List of Australian penal colonies

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{{Use Australian English|date=November 2013}}

{{use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}

The following is a list of Australian penal colonies that existed from the establishment of European presence in the 1780s up until the nineteenth century.{{Citation needed|date=March 2020}} The term colony had referred to settlements and larger land areas at that time.

class="wikitable sortable" border="1" ! Settlement !! Colony !! Year opened !! Year closed
Cockatoo Island	New South Wales	1839	1869
Rose Hill	New South Wales	1788 |
Sydney Cove	New South Wales	1788	1840
Moreton Bay	Queensland (New South Wales before 1859)	1824 |
Saltwater River | Redcliffe	Queensland	1823	1824
Maria Island	Van Diemen's Land{{NoteTag|Later renamed Tasmania}}	1825	1851
Port Arthur	Van Diemen's Land	1830 |
Richmond	Van Diemen's Land	1830 |
Risdon Cove	Van Diemen's Land	1794
Sarah Island, part of the Macquarie Harbour Penal Station	Van Diemen's Land	1822	1833
Saltwater River	Van Diemen's Land	1879	1970
Sullivans Cove	Van Diemen's Land	1914 |
King George's Sound	Western Australia	1826	1832{{NoteTag|Convicts transferred back to Sydney}}
Swan River Colony	Western Australia	1850	1868{{NoteTag|Last convict ship arrived 9 January 1868}}
Norfolk Island	Other	1788	1855{{NoteTag|Except for an 11-year hiatus between 15 February 1814 and 6 June 1825}}

{{incomplete list|date=August 2008}}