The Lure of the Lash: Spectacular Violence and White Ethnonationalism at an Australian Convict Site

This study examines the transformation of Port Arthur Penal Settlement, a site of brutal convict labor in Tasmania, into a tourist destination that spectacularizes its violent history. Unlike U.S. plantations that suppress their pasts, Australian penal sites embrace brutality as spectacle, reflecting a unique form of white ethnonationalism where tourists identify with convicts rather than their oppressors. The research explores how this duality—revelry in violence and meticulous historical unearthing—coexists within the site's reinvention, highlighting the complexities of heritage narratives in Australia.

Sheard, M. J. (2023). The Lure of the Lash: Spectacular Violence and White Ethnonationalism at an Australian Convict Site. React/Review: A Responsive Journal for Art and Architecture, 3(0). https://doi.org/10.5070/r53061234