CAMPBELL TOWN

 

1/ The Fox Hunters Return greets visitors on the south side of the town. It was built in 1838 and is regarded as the best preserved building of its type in Australia.

2/ The Red Bridge was built in 1838 out of a million locally made bricks. It is one of the oldest bridges in Tasmania. Note the modern sculpture to the right.

3/ A series of modern sculptures recently replaced the ancient trees that formerly graced Campbell Town. I thought that they were inappropriate next to the ancient bridge.

4/ St Lukes Anglican Church was built in 1835. It is one of the oldest churches in Tasmania.

5/ St Lukes looks ancient, English and grand when you see it from this view point.

6/ St Lukes School was built in 1843. It comes from a time before public education, when all schools were run by the different churches.

7/ The Catholic Church is off the main street. It was built in a Gothic style, which complements the other churches in the town.

8/ The inside of the Catholic Church is simple, but quite catholic in its layout.

9/ The Uniting Church was as impressive as St Lukes and it graces the northern edge of the town.

10/ In profile, like St Lukes, it also looks very ancient and very English.

11/ The attractive town hall is in the Art Deco style. It has a memorial display of Harold Gatty.

12/ This is the Eliza Forlonge commemoration. In the 1820s Eliza walked 1500 kilometres throughout Saxony in Germany (Sachsen) buying the best merino sheep. She then brought out a flock of these prize sheep to Van Diemen's Land and started a very successful property at Kenilworth near Campbell Town. Many of the sheep of Tasmania are descended from her flock.

13/ This photo shows an interesting, combined teacher residence and classroom of the Victorian era. This building even has its own bell tower. It was obligatory in the 19th Century to provide country teachers with a residence. I have not seen a combined building like this example before.

14/ This photo shows the historic "Grange". This was a Victorian era gentleman's residence and was built in 1847. This mansion was built in unusual English Tudor style.

15/ This photo shows the main section of the Grange Mansion. Note how it is replete with chimneys. In the 19th Century you could count the chimneys to measure a man's wealth. By this reckoning the owner of the Grange was a very rich man indeed.

16/ This is the Harold Gatty memorial. It is located on the northern edge of Campbell Town. Gatty was the navigator for the famous, American flyer, Wiley Post. In 1931 Post and Gatty made a record breaking flight. Gatty later served with distinction with the Royal Australian Air Force during World War Two. He was born in Campbell Town and always called Tasmania home.

17/ This is the Lockheed Vega that Gatty flew around the world. He deserves to be much better known as a flight pioneer like Kingsford Smith.

18/ This is Quorn Hall, which was first known as Geddesden where Sir Richard Dry went to school in 1829. It shows what a restored estate can look like.

19/ This is the Mona Vale mansion of Robert Kermode. He was a leading figure in 19th Century Tasmania. In the days of the stage coach important people would stop here overnight. Later a railway station was added to the estate.

20/ This is Campbelltown High School.

 

1/ Cleveland is a hamlet on the A1 Midland Highway about 15 kilometres North of Campbell Town. It has a number of heritage buildings including St Andrews Inn. This was once a horse changeover point on the coach road between Hobart and Launceston.

2/ Cleveland includes a classic Georgian manor house.

3/ This old church and cemetery dating from 1855 shows that Cleveland was once a larger place.

4/ The church still has its ancient furnishings.

 

1/ Conara is a small, railway hamlet north of Campbell Town. It is noteworthy for its church, which has an impressive stain glass window. It also possesses a large Victorian era residence. There are no shops at Conara.

2/ It has a lovely stain glass window.

3/ This is the station at Conara. It is still used by the railway workers. Conara was founded as a railway service town, so it has continued after the closure of the passenger service in the 1960s.

4/ Conara has a complete street of Victorian era cottages. These were built for the original railway workers.

5/ Conara also has a complete 1950s era street. This was built when the railways needed more houses in the 1950s.

6/ On the southern edge of Conara is a lovely, Victorian era mansion.

 

1/ Meetus Falls is a spectacular waterfall in eastern Tasmania. They are located about 20 kilometres east of Campbell Town just east of Lake Leake. This image shows the spectacular higher cascade. The higher cascade drop is about 60 metres.

2/ The walk to Meetus Falls is relatively, short, but steep. There is a toilet at the car park. You follow the track up hill, until you come to the Cygnet River. You then follow the river downstream a short distance to the falls. Alternatively, you can go straight to a viewing platform.

3/ This image shows the top half of the higher cascade.

4/ This image shows the view down from near the top of the higher cascade.

5/ This image shows the view down from near the top of the lower cascade.

6/ This image looks at the full expanse of the lower cascade. This drop is only about 6 metres

7/ This image shows the clear waters of the Cygnet River, as it leaves the falls area.

 

1/ This is the lovely, ancient church at Kirklands. It was built in 1830. Kirklands is about 12 kilometres west of Campbell Town on C522 Macquarie Road.

2/ The church is simple but stylish. It also houses a grave yard with many interesting graves. The manse was located behind the grove on the right of this image.

3/ This view looks across the stylish headstones to the peaceful fields and the Great Western Tier mountains to the south.

4/ This is the plot of the Taylor family, who were important settlers of this area. The manse is just visible though the grove on the right.

5/ This headstone of George Taylor is historically very interesting. The "V.D. Land" on the headstone is short for "Van Diemens Land" the old name for Tasmania.

6/ This is the manse. It was a very large house and was once used as a school. The first Tasmanian born premiere "Sir Richard Dry" once attended school here. It was built in 1831. Both the age the association of this house suggest that it should be restored.

7/ This is a closer view of the verandah. When I visited it in 2018, it was in need of some restoration.

8/ The manse had a profound feeling of timelessness about it. You can sense this in this view from the back yard. It looks past ancient trees to the impressive Great Western Tier mountains to the south.