Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area (KAVHA) is an old settlement on the Kingston coastal plains (bounded by hills), southern side of Norfolk Island, consisting of a large group of buildings from the British Empire's convict era (1788–1855), now considered to be of such cultural significance to Australia and to the World that the area has been formally inscribed onto both the Australian National Heritage List[2] and UNESCO's World Heritage list[3] as amongst: " .. the best surviving examples of large-scale convict transportation and the colonial expansion of European powers through the presence and labour of convicts.

"[4] The Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area (KAVHA), on Norfolk Island, is of outstanding significance to the nation as a convict settlement spanning the era of transportation to eastern Australia between 1788 and 1855.

It is also significant as the only site in Australia to display evidence of early Polynesian settlement, and the place where the Pitcairn Island descendants of the Bounty mutineers were re-settled in 1856.

[5] The Kingston and Arthurs Vale Historic Area (KAVHA) is one of 11 places that make up the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage serial listing, inscribed on 31 July 2010.

Set on the Kingston coastal plain and bounded by hills, it comprises a large group of buildings from the convict era, some of which have been modified during the Pitcairn period (from 1856 to the present), substantial ruins and standing structures, archaeological remains, landform and landscape elements.

[5] Discovered by Captain James Cook RN in 1774, Norfolk Island was settled on 6 March 1788, six weeks after the First Fleet landed in Sydney.

Cook reported the island had rich soils, tall pines suitable for ships' masts and spars, and native flax that could be used for making canvas.

[5] Arriving on the Supply, Lieutenant Philip Gidley King RN and a party of nine male and six female convicts and seven staff established a settlement named Kingston.

To relieve the food pressures in the infant colony of New South Wales, Governor Philip relocated around one-third Sydney's population to Kingston.

[5] In response to the report by Commissioner Bigge (1822–23) on the effectiveness of transportation, the Colonial Secretary Lord Bathurst instructed Governor Brisbane in 1824 to re-occupy the island as a 'great hulk or penitentiary' to provide secondary punishment.

[5] The worst of the convict population from both New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land were sent to Norfolk Island; men who had become so brutalised by the system that ever increasing levels of punishment only served to make them more recalcitrant.

The severity of the place continued and in his report to the British Parliament in 1847, Catholic Bishop Robert Wilson detailed the appalling conditions on Norfolk Island.

These show the development of penal philosophies during the period of the settlements operation, with the original gaol built for barrack accommodation while the remains of the new prison and its perimeter walls (1836–40, 1845–57) provides a rare representation of a radial design.