Heritage venues and places to visit
You can explore the State’s heritage by land or sea and learn about the history that shaped our state for what it is today. With 17 State Heritage Areas, 19 ships’ graveyards, plus more than 2,300 State Heritage Places to visit, you can follow the various interpretative trails available or go on your own self-guided tour following a South Australian 'Road Trip' or an Adelaidia tour, or make your own itinerary using the SA History Network map.
The Department for Environment and Water are proud to own and manage a number of South Australia's highly significant State Heritage Places, including:
- Ayers House (North Terrace, Adelaide)
- Cummins House (Novar Gardens)
- National War Memorial (North Terrace, Adelaide)
- The Science Exchange (Exchange Place, Adelaide)
- Struan House (Limestone Coast)
- Terowie Railway Station (Terowie, Mid North)
- Torrens Island Quarantine Station (Port Adelaide)
- Torrens Parade Ground (Adelaide)
Many of the State's Heritage Places are accessible by land, while others, including many of the shipwrecks, can only be accessed by boat or by snorkelling or diving in the surrounding waters. Several State heritage places are within DEW parks and gardens.
All State Heritage Areas are open to the public except for the Arckaringa Hills State Heritage Area which is on a privately leased property so access is limited. Please be mindful that there is no right of public access to heritage properties within State heritage areas and you must respect the owners'/occupiers' rights to privacy at all times.
Entry to the Innamincka region requires a desert parks pass, and some other parks have entry fees.
Several of the ships' graveyard sites that are either permanently exposed, or uncovered at low tide, are best viewed from the water. The ships' graveyard sites along the metropolitan Adelaide coast contain vessels which have been purposely sunk to become artificial reefs and are easily accessible to divers.
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