Port Arthur Historic Site

The Port Arthur Historic Site, located in the south-east of Tasmania on the Tasman Peninsula, is one of the most important cultural heritage sites in Australia and the world. It offers extraordinary experiences and activities related to our heritage.

REAL PLACES, REAL PEOPLE, REAL EXPERIENCES Port Arthur is a place of great beauty that can stir powerful emotions. The Sites are surrounded by beautiful bushland, woven with short walks and trails to enable you to explore the stunning natural environment.

As you explore the gardens and grounds you can also take time to imagine and understand what people have experienced here.

In the Separate Prison, the fear of inmates still seems palpable. When you visit the Isle of the Dead you enter the final resting place of those who were never able to leave Port Arthur.

EXPERIENCE PORT ARTHUR YOUR WAY Port Arthur's tale is told in many different ways. As you explore the Site, many stories will reveal themselves to you.

Our guides will share their passion, knowledge and stories of Port Arthur on our guided tours and harbour cruise.

You can take your time to explore furnished period homes, including the Commandant's House, Parsonage, Trentham Cottage and Junior Medical Officer's quarters as well as the historic buildings and ruins of the Penitentiary, Barracks, Guard Tower and military precinct, Hospital, Paupers' Depot and Asylum.

You will experience fascinating, interactive exhibits at the Dockyard, Parsonage and Separate Prison, and get to know a real convict when you play the Lottery of Life.

And the Historic Ghost Tour invites you into an eerie, after dark experience of Port Arthur. Only for the brave!

UNDERSTAND THE PRESENT BY LEARNING ABOUT THE PAST Port Arthur is a place to explore, learn and understand our past…and our present.

In our Museum, you will discover the philosophies that drove the Port Arthur prison-a 'machine for grinding rogues into honest men'.

> Join a tour of the first boys' reformatory in the British Empire, at Point Puer > Visit Smith O'Brien's Cottage to learn about political prisoners at Port Arthur > Visit the Dockyard, once the busiest in Van Diemen's Land > Uncover the lives of Port Arthur's convicts and free settlers in our Convict Study Centre > Learn how precious water resources were managed as you explore the Convict Water Supply Trail