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Highfield Historic Site

Regency homestead overlooking Bass Strait

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schedule 1 min read / Updated Jun 2026

Highfield is Tasmania's most intact example of a colonial-era gentleman's estate, built from the late 1820s by the Van Diemen's Land Company as the headquarters for its vast north-west pastoral leasehold. The main homestead, convict barracks, chapel, stables, and farm outbuildings all survive in remarkable condition on a rise above Stanley with commanding views over The Nut and Bass Strait. The site is managed by the Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania and is open daily for self-guided tours.

Construction began in 1832 under the direction of the VDL Company's chief agent, Edward Curr, with convict labour used for much of the building work. The homestead is designed in the Regency style, elegant, restrained, and entirely out of place in the raw colonial landscape, which lends it an air of quiet melancholy and ambition. The property functioned as the nerve centre for an operation that ran hundreds of thousands of acres and thousands of sheep and cattle across Circular Head and the Tarkine hinterland.

Visitors explore the homestead rooms, servants' quarters, kitchen, and cellars before moving through the cobblestone courtyard to the chapel, convict barracks, blacksmith's workshop, stables, and coach house. Interpretive panels throughout the property explain both the upstairs world of the Curr family and the downstairs reality for the convict workers who built and maintained it. The ornamental gardens have been substantially restored and provide a picturesque foreground for photography.

Highfield sits approximately two kilometres north of Stanley township and can be reached by a pleasant walk along Green Hills Road past open farmland. The ground floor of the homestead and the chapel are wheelchair accessible, and one accessible toilet is available on site. The site closes only on Christmas Day.

Where to stay

Holiday parks near Highfield Historic Site.

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Scenic views

Lookouts near Highfield Historic Site.

All Tasmania lookouts east

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