There's no public transport to the top of the mountain, but you can get buses to Ferntree, one of Hobart's outer suburbs, and do the return walk to the summit in about six hours. Organised bus tours run all the way to the top. Between 1830 and 1877 about 12,500 transported convicts were imprisoned at Port Arthur, on the shores of a beautiful bay and set against the tranquil hills and forest of the Tasman Peninsula. Many of the sandstone prison buildings remain and have been preserved. Archaeologists and historians have pieced together the history of the prison and the sad story is told in an excellent display in the visitors' centre.
Buses run during the week.
Richmond is packed full of 19th century buildings, and with its abundance of 'oldests' is known as Tasmania's premier historic town. The town was once a strategic military base and convict station, but in 1872 a new highway, which bypassed Richmond, was built, and the town has stood stuck in time ever since. The northern wing of Richmond Gaol was built in 1825, five years before the settlement at Port Arthur, and is the best-preserved convict jail in Australia. Richmond also has the oldest Catholic church in Australia - St John's Church. The Van Diemen's Land Folk Museum, which lives in a fine Georgian home in Battery Point, is the oldest folk museum in the country.