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old breakwater wall , despite an age of over 100 years the remnants are still in place offering a level of protection by a channel that takes vessels deep into the harbour .
The channel , constructed in 1902 continues into Macquarie Harbours deeper waters , the shoreline thick with native bushland , the scrubby Australian wilderness quickly taken over by temperate rainforest so dense that even daylight struggles for existence . The dark impenetrable forest a natural barrier for those imprisoned , a hell to those inexperienced .
Macquarie Harbour opens , an inlet on the northern end is where Strahan sits , a once busy port and proposed major shipping hub of not only Tasmania but the whole of Australia yet , Hells Gate had a thing or two to say about that . Now Macquarie Harbour is home to numerous Salmon and Trout farms as well as the World Heritage significant nature . And yet these seemingly serene waters hold a recent history as horrific as any could be imagined .
Sarah Island comes into view as it appears to break away from the surrounding shore . Named for the wife of Thomas William Birch , a ship owner that is said to have funded the first detailed European exploration of Tasmania ’ s west coast , Sarah Island had a short and brutal past that included being the first settlement in the area .
Just eleven years between 1822 and 1833 played host to many male prisoners who had been shipped from the penal colonies around Port Arthur to the more isolated Sarah Island . It quickly became regarded as the most brutal of all such establishments in the whole of the British Empire . The men sent here were considered the worst and the island offered little hope , in fact those sent were considered banished from not only society but life .
Escape was considered impossible ;
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