Kingston and Arthur’s Vale - Discover Norfolk Island

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Kingston & Arthur’s Vale Historic Area

Kingston is Norfolk Island’s most expansive lowland area and has become the epicentre of its many eras of history, largely for this reason, and has hosted four distinct periods of settlement from around 1000AD to the present day. Today’s Norfolk Islander’s refer to Kingston in the Norf’k language as ‘Daun’taun’ (Down town) and it is a magnificent and hauntingly beautiful place. As well as presenting one of the most impressive examples of convict transportation in the Southern Hemisphere, Kingston is a living heritage site and a community hub. It is a place for gathering, for sharing, for enjoyment, for work, for worship and for remembrance.

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World Heritage Listing

In June 2010 Kingston and Arthur’s Vale Historic Area (KAVHA) was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list as one of the 11 sites that make up the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Property. As an area of ‘outstanding significance to the nation as a convict settlement spanning the era of transportation to eastern Australia between 1788–1855’. The 11 sites encompassed by the listing include Hyde Park Barracks, Cockatoo Island Convict Site, Port Arthur Historic Site, Freemantle Prison and more. Together they represent forced convict migration and European expansion in the Southern Hemisphere in the 18th and 19th centuries.