Ross, an introduction

Ross sits beside the Midlands Hwy, not quite halfway between Launceston and Hobart, and just south of the Line. At the time of the second settlement in the north, the island was divided into two: Cornwall in the north, Buckingham in the south. Folk history puts the line along the 42nd latitude, and Ross is at 42°01' S. Nowadays, the (unofficial) dividing line between north & south is at Oatlands, the next town down the road.

With a settlement at each end of the island, there was soon travel between north and south. From Highway in Van Diemen's Land, by Hawley Stancombe, "Wentworth wrote in 1819 of the track between Hobart and Launceston worn by carts and stock regularly passing between the two towns, but winding about so much that it was probably a hundred and sixty miles long. [Today it's closer to 124 miles] Major Thomas Bell of the 48th Regiment was therefore commissioned in 1821 to construct portions of the road from the capital to Port Dalrymple."

1821 is the same year, according to Parks & Wildlife, that Ross was a declared a town, although there'd been a garrison there from a few years earlier.

Also from Highway: "Travellers between the north and the south, particularly those with carts, were subject to careful scrutiny by the military at various posts. Only free settlers were permitted to proceed to Port Dalrymple from the south with a load of goods, because of the robbers and trafficking in stolen goods between the two settlements."

Other than waylaying travellers, I'm not actually sure what the purpose of the garrison was. (I am writing this based on two brochures (one of which has only the barest of details) the book above, the Parks & Wildlife website, and whatever is stored away in my brain; none of them have anything else to say about garrisons in the midlands.) I assume there was some chasing of aborigines and absconders going on though.

The 1820s is rather early for a town to be appearing, but obviously things were happening in the area, possibly farming. A timber bridge was built over the river in 1821, to be replaced by the current stone bridge 15 years later. Then, again from Highway, a stock market was built at Ross in 1826 "to rival Cross Marsh and to serve as an outlet for the stock produced by northern breeders" and in 1829, "Sergeant Dan O'Connor was sent to supervise the erection of buildings at Ross, some of which are still standing between the bridge and the hotel."

Ross was also the site of a probation station and a women's prison, and once the road was put through, a coaching stop.

The road building that started in 1821 is, of course, still going on. Late in the 20th century, a number of the towns along the central section of the Midlands Highway were bypassed, including Ross. I think Ross's only reason for existence these days is tourism, because most of the services in the area are provided at Oatlands, a bigger town about 20 minutes drive to the south. Ross is a good place to stop for a drink or a meal, and for the size of the town, there is a lot of look at. I've only included some of these because I haven't had the opportunity to photograph everything.

One interesting feature of Tasmanian architecture is the use (or absence) of sandstone. It's almost non-existent in the north, mostly appearing in modern buildings. Whereas down south, it is everywhere. IIRC all the older public buildings in Hobart are sandstone, and most of the grander private houses, but also many small cottages and warehouses. The same occurs in many of the older southern towns. Oatlands claims to be the town with the most sandstone buildings, but for sheer concentration, I think Ross wins.

There are a lot of photos, so I'm going to do this over a few days (hey, come back). After my longer-than-I intended introduction, I'll just include a few today, and then next time a selection of buildings along Church St, before looking at three particular sites of interest.

The heart of the town is the intersection of Church St and Bridge St.

Shown here as you come in from the south, along the bridge. It's a busy little place.


A little more town-like if viewed from the opposite direction. :)

The four corners of the intersection were said to represent Temptation, Salvation, Recreation and Damnation and so we have:


Man O'Ross Hotel, built in the early 1830s -- a Georgian-style building, which Victorian alterations.


Catholic Church, converted from a store about 1920.


Town Hall, built 1881. The Council Chambers, the shorter bit on the left, is a stone facade to a timber building. The brochure says the facade had once been part of the "Governor of the Prison" House. The sign out the front says it's now the Midlands Community Church.


Site of the town gaol, then Council Clerk's house. There's a western wing that incorporates part of the old police building. I think that's the bit out the back (on the right of the photo).

I'll leave working out which corner is which as an exercise for the reader.

West Tamar - Beauty Point

Last one :)

Beauty Point developed as a port for Beaconsfield. It's seen a resurgence lately with developments like Seahorse World. The pub got upgraded to a swanky drinking place, which is where the first three photos are taken from.

The Australian Maritime College has a campus here (their other campus shares the site with UniTas just down the road from me) and moor their ships here.




There's a park that runs along the edge of the river.




That's Bell Bay, the industrial port on the other side of the river.


We actually went looking for the shopping centre, because someone said it tells you a lot about the town. We'd just about given up on finding it when we got to this street.

West Tamar - Beaconsfield

Gold was discovered at Brandy Creek in the 1870s, and it wasn't long before a substantial town, renamed to Beaconsfield, grew up. It was said to one of the biggest in the state at one stage. According to Town With a History, by Coultman Smith, in 1899, the population was "2,699, with 7 hotels, eight boarding houses, five bakers, four blacksmiths, two doctors, two watchmakers, a solicitor, a tailor, 15 general stores, six greengrocers, five drapers, a state school, and four private schools."



The mine closed in 1914 and the town soon faded away. I pulled out my books to get the dates the mine was operational and ended up with enough notes to make another post so I'll do that another day.


These days, the mine again supports the town (the new mine can be seen behind the right hand brick building), with a bit of tourism and some service provision for the local area, because up here it's far to run into Launceston all the time to go tot he shops.




An odd little junk shop, with most of the goods on the floor


and the adjoining fruit stall


Opposite the mine site, there is a relocated school house and miner's cottage set up so visitors can look through the windows. I'll put up some photos of them in a later post too.

West Tamer - Exeter

Exeter is about halfway along the West Tamar Highway, in away from the river. It provides services for the surrounding area and smaller towns.

A few quick photos, including the obligatory dog on the back of a ute outside the shops.

West Tamar - Gravelly Beach

Gravelly Beach, is another small riverside town.

These places have a lot of houses for the size of the town. They are close enough to Launceston that most people would go there for shopping and other services, or nearby Exeter for quick visits.

As you come into Gravelly Beach from the north, there's a long section along the river with newer houses, then the older ones and then this little shopping centre, if you can call it that.

There's a general store, which provides most of the local services, including the post office.






Opposite the shops, there is parking and the river.




Around the corner, there's a good park and playground, and the marina which is probably what brings most visitors, other than those driving through looking for somewhere to eat.

West Tamar - Deviot

On the long weekend just been, we went up to Deviot because there was a bunch of open gardens and a little market. Most of the photos I took are of the gardens, so not many to show.

Deviot is a little town on the edge of the Tamar, just below the Batman Bridge.


The first thing we noticed was a lot of houses for sale, almost every second one when we first entered. You'd think someone was going to build a pulp mill in the area or something.


There are a lot of older, turn of the 20th century houses,




and some representatives of each decades some. As far as I know, it's only been a resort town. For many residents of Tasmania, especially the female ones, its probably best known for this place. There's a bit of farming, a bit of fishing, and in recent years, a lot of vineyards.


Don't know what these are. I assume Pinot Noir, that's the common dark grape in the area, but it was only a small planting, so it might be something else.





It was only a small market, just a handful of stalls, but a nice selection of goods.





We left there about lunch time, and went through Gravelly Beach, to Exeter and then further up the West Tamar to Beaconsfield and Beauty Point.

Bees

Spent some time yesterday following bees around the garden. The bumble bee buzzed off after a short while, but the honey bees hung around. Annoying little buggers to focus on though.

They liked the yellow fennel flowers, which was handy because they were at a convenient height. I don't know which variety of fennel it is. I had bronze fennel, with long, red plumes of leaves, which is an attractive plant, if almost as weedy as the wild sort, I've also got a battered Florence fennel, the one with the swollen base, which somehow escaped the devastation that hit my potted plants in early January :( This flowering thing is tall and green. Either the seeds from one reverted back to the wild form, or it's a hybrid of the two.

The purple flowers are oregano, which is quite closer the ground and therefore is harder to get photos from.