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
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.
VISIT WEBSITEBlak 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.
Visit websiteKooparoona 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.
Visit websiteSaffire, 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.
VISIT WEBSITEConvict 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
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.
VISIT WEBSITECoal 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.
VISIT WEBSITEDarlington 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.
VISIT WEBSITESarah 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.
VISIT WEBSITEBrickendon 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.
VISIT WEBSITEConvict History
Brickendon-Estate / Credit: Owen Hughes
Convict History
Brickendon Estate
One of Tasmania's oldest farming properties, settled in 1824
Ross Bridge
This convict-built bridge in Ross is arguably the finest nineteenth century village in Australia
Darlington Probation Station
On Maria Island, Darlington was a convict penal settlement and later a probation station
Penitentiary, Port Arthur Historic Site
A World Heritage listed convict site
Richmond Gaol
Australia's oldest existing and best preserved colonial gaol
Sarah Island
A penal settlement established in in the remote reaches of Macquarie Harbour in 1821
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
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.
VISIT WEBSITECity 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.
VISIT WEBSITENational 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.
VISIT WEBSITEClarendon Estate
EVANDALE
Wander through heritage-walled gardens and colonial outbuildings at Clarendon, a National Trust site on the South Esk River out of Launceston.
VISIT WEBSITEHistoric Gardens
Lilly pond / Credit: Tourism Tasmania
Historic Gardens
Lilly pond - Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
Established in 1818, the gardens are just a short walk from Hobart's CBD
Woolmers Estate - Evandale
One of Tasmania's World Heritage listed convict sites
Emu Valley Rhododendron Garden - Burnie
A stunning garden in north-west Tasmania
Woodstock Gardens
Over three acres of historic gardens at Cascade Brewery, Hobart
Tulips - Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
The second oldest in Australia
Government Gardens
Port Arthur Historic Site