Tasman Peninsula - Dogline

Tasman Peninsula - Dogline

A line of ferocious dogs and a detachment of military guards once kept a constant watch along the narrow isthmus at Eaglehawk Neck. They were on the lookout for escaped convicts from Port Arthur. The military station was established at the Neck in 1832, under the command of Ensign Darling. It was a vital link in the strict security system which operated throughout the Tasman and Forestier Peninsulas during the convict period. Appropriately, it was
referred to as ‘the key to the peninsula’. The dogline 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.