Even the boy convicts were put to hard labour in the quarry and construction. Records indicate that the youngest boy convicts in this penal station were only of the age of 9 years with some of them being convicted and transported for stealing toys.
Church service attendance was compulsory at Port Arthur and the church could accommodate over 1,000 people. Due to the different denominations of the prisoners the church was never consecrated.

The church tragically burned out in 1884 when a gardener apparently burned green waste too close to the wall.