The Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority (PAHSMA) is proud that the Port Arthur, Coal Mines and Cascades Female Factory Historic Sites are among eleven historic places that together form the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Property.
The Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Property was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2010. This page has links to all sites, and you can download a guidebook to the five Tasmanian World Heritage Convict Sites.
The Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Property
Consisting of eleven sites spread throughout Australia in Tasmania, New South Wales, Western Australia and on Norfolk Island, the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Property tells the epic story of Australia’s convict heritage.
Each site in the Property represents a different aspect of the convict system and are the most significant examples in Australia’s history of forced migration. Almost half of the Sites in the inscription are in Tasmania.
For technical reasons, Woolmers and Brickendon Estates are included as a single site but in reality they are two separate properties, which although adjacent, each offer their own unique visitor experience.
The Sites
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Port Arthur Historic Site, Tasman Peninsula TASPort Arthur was established in the 1830s as a penal settlement. It remains a physical chronicle of a dramatic part of Australia's history. Its 60 or so buildings and picturesque landscape offer visitors a challenging mix of both beauty and horror and have helped the site to become Tasmania's most popular tourist destination.
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Coal Mines Historic Site, Tasman Peninsula, TASThe Coal Mines Historic Site is outstanding for its insight into Australia's convict history and the use of convicts as a cheap source of labour for the exploitation of local resources. Today the mine shafts are evident as circular depressions in the landscape, and 18 damp dark alternating solitary cells convey the grim harshness of Australia's convict history.
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Woolmers Estate, Longford TAS [external link]Brickendon and Woolmers Estates were private farms that utilised assigned convicts, both male and female, who worked largely in agricultural jobs and contributed to the development of Tasmania's pastoral industry.
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Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour NSW [external link]Cockatoo Island is significant as a site that includes the only remaining dry dock in Australia built using convict labour, as well as buildings and fabric related to the administration, incarceration and working conditions of convicts.
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