The dog line which ran across the Neck was devised by John Peyton Jones: It occurred to me that the only way to prevent the escape of Prisoners from Port Arthur in consequence of the noise occasioned by the continual roar of the sea breaking on the beach and the peculiar formation of the land which rendered sentries comparatively useless, was to establish a line of lamps and dogs. I therefore at once covered a way with cockle shells so as to show a brilliant light on the ground at night and proposed that a certain number of Lamps be supplied and rations for a certain number of dogs (9) to be so placed that they could not fight although eat out of the same trough, and render it impossible for any one to pass through. (Peyton Jones, 1852) Any break of the scrub, movement or slightest noise would set the hounds barking and alert the sentries. Dogs were also placed on stages out in the water to detect absconders attempting a sea crossing. They made an impassable barrier. When one of the sergeants foolishly decided to test the effectiveness of the line he was attacked, receiving a severe wound from one of the dogs. Melville described the guard dogs as a fierce and motley bunch: Those out of the way pretenders to dogship were actually rationed and borne on the governments books, and rejoiced in such soubriquets as Caesar, Pompey, Ajax, Achilles, Ugly Mug, Jowler, Tearem and MuzzleemÉ There were the black, the white, the brindle, the grey and the grisly, the rough and the smooth, the crop-eared and the lop-eared, the gaunt and the grim. Every four-footed, black-fanged individual among them would have taken first prize in his own class for ugliness and ferocity at any show. (Melville, c. 1840) A convict handler was responsible for their care. It was he who brought their meat, shook up their beds, was their friend, and caressed them. Today, a cutting through the sand dunes marks the location of the dog line. As an additional security measure constables huts were positioned along both sides of Eaglehawk Bay. A similar, but smaller, detachment of men also guarded East Bay Neck (Dunalley).
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 07:00:05 +0000
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