Stanley

Back in the early 19th century, speculators in the UK thought they could make money of all that unused land in the new colonies without actually having to travel out there, by establishing agricultural companies to grow fine wool that would be sold back home. One of these, the Australian Agricultural Company set themselves up in northern NSW. Another, the VDL Company, went to VDL. The colonial government wasn’t too happy about this intrusion, so they found themselves shoved up into the far, distant corner of the island.

So in 1827, a boatload of livestock, indentured servants and other necessities were dropped at Circular Head, where they proceeded to farm sheep for wool and the sheep proceeded to die. You might have noticed from the photos that the climate up that way is a tad different to the climate down through the Midlands, where the successful wool properties are.

(The whole process is all rather interesting in the complicated way of money & politics, and ideas on paper meeting reality, but the only half-decent account I can find online is the ADB listing for Edward Curr, the manager.)

So that’s why Stanley, which is one of the oldest towns on the island, is sitting up there among towns that didn’t develop until the following century.

This is the main street, looking towards the wharf.

Stanley is a town with a strong tourist focus, so most of the shops along here are aimed at visitors — cafes, gift shops, antiques.

Not all of them, of course.

The pub is opposite the newsagency, you can just see the edge of it on the far right of the street photo.

Amongst all the fish and chip shops, there is a working wharf down here.

It’s a bit wet and overcast, which obviously isn’t particularly good for photos. (The blue sky photos are mostly from the last few minutes of our trip. No, I don’t show them in the order that I take them. 🙂

The used to be a working lighthouse, but it was swapped out in the 1920s. You can see here one end of the Nut, the volcano remnant which dominates views of the town, unless you’re looking out to sea.