Xenith

Darlington, part 3

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Grass

A non-building to start with. Part of the site of the Separate Apartments, built 1840s (dotted line).

The first block of 102 cells formed a rectangle nearly 85 m by 20.5 m. They were built to keep the worst behaved and suspected homosexual convicts completely separate. Improvements and additions were commenced until, at the very end of 1848, the complex consisted of 205 cells in two tiers. The 1846 cells were 3.05 m high, 2.44 m long and 1.22 m wide whereas the earlier cells were wider, longer but not as high. You can see where the two storey level is indicated by joists in the wall of the Bakehouse close to the oven’s chimney. The building was derelict and housed pigs in 1876. Within ten years, the bricks were used to pave roads or build Bernacchi’s cottages prior to the erection of the Coffee Palace where one complete cell exists beneath the floorboards.

View of inside, outside (long building at front) and plan and elevation.

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Cullenswood

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Christ Church, Cullenswood. Built 1847, I think by Robert Legge who owned the property of Cullenswood. There was a town here once upon a time, with a couple of churches, post office, hotel, shop and tenant farmers. It was the service town in the area. Then St Marys grew up, and took over that role. Now AFAIK there’s just this church, the cemeteries and the property.

The sign on the gate says “Catholic Cemetery. Church of St Mary 1859-1899.”

Stanley

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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.

Distance

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.)

Three shops
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.

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Richmond

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Richmond is just north-east of Hobart, in the Coal River Valley. In the early days of British settlement, as settlers moved out looking for places to farm, this is where many of them went.

With the bridge over the Coal River, Richmond was on the road to both the east coast and the Tasman Peninsula & Port Arthur. These days the highway to both goes more to the south, bypassing Richmond. With its large collection of Georgian and sandstone buildings, Richmond is very much a tourist town now, lots of traffic, lots of people, lots of galleries and cafe, and things to look at. You could spend a day here, easily.


We only had an hour and fifteen minutes though, which was supposed to include lunch (I ate mine on the bus), so I didn’t have time to do much more than take a lot of quick photos 🙁

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