The story of the Port Arthur Historic Site is a story of many people, places and moments.

Over its long history, Port Arthur has been a place of hardship and punishment, a place of opportunity, and a place of leisure. Now it is one of Australia’s most important heritage destinations, where the story of Australia’s colonial history is written in stone and brick.

Visit us to meet some of the people who have passed through this place, walk where their stories unfolded, and learn about Port Arthur’s evolution from a feared convict settlement to a World Heritage-listed Historic Site and world-class tourist destination.

The Port Arthur penal settlement began life as a small timber station in 1830 and quickly grew in importance within the colonies. Ship building was introduced on a large scale to Port Arthur as a way of providing selected convicts with a useful skill they could take with them once freed.

The 1853 cessation of transportation resulted in fewer transportees arriving at the station. However, the 1850s and 1860s were years of remarkable activity, that aimed to make the station economically sustainable.

Port Arthur’s story did not end with the removal of the last convict. Almost immediately the site was renamed Carnarvon and, during the 1880s, land was parcelled up and put to auction, people taking up residence in and around the old site.

Many of the people who have passed through Port Arthur throughout its history have left a mark that lives on to this very day.

People like 20-year old Private Robert Young, whose devotion to duty led to a tragic end. Young William Thompson, who was transported for burglary and endured the horror of the underground cells of the Coal Mines; headstrong convict servant Margaret Dalziel, who couldn’t seem to stay out of trouble, and left a record of her offences for posterity; and Commandant William Champ, whose vision for a shady refuge for the ladies of the settlement still endures in Port Arthur’s beautiful gardens.

Port Arthur Historic Site is a large site holding a great many stories.  Places like the Penitentiary, which was originally constructed as a flour mill and granary in 1843, before it housed hundreds of convicts in dormitories and solitary cells; or the much-feared Separate Prison, where harsh physical punishment was replaced with punishment of the mind; and the unconsecrated Convict Church, where authorities sought to reform Port Arthur’s convicts through a regime of religious instruction and worship.

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 were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2010.

Consisting of eleven sites spread throughout Australia in Tasmania, New South Wales, Western Australia and on Norfolk Island, the Australian Convict Sites tell 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.

• Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Property
• Tasmanian World Heritage Sites
• World Heritage Nomination

The Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority has a range of resources to assist anyone in undertaking research. We can also help you to research non-convicts who had a relationship with Port Arthur or the Tasman Peninsula – for example, a Medical Officer, Commandant or Overseer.

The publication Transcribing Tasmanian Convict Records by Susan Hood is now available for purchase on Kindle/Amazon. The book has been updated and the new electronic version of this helpful resource will make transcribing Tasmanian convict records a more efficient experience.