liacK and so forms a shelter from any 
westerly winds whirl] sweeii across the 
area on occasions, but tins year were 
conspicuous by their absence. 
Alons this laindy strli, euctilypts and 
other .shrubs as.si.stcd in the formation 
of an ideal camp site, and as there 
was a plentiful supply ot frc.sh water 
at both ends ot the camp comiltions 
were atmost ideal. At ihe .soulhein 
end of the bay the cncirclimr htil. curv- 
inp ea.stward formed a iirolectiiiK arm 
from the south againsl the Ioiik ocean 
rollti’.s which .sw'ept in at tlu loot of 
the ftreat .sand dunes at Halt .Moon 
Ifaj. IJeyoni! the ba.v ihe rouniled oul- 
lincs of lirown Jloiintain formed a liis- 
tinctivc landmark, whd.st tiirther to 
the wc.st tlic coa.stllne .sheltered such 
interestliii; places as the i!l(.whole, the 
lieiTiarkable Cave, and other n.otiiral 
w onder.s. Some miles awav the pictu- 
re.stiuc battlements of Capi' K.ioul jiro- 
ject far into the .sea. and the nomen¬ 
clature of the headland recalls the pi¬ 
lot of IJ'KntrecasteaUK’s ex|iloring' ex¬ 
pedition of 1792. 
On Saturday most cf the camiiern 
paid a visit to Carnarvon, the town- 
shi|) of I'ort .Arthur. Miic.h has been 
written concerning: the days of the old 
convict regime, and much misitading 
information still continues to be distri¬ 
buted concerning those early days of 
last century when the general tenor of 
luiblic opinion .vas .so far removed from 
what it i.s to-day. 
Of the thou.sands of visitors who vi.sit 
this historic .spot annually, how many 
really lake time to consider Ihe his¬ 
tory of the idace in Us true perspec¬ 
tive? 
To begin with, I’ort .Arthur lias heen 
lifted far aliove its correel position in 
the initial selieine ot cilonisnlicii of 
.VustraUisia owing to the publication 
of such hooks as “'the Term of Ilii 
Natural late." I'he average visitor 
looks upon I’ort Arthur as the .A I plus, 
and Omega of the (ra when the lirit- 
ish Government utilised its uiuvuited 
subiects as Ihe mean.- of opening up 
new regions fur settlement. There were 
large .stations in many other p.irt.s of 
Auslralin. and even iK'.vond onr .shores, 
hut these have long hren crowded on; 
by the rapid expansion of population. 
These conditions do not apply In the 
same degree to Port Arthur, and the 
natural consequence is that it becomes 
more and more the Mecca of those who 
desire to study the, methods of the past, 
.some owin.g to a true historical desire, 
but many from a merely superllclal 
curlo.sity. J • j 
The true hi.story of Port Arthur yet 
rema.ins to be written, and much infor- 
rnaliou yet remains to be gathered be- 
lore this can bo accomplished. An Il¬ 
ium inatlng document has recently been 
drawn attention to by Mr. VV. Gio- 
lin, of Gondon. it is no les.s than the 
private journal ot Captain Charles 
G'Hara liooth, who was Commtindant 
on the Peninsula during the period at 
which the settlement wa.s e.xpanding 
under the inlluence of his exceptional 
powers of organisation. 
•Mr. Giblin, witti the permission of 
.Major Ifictiimond, the owner of the 
diary, made nunicrou.s extracts from 
ilie .same, and forwarded such exfi-acts 
lor the i.ihrary of the Ho.val Hociety 
of Ta.mionia. l'’urthor. lie wrote a 
liapir on the .siibjeci which was pub- 
nsheil in Ihe I’apers and Proceedings 
of the Poyal Rocicly of Tasmania for 
1925. and this paper sliould be read by 
all wlio ilc.siri' to obtain an In.sight in¬ 
to the trite historical perspective of 
the I’ort \rthur settlement. 
Many items drawn attention to by 
Mr. Gilihn arc worthy of mention: 
but in tlie pre.seni instance there i.s 
Iml space to mention one or two. 
Shortly helore leaving England Cap¬ 
tain liooth and others held an excur¬ 
sion to sre the Manchester train. The 
novelty .it this will bo realislM when 
d i.s recalled That the excursion took 
ploce mil siv years after the opening 
Pi the firsi piililic railroad tn England. 
.As Ml'. (Jihiin reniark.s, "It is reason¬ 
able to supiose that the tramway be¬ 
tween Long liav and Norfolk Hay l>ro- 
ieeteil and begtin b.v the Commandant 
in ltdiC owed it.s origin to the experi- 
enee gained in Lanenshiro.” Trace.s oi 
this old Iramway can still be .seen. 
An outstanding feature of the jour¬ 
nal is Ihe inner light thrown upon the 
Co.'nm.indant'.s feelings towards his 
ehar.ges. In si>ite of nuieh that has 
bi'en written and more that has heen 
said, it I.s clear lliaf Charles O'Hara 
Hootli, us well :is many othe>’ olticial.s. 
who were associated with him. treated 
bis cliiirges in a just manner. It must 
alviays be reiuemlicred. now'ever. that 
his personal inclinations as regards le¬ 
niency or otherwise were aUvavs made 
sul.'.servient to "the .sy.stcm,’’ that codo 
of rules and regulations laii! down by 
the Home authorities. 
One more item, and w'c \vill pas.s on 
to more rceeni times. In de.scriblng 
Or. Hrownln.g's visit to the settlement 
in 1836 Ihe diary contains the followdng 
entry:— 
4 
