Convict hell : Macquarie Harbour, 1822-1833 / David W. Cameron

"The year 2022 marks the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the penal settlement at Macquarie Harbour. This convict penal settlement located on the isolated primeval rugged west coast of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) quickly gained a reputation as an 'Earthy Hell'. Colonial historian John West succinctly recorded in 1852: 'The name Macquarie Harbour is associated exclusively with remembrance of inexpressible depravity, degradation, and woe. Sacred to the genius of torture, Nature concurred with the objects of its separation from the rest of the world, to exhibit some notion of a perfect misery. There, man lost the aspect and the heart of man .... This was just the beginning for those sentenced to Macquarie Harbour the barbaric treatment from officials and fellow convicts alike, resulted in Macqurie Harbour representing a true convict hell hole, not only resulting in murder, but in cannibalism by several men in their attempts to escape." -- Back cover screen.