Woolmers Estate

Thomas Archer arrived in Van Diemen's Land in 1817 and never really left — six generations of his family kept Woolmers intact until it passed to public guardianship in the 1990s. Today, 18 convict-built structures and a 5,000-rose National Rose Garden survive alongside the Italianate homestead. Over 35 years, more than 700 convicts were assigned here; many stayed after emancipation. The ground holds that ambiguity.