Answer:
Port Arthur was one of Australia's most brutal convict colonies. Convicts were subject to floggings, ofte with a cat o' nine tails, for minor infractions. A cat o' nine tails was a whip with nine leather strips, or tails, each embedded with a sharp triangle of metal which would dig into the convict's skin and literally rip it out with each stroke. Between the 1830s and the 1870s, Port Arthur was often referred to as "hell on earth". A convict who tried to escape would receive an average of 100 lashes.
Port Arthur was a very labour-intensive convict colony. Convicts were put to work in various industrial and manufacturing industries such as ship-building, smithing, timber getting, brick making and even shoe-making. Timber-getting was the worst, being an uncomfortable, hot and dirty job.