Sorell

(That’s S’rell, not Sorrel.)

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When the British settlers first spread out from their Derwent base, many of them headed east, into the Coal River Valley, and up along the east coast (encouraged by the settlement on Maria Island that needed supplies). The road to the east goes through Sorell, and when the settlement on the Tasman Peninsula was established, that road also passed through Sorell. The town is named for Lieutenant Gov Sorell, who inherited Davey’s mess and was replaced by Arthur, so prior to 1825. It’s a location that comes up time and time again in early records. And yet…

We went to the Information Centre. This is a place where tourists can go and get useful information (that is, brochures) about accommodation, tourist attractions and anything else that tourists might need to know.

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The Sorell Information Centre (former church hall) is on the main street. It’s a nice big room with lots of brochures for all around the state divided up by regions. Nothing stood out for Sorell, so we asked the young guy at the counter. He looked a little… desperate. He did produce a leaflet that showed the locations of a couple of antique shops and a hobby shop. This obviously wasn’t what we wanted. Then he came out with a much-copied B&W map showing Interesting Buildings. That was more like it. Sort of. We assured him (I hope) that this was all we needed and we departed.

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