In August 2010 a group of 11 historic sites from around Australia, all connected in some way with our convict past, was added to the World Heritage List. These are the first convict sites to receive this level of international exposure.
The group listing places Australia's penal origins within the global story of transported labour and colonial expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Talk of Australia's convict past was once taboo, a source of embarrassment. It is now treated with pride. Australians have come to value not only the social and cultural legacy of the convict era, but also the objects and architectural remains that record and recall their convict past. These relics and ruins, once neglected, have become major attractions.