Port Arthur Management Plan

Port Arthur is included on the World Heritage List as one of the ‘Australian Convict Sites’. Most renowned as a convict prison, Port Arthur sits within a landscape important to Aboriginal people and was a town for longer than it served as a penal settlement.

The Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority commissioned the preparation of a new Conservation Management Plan (CMP) for the Port Arthur Historic Site in 1998. The project was carried out by a multidisciplinary team from GML Heritage and GML Heritage Victoria (formerly Context) over a two-year period. GML revised the CMP for the Port Arthur Historic Site in 2005.

The CMP is based on a comprehensive understanding of the complex values of this important site, gained through documentary research, extensive onsite examination and a broadly based consultative process involving current and former staff of the Authority, the local and wider community and heritage agencies.

The CMP sets out a vision and strategy for the conservation of Port Arthur based on excellence in heritage management—a vision that has been enthusiastically embraced by the Authority and communicated to its staff through special training sessions conducted by the project team. The site is reaping rewards as it implements the comprehensive planning process—through substantial increased funding from the Tasmanian Government, allowing much needed conservation works, and the preparation of detailed, ongoing work programs.

The obligation to achieve Port Arthur’s long-term conservation is paramount. The CMP has proven to be a vital tool in presenting Port Arthur to visitors as Australia’s best-conserved historic site.

GML also completed a Landscape Management Plan for this historic site.