One of Australia’s greatest tourist attractions

James Lynch was just nine years old when he was sentenced to seven years transportation for stealing three boxes of toys.

He was one of the youngest convicts ever to be transported to Port Arthur and like the adult convicts, he would have carried out hard labour such as stone cutting and building. Not a good start in life for any young boy!

The World Heritage-listed Port Arthur Historic Site is Australia’s most intact and evocative convict site, and one of Australia’s greatest tourist attractions.  Located on the scenic Tasman Peninsula, just 90-minutes’ drive from Hobart, Port Arthur offers a unique and essential experience to incorporate into your business event.

Let delegates learn about the dark history of Port Arthur as they wander around the convict site.

Let delegates learn about the dark history of Port Arthur as they wander around the convict site. There are over 100 fascinating convict stories, like James’ story, just waiting to be heard.

“The haunting stories of Port Arthur convicts and circulating ghost stories have brought an ever-growing popularity to the remaining penal settlement ruins,” says Port Arthur Historic Site, Marketing and Communications Manager, Jennifer Fitzpatrick.

“Port Arthur has become so popular with visitors in recent years that we have had to upgrade our Visitor Centre site to cope with the growing demand. The expanded Visitor Centre opened in December 2017.”

“The expanded Visitor Centre provides an enhanced visitor experience, including an expanded café with extensive outdoor dining, a new separate restaurant with views over the Historic Site, and retail space showcasing artisan products from around the Tasman region,” says Jennifer.

Perfect for conference and incentive groups, the new restaurant seats up to 80 diners and is available for exclusive hire for meetings or offsite dinners. The café area has also been enlarged to cater for 220 people, plus another 80 people in the outside area. As well as the restaurant and café, a new gallery and exhibition space is available for exclusive hire for welcome receptions or cocktail functions for up to 120 people.

For a mysterious and intriguing experience for a corporate or incentive group, experienced guides recount spine-chilling stories of unexplained sightings and occurrences, in the lantern-lit ghost tours, and for any brave souls who need more than a story, there is the adults-only Paranormal Investigation Experience.

The Paranormal Investigation Experience allows participants to take readings and measurements and provides the opportunity to judge first hand whether the ghost stories are true. Private Paranormal Investigation Experiences are available for groups. Who knows, you might just run into James Lynch’s ghost?