Place · site

Port Arthur, Tasmania

1830–1877 · 19th century

Port Arthur was a penal settlement on the Tasman Peninsula in south-east Tasmania, founded in 1830 as a timber station and from 1833 used for convicts who reoffended in the colony. It became the main secondary prison of Van Diemen's Land and closed in 1877. Its ruins are part of the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Site.

Port Arthur, Tasmania
Image: Martybugs at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Colony of Tasmania

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Port Arthur, Tasmania. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/port-arthur-tasmania
MLA
“Port Arthur, Tasmania.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/port-arthur-tasmania. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Port Arthur, Tasmania.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/port-arthur-tasmania.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Port Arthur, Tasmania’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/port-arthur-tasmania (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻