Kids activity book
Our Port Arthur Journey Activity Book is provided free of charge to primary school-aged visitors &, their families. It offers enjoyable and educational activities to help children understand and enjoy history as they explore the Site. Just ask for a copy when you arrive.
Get to know a real convict
Playing the Lottery of Life in our Convict Gallery provides an opportunity for visitors to follow the life of one of the Port Arthur Penal Settlement’s convicts. Every visitor receives a playing card depicting one Port Arthur Convict. As you move through the gallery, you will discover clues about the identity and life story of that person. Then see how they might have spent their time at Port Arthur, with our displays of
the various activities and occupations underaken by convicts.
Museum and Convict Study Centre
Children and adults alike will be fascinated by the hundreds of original artefacts on display in the Museum housed in the Asylum complex. In the same building, visitors can search the Convict Study Centre database for their own links to Port Arthur’s 19th century inhabitants.
Museum Houses
Visiting the furnished
Museum Houses provide wonderful opportunities for children to compare today’s technology and architecture with that from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Dockyard
The
Dockyard is a short walk along the waterfront. Through an imposing sculptural piece and intriguing soundscapes children are able to enter the world of the men who worked in one of Port Arthur’s main convict era industries.
Families particiate in summer school holiday activities at the Port Arthur Historic Site
Summer fun
Our family-focussed activity program operates during summer holidays. Children and adults can participate in activities and games from the colonial era. Our three
History Plays, performed from Boxing Day through to Australia Day in January, provide rich opportunities for children and their families to engage with characters from Port Arthur’s early days. Over the summer period for three weeks in January, the
Kids’ Dig lets kids be an archaeologist for a day. They will learn how to dig and what to do with what they find.
Go for a walk
Beyond the Dockyard visitors can walk along the Stewart’s Bay Track. It provides access to bays and beaches where once upon a time women and children went to bathe, away from the prying eyes of the penal settlement’s inhabitants.
Be prepared
Parents of very young children are encouraged to pack a pram, as exploring the Site’s wide open spaces can be very tiring for youngsters. Prams are also available for hire at the Visitor Centre.
We have prepared
Guidelines for schools planning a visit, which contains important information you might like to consider when bringing children to Port Arthur.