Convicts transported from England's overflowing prison system made a major contribution to Tasmania's settlement and development.

Although some convicts returned to the United Kingdom at the completion of their sentence, a substantial number settled to become the farmers and business and professional people who helped build Tasmania into a thriving community.

As the remaining number of convicts reduced, country prisons and probation stations, including Port Arthur, fell into disuse.

The existing facilities left over from colonial times in Hobart and Launceston became the basis of the Tasmanian prison system for those persons who committed offences within Tasmania.

[3] By 1900, the Launceston Gaol, which by then held only a small number of short-term prisoners, was under the control of a superintendent who reported to the governor in Hobart.