, but the whole operation sprawled across a massive area. Over 1,150 convicts were sent here (and fewer than 30 were women), most for absconding, theft, or stirring up trouble in other prisons. Some had even been caught halfway across the world, from Mauritius to Britain, dragged back in chains.

And here’s the twisted part:

While it built its fearsome reputation on floggings, irons, and isolation, Sarah Island wasn’t just a place to break men, it was a booming shipyard. They pumped out boats, timber, and skilled tradesmen like a factory line of suffering.

First, the convicts were shoved into timber-hauling gangs, a probationary nightmare. Survive that? You might “earn” a shot at better work: rowing the harbour, cutting lumber, building ships. Still a prisoner, but now a useful one.

The goal? Simple. Break their spirits, then build them back up into skilled workers. Compliance with a side of craftsmanship.

But supply lines? A mess. Isolation? Relentless. And escape? Almost impossible.
Though, as history tells us, some still tried.

By 1833, the station was shut down, its convicts hauled off to Port Arthur. But the scars stayed behind. The ruins of Sarah Island still stand, battered by the winds, carrying whispers of floggings, shipbuilding, and desperate escape attempts.