Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L01891:body:0:p60
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L01891
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 173376–176386

the colony of New South Wales. Arriving in March 1788, six weeks after the First Fleet
landed in Sydney, the building and archaeological remains and landforms of the First (Colonial)
Settlement (1788-1814) illustrate British convict settlement, and living and working conditions at the
beginning of European occupation of Australia. The KAVHA site contains areas and individual elements
that are confirmed or well documented sites of First (Colonial) Settlement buildings and activities (1788—
1814). The design and layout, the outstanding collection of fine Georgian buildings, the extensive
archaeological remains, engineering works and landscaping of the Second (Penal) Settlement (1825—
1855) clearly show the planning and operation of a nineteenth-century penal settlement with a very high
degree of integrity. The KAVHA site has significant associations with the other convict period settlements
and activities located elsewhere on Norfolk Island, as well as to the ten other sites that are part of the
Australian Convict Sites inscribed on the World Heritage List.

The KAVHA site is uncommon as a place where a distinctive Polynesian/European community has lived
and practised their cultural traditions for over 150 years. Since 1856 the Pitcairners and their descendants
have lived and maintained strong cultural traditions and attachments through language, religion,
ceremony, stories, work and song. Parts of the place have been, or were previously, occupied by
particular families for many for generations; for them Kingston is home or the home of their forebears. The
contemporary Norfolk Island community, comprising both Pitcairners and subsequent generations of
settlers from elsewhere, has continually and actively used the site as a place of residence, work, worship,
burial and recreation. Local people express a deep and continuing attachment to the site which
contributes to community identity, giving it symbolic, ceremonial, religious and broader cultural
importance. The Norfolk Island community also includes those with continuing family and _ historical
connections who do not live on Norfolk Island. The site is of potential social significance to the broader
Australian community as a landmark in Australia's convict and settler history.

With a dramatic and contrasting character, the coastline of the KAVHA site is characterised by the serenity
of Emily Bay and its delicate fringing reef, combined with the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean and the
wreck of the flagship of the First Fleet, HMS Sirius, parts of which still remain submerged in the waters off
Kingston. This coastal setting is framed by green hills and a verdant vale which was the site of some of
Australia's earliest and most successful agricultural production. It retains an imposing collection of convict-
built buildings, ruins, archaeological remains, and elements which physically demonstrate colonial regimes
of penology as they were transported and transposed across the globe to the Australian colonies.