Death and burial at Port Arthur, 1830-1877

This thesis examines the subject of death and burial at Port Arthur by testing assertions used in current interpretation of the graveyard, the Isle of the Dead. The issues addressed relate to who was buried there, how many, causes of death and methods of interment. In order to fulfill the aims, relevant death and burial registers were transcribed and compiled on to a database. It has been demonstrated that the number of dead believed to be on the island was too high and an alternative figure is suggested. Those in unmarked graves were found to be not just convicts but a mixture of convict, pauper, invalid and lunatic, thus illustrating the complexity of function of this penal settlement. Indeed, the pattern of burial mirrors the transitional stages of Port Arthur's development, as well as social attitudes of the age.