Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L01891:body:0:p47
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L01891
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 137176–140200

preferably be
used in conjunction with other criteria);

The Australian Convict Sites were assessed as a group and found to maintain authenticity and integrity,
despite some impacts of local circumstances such as urban context, or periods of abandonment and
reuse. The inclusion of these sites on the National Heritage List and the protection under the
Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 contributed to the
conclusion that the protection and management arrangements for the Australian Convict Sites World
Heritage property were satisfactory.

The specific response to the criteria in the official Statement of Outstanding Universal Value for the
Australian Convict Sites reads as follows:

Criterion (iv): The Australian convict sites constitute an outstanding example of the way in which conventional forced
labour and national prison systems were transformed, in major European nations in the 18th and 19th

centuries, into a system of deportation and forced labour forming part of the British Empire's vast colonial project.
They illustrate the variety of the creation of penal colonies to serve the many material needs created by the
development of a new territory. They bear witness to a penitentiary system which had many objectives, ranging from
severe punishment used as a deterrent to forced labour for men, women and children, and the rehabilitation of the
convicts through labour and discipline.

Criterion (vi): The transportation of criminals, delinquents, and political prisoners to colonial lands by the great nation
states between the 18th and 20th centuries is an important aspect of human history, especially with regard to

its penal, political and colonial dimensions. The Australian convict settlements provide a particularly complete
example of this history and the associated symbolic values derived from discussions in modern and contemporary
European society. They illustrate an active phase in the occupation of colonial lands to the detriment of the
Aboriginal peoples, and the process of creating a colonial population of European origin through the dialectic of
punishment and transportation followed by forced labour and social rehabilitation to the eventual social integration of
convicts as settlers.

The KAVHA site specifically illustrates criterion (iv) with key elements of the forced migration of convicts
including expanded geo-political spheres of influence, punishment and deterrence, and the reformation of
convicts. Convicts at Norfolk Island were used as a geo-political tool to secure its strategic military
importance, potential naval resources and role as an outpost of NSW from other European powers. The
KAVHA site is a material record of this, with its surviving layout and the majority of the penal colony's
structures. Additionally, the harbour, pier and outbuildings maintain their function as a port, and many pine
trees from the convict period still remain. Some of the most significant collections of convict materials are
housed