A “one-of-a-kind” model of Tasmania’s infamous Port Arthur penal colony has been brought out of storage and put back on display after more than a decade.
The 3.5-metre by 2.5-metre three-dimensional model is built to scale and depicts the site in 1870, just before it closed.
It includes more than 50 buildings, accurate topography, waterways, scale and shapes for all of the buildings from the convict period.
Port Arthur Historic Site chief executive Will Flamsteed said the longer you look at the model, the more detail you find.
“The model was commissioned 51 years ago and fast became a much-loved attraction for about 40 years, before it was tucked away in storage as part of the Visitor Centre redevelopment in 2017,” he said.
“It’s been a passion project for all of us to see the model restored and given a second lease on life, which is something that this site has done in more ways than one.”
It took Audrey Flockart more than two years to create the exact scale of the site and all its details by hand in the early 1970s.
The model is based on maps from the Lands Survey Department, historic photographs and 19th-century architectural drawings that Flockart studied intensely in libraries and museums.
Interpretation and Experience Manager David Perkins said the model captured a unique time at the site.
“We focussed on 1870 because most buildings were complete on site. Shortly after that the site shut down and in the 1890s bushfires destroyed many of the historic buildings, ” he said.
“It’s remarkable in its historical accuracy and captivating in its detail … from the contours of the land to the scale of the Penitentiary and its soldiers, everything is an accurate representation of the time.”
The model was deconstructed, placed in crates and shipped to Ewin Wood of Natural History Productions, the only available model maker to restore it, in June 2023.
“It was returned to site in March this year and it took 10 people to carefully install the model into the new showcase,” Perkins said.
