Australian Convict Sites

country. Australia

year of inscription. 2010

criteria. Cultural

This WHS is composed of eleven penal sites, amongst the thousands, established by the British Empire in Australia in the 18th and 19th centuries CE. Some 166,000 men, women and children were transported to Australia between 1787 and 1868, sentenced by the British judicial system to be transported to convict colonies in Australia. This WHS commemorates the harsh use of forced migration in the form of convict transportation to help establish European colonial expansion. The various sites give insight into the difficult and deprived living conditions of these convicts, who cover the whole spectrum from hardened criminals to people convicted for minor offences, and to political opponents. The proliferation of these convict colonies also impacted Australian Aboriginal communities by forcing them to resettle in less fertile land in the hinterland.

The eleven sites are:

• In the state of New South Wales:
• Cocokatoo Island Convict Site,
• Hyde Park Barracks,
• Old Government House and Domain, and
• Old Great North Road;
• In the external territory of Norfolk Island:
• Kingston and Arthur’s Vale Historic Area;
• In the state of Tasmania:
• Brickendon and Woolmers Estates,
• Cascades Female Factory,
• Coal Mines Historic Site,
• Darlington Probation Station, and
• Port Arthur Historic Site; and
• In the state of Western Australia:
• Fremantle Prison.

what. WHS visited (2001)

[2001]