The Best Heritage Sites on the Limestone Coast
Saints, ports and pioneers across the region
The Limestone Coast was settled early and hard, by pastoralists, port-builders, miners and missionaries. Its towns are dense with history. These are the heritage sites that best repay a visit.
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1
PenolaMary MacKillop Penola Centre
Where Australia's first saint opened her first school.
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2
PenolaPetticoat Lane Heritage Walk
Penola's oldest street, lined with restored pioneer cottages.
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5
Mount GambierThe Old Mount Gambier Gaol
A colonial bluestone gaol you can tour or sleep in.
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6
Port MacDonnellDingley Dell Conservation Park
The cottage home of poet Adam Lindsay Gordon.
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7
Mount GambierThe Riddoch Arts & Cultural Centre
Mount Gambier's grand heritage arts hub.
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Walk these sites in sequence and you trace the whole arc of the region: pioneer settlement, the wool ports, the goldfields migration and the birth of a wine country.
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A Penola Heritage Loop
A half-day loop through Penola's historic streets, following the footsteps of Mary MacKillop and the founders of the wine country.
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Penola & Wrattonbully Wine Day
Pair Penola's heritage and Mary MacKillop story with cellar doors and the up-and-coming reds of the Wrattonbully ridge.
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A Robe Coastal Weekend
A relaxed weekend in Robe, balancing wild ocean scenery, heritage landmarks and the town's easy seaside charm.
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A Coonawarra Cabernet day
A single, unhurried day along the famous cigar-shaped strip of red soil over limestone, where Cabernet Sauvignon reaches a pitch it manages almost nowhere else in Australia.
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Coast and caves road trip
A three-day arc from the seaside charm of Robe to the World Heritage caves of Naracoorte, taking in wild surf parks, salt lakes and a fossil record stretching back half a million years.
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The best beaches of the Limestone Coast
The Limestone Coast runs for hundreds of kilometres of Southern Ocean shoreline, from calm family beaches under the cliffs to wild dune-backed surf. These are the stretches worth seeking out.