It is about 26 kilometres (16 mi) north-east of the town of Nubeena in the local government area of Tasman in the South-east region of Tasmania.

A system was developed where a line of dogs were chained to posts across the "Neck" to warn of any convicts attempting to escape.

Thomas J. Lempriere, a commissary officer at Port Arthur, declared the Eaglehawk Neck as "impassable".

Despite this, many attempts were made by convicts to escape from the Tasman Peninsula via Eaglehawk Neck, including Martin Cash[6] and William Bannon.

Collectively, these sites, including Port Arthur, now represent, "...the best surviving examples of large-scale penal transportation and the colonial expansion of European powers through the presence and labour of convicts".