Unlike most places, our rich cultural and built heritage is still well preserved today.

Enjoy the unique heritage of Tasmania through experiences, walks, convict sites and gardens. Tasmania has a well-documented history of convict settlement, wilderness battles, adversity and prosperity. Visit our museums and galleries or the actual sites where history was made.

palawa Heritage

The first Tasmanians, the palawa people, lived on the island 40,000 years ago when a land bridge still existed between mainland Australia and Tasmania. Their fascinating and brutal history comes alive in experiences across the state.

Top Indigenous Experiences

1
wukalina Walk
EAST COAST

This new experience offers walkers a comfortable three night, four day Aboriginal owned and operated guided walk through the spectacular larapuna/Bay of Fires and wukalina /Mt William area, the cultural homeland of the palawa.

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2
Blak Led Tours
South

Blak Led Tours Tasmania is an AQF Sustainable Tourism accredited business that focuses on truth-telling and the representation of Tasmanian Aboriginal stories through guided tours and story-telling projects across lutruwita/Tasmania.

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3
Kooparoona Niara Tours
North

Explore the Kooparoona Niara Cultural Trail where you will find native plantings and discover the many artworks inspired by Tasmanian Aboriginal culture. This is a place where the community can come together as one and share stories, open lines of communication and increase our knowledge.

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4
Saffire, Connection to Country Walk
EAST COAST

Indigenous guide Mick Quilliam shares the history of the Oyster Bay people with Saffire guests, while enroute on the coastal tracks near the resort. The tour incorporates the foraging and sampling of local bush tucker.

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Convict Past

Between 1804 and 1853, the British Government transported 76,000 convicts to Tasmania. Life was harsh for convicts who were the backbone of the workforce that built the British colony in Tasmania. While most convicts were assigned work roles, repeat offenders ended up in brutal prisons, many of which still stand and can be explored today.

Featured Convict Experiences

1
Port Arthur Historic Site
TASMAN PENINSULA

One of Australia’s most famous tourist attractions, the Port Arthur Historic Site has more than 30 buildings, ruins and restored period homes to explore at leisure or on a guided tour.

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2
Coal Mines Historic Site
TASMAN PENINSULA

Near Port Arthur, the Coal Mines Historic Site is the site of Australia’s first coal mine and where the ‘worst of the worst’ prisoners from Port Arthur were sent as punishment.

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3
Darlington Probation Station
MARIA ISLAND

Take a day or overnight trip to Maria Island and explore the Probation Station, an outstanding representation of a convict penal settlement dating from 1825 to 1832 and probation station from 1842 to 1850.

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4
Sarah Island
STRAHAN

Under barren and windswept, yet secure conditions, the convicts of Sarah Island laboured in the rainforest, felling Huon pines for boat building. Explore the island on foot as part of a cruise from Strahan and hear the fascinating stories of the convicts incarcerated on the island.

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5
Brickendon Historic Farm and Convict Village
LONGFORD

Still owned by the descendants of the original owner, William Archer, Brickenden is a World Heritage listed convict site. Wander through the convict-built outhouses and explore the four hectare historic garden. Visitors can stay overnight in a historic cottage.

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Historic Gardens

Learn more about the history of Tasmania through the unique flora grown in heritage gardens, botanic gardens and city parks.

Featured Garden Experiences

1
Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
HOBART

Celebrating 200 years in 2018, the Botanic Gardens in Hobart features rare and exotic species in the sub-Antarctic plant house, the largest public conifer collection in the southern hemisphere, and the Tasmanian Community Food Garden.

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2
City Park
LAUNCESTON

City Park was established in the 1820’s by the Launceston Horticultural Society. It houses a beautiful conservatory, Design Tasmania and the ever-popular monkey (macaque) enclosure.

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3
National Rose Garden at Woolmers Estate
LONGFORD

Woolmers Estate is an early 1800s pioneer farm and one of Tasmania's World Heritage listed convict sites. In late spring, over 5000 roses bloom, representing the history of the rose in the southern hemisphere from early European and Chinese roses to today.

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4
Clarendon Estate
EVANDALE

Wander through heritage-walled gardens and colonial outbuildings at Clarendon, a National Trust site on the South Esk River out of Launceston.

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