agriculture

Fingal

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(Note: the paragraphs that start with bold text are from the town’s visitor information panel. I take no responsibility for errors of fact. Errors of spelling or grammar are probably due to my typing though.)

The town of Fingal was established in the 1820s. According to the census, the population in 2006 was 450. It is a town that has obvious signs of being bigger and busier in the past than what it is now.

The town spreads out along the main road (the highway) so I thought I’d show it from west to east, starting here. So fire station and then an odd building on the corner.

This puzzled us. Mother thought it might be a lodge or something. I said my map just had it as ‘hall’ but looking at it now, it only has ‘War Memorial’ in that spot. Mother decided it looked like a council chambers, but I thought that was elsewhere.

When I went back to the car, I looked at the information board we’d parked in front of. (I took a photo of the information section but when I went to take a photo of the accompanying map, the camera decided it wouldn’t take photos when I’d zoomed in, so I had the information on me but couldn’t match it to whatever we were looking at.) Anyway, once I found the spot on the map, we found out it was:

Original Fingal Council Chambers c. 1882 Partially burnt down after being flood in 1929. Valuable municipal records prior to 1929 were totally destroyed. The building was the original Council Chambers with the Municipal Gaol being located underneath. It has been used as a Town Hall since 1974. The edifice is subject to rising damp.

[Especially when the river floods?]

The street that runs down the front of the damp council chambers leads to the railway and the railway station. When passenger services were stopped back in Tasmania in the 1970s, the stations were mostly removed. Those few remaining were converted to other uses. So I wasn’t expecting much when we went down there.

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Sorell

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(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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Campbell Town is on the Midlands Hwy.

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From the above link:
“Campbell Town is a major pastoral and tourist centre in the Northern Midlands, originally established in 1821 by Governor Macquarie as one of the four garrison town and probation stations between Hobart and Launceston.

“Campbell Town, and the Elizabeth River, which runs through it (previously known as Relief Creek), was named by Macquarie after his wife, Elizabeth Campbell.”

If you’re heading south, it’s the last town on the actual highway until you’re almost in Hobart. And if you’re heading north, it’s the first town after a long drive with no towns along the highway. So it’s a popular stopping place. It’s about 132 km from Hobart and 41 miles from Launceston.

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See.

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Melton Mowbrary, in the Southern Midlands, where the road to Bothwell joins the main highway. Originally known as Crossmarsh. That is the area was known at Crossmarsh. Then the guy who built the hotel (in the 1850s) named it (or his property) after his birthplace in the UK and that name was picked up for the area.

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Exeter

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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.

Exeter
Exeter

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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.”