Original: Penal colony Main articles : - Port Arthur , Tasmania , Convicts on the West Coast of Tasmania From the 1830s to the abolition of penal transportation ( known simply as '' transportation '' ) in 1853 , Van Diemen 's Land was the primary penal colony in Australia .
Simplified: Penal colony Main article : - Port Arthur , Tasmania , From the 1830s to 1853 , Van Diemen 's Land was the main penal colony in Australia .