Australian Convict Sites are the latest addition to the list of Australian World Heritage sites.
The Australian Convict Sites have been inscribed as a United Nations World Heritage composite site comprising 11 sites in New South Wales, Tasmania, Norfolk Island and Western Australia.
New South Wales convict sites:
- Old Government House and Domain, Parramatta
- Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney
- Cockatoo Island, Sydney
- Old Northern Road, near Wisemans Ferry
Norfolk Island convict site:
- Kingston and Arthur's Vale Historic Area
Tasmania convict sites:
- Port Arthur Historic Site, Tasman Peninsula
- Cascades Female Factory, Hobart
- Darlington Probation Station, Maria Island
- Coal Mines Historic Site, via Premadeyna
- Brickendon-Woolmers Estates, near Longford
Western Australia convict site:
- Fremantle Prison, Fremantle
According to the United Nations World Heritage Committee, the Australian Convict Sites are "a selection of 11 penal sites, among the thousands established by the British Empire on Australian soil in the 18th and 19th centuries.
"They are located on the fertile coastal strip from which the Aboriginal peoples were then forced back, mainly around Sydney and in Tasmania, as well as on Norfolk Island and in Fremantle.
"They housed tens of thousands of men, women and children condemned by British justice to transportation to the convict colonies.
"Each of the sites had a specific purpose, in terms both of punitive imprisonment and of rehabilitation through forced labor to help build the colony.
"The property presents the best surviving examples of large-scale convict transportation and the colonial expansion of European powers through the presence and labor of convicts."
