University of Tasmania
Browse
Convict_prison.Gothic_ruins..pdf (2.11 MB)

From convict prison to the Gothic ruins of tourist attraction

Download (2.11 MB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-26, 10:33 authored by Goc, NE
This paper examined the transformation and commodification of Port Arthur from a convict prison to the Gothic ruins of a tourist attraction. Before the concept of preservation became the main emphasis of the Port Arthur site there was a period of time when historical and natural heritage bled into one another in a cycle of construction and destruction. this paper will explore the ways in which the site, in its ruined state, was interpreted and utilised from the late 1870s. The concept of ruins as a tourist attraction in Australia has correlations with the European construct of teh Grand Tour and its modern counterpart -mass tourism. The romancing of the ruins of the old prison site began to occur very soon after bushfires swept through the settlement creating what some commentators referred to as Australia's own Tintern Abbey "."

History

Publication title

Historic Environment

Volume

16

Article number

3

Number

3

Pagination

22-26

ISSN

0726-6715

Publication status

  • Published

Repository Status

  • Open

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC