Midlands Trip to Hobart


On Tuesday the 30th January we left Penguin after stopping in town at the bakery once again as well as the fruit and veg shop. We were in no hurry as we had four days to do 300kms. So we stopped in at the first main town which was Latrobe and had a look around.

There was the Axeman’s Hall of Fame there. Unfortunately the museum was closed for renos. However, it was set in a beautiful park and there was a huge wooden sculpture of a platypus out the front.







There was also Sherwood Hall which we went into and had a look. It is a house from about 1850 and there were some interesting stories inside, one being about how the lady of the house, who was part aboriginal, had held off an attack by aborigines whilst her husband was not home.





We next stopped in at the town of Westbury where we had lunch at the village green. Another lovely heritage town.





Our final destination for the day was Longford. Most of the towns in the midlands are full of heritage and Longford was no exception. We stayed in a caravan park this time as we needed to do some clothes washing. The van park was right on the river and it was a nice spot.





We had a walk around town that afternoon and the next morning, after paying some bills and doing emails we went to Woolmers Estate for the 11.15am tour. Woolmers Estate was founded by Thomas Archer in 1817 and was held by six generations of Archers, all named after the original Thomas. He was originally granted 800 acres because of his diligent service to the colony. He built the property up to include 25,000 acres at one point. These photos are of the main house and you can see where the original weatherboard home is and the extension put on around 1840.










He established and built the property with convict labour. Under the Assignment System, transported convicts were assigned to free settlers, who were then responsible for feeding, clothing and housing them in return for their labour. Thomas was a good man who treated the convicts well and actually paid them some money as well. There were other outbuildings and shearing shed. Unfortunately we could not take photos inside the old house.

We had lunch there at the van and then headed off on the road. Because of the late start we only went about 40kms to Campbell Town. It is packed with heritage so we wanted to spend time there and there was a nice free camp at the end of town. It was a very short walk to everything so it was ideal.




There are several convict built bridges in Tazzie and the one here at Campbell Town, built in 1838,  is the only one still used on a major highway.





There were these woodcarvings there that depict the history of the town.







I loved the historic buildings and points of interest.











This sun dial was cool, and it worked.




There was a convict trail through the town. Bricks contained the names and info about individual convicts.






We had a walk the next morning and checked out many of the old cottages in the streets around. Then it was time to check out another heritage town, Ross. Ross is a better known heritage town with another amazing bridge built in 1836. All of the stonemasons did their own decorative signature work on their bridges and buildings.





It is a beautiful town and has many heritage buildings as well.









That afternoon we made Oatlands our stop. It was another good free camp. We met the couple who were neighbours to us, Peter and Jenny. They were very nice people and another of those coincidences you get on the road, they are returning home to the mainland on the same day as us on the day sail. So if we don't see them beforehand in Tazzie (very unlikely) we will see them on the boat.





I think there were more heritage buildings here than the rest of the towns. Just awesome.





There was a flour mill that has been restored but they stopped running tours in the mill since October for some reason. It does work and you can buy the flour from a shop in town.




There was also a court and a gaol. Because the court there was big enough for Supreme Court sittings the death penalty could be handed out there. So there were 18 hangings in the gaol at Oatlands.








We really enjoyed checking out all the heritage through the midlands and the rural countryside was beautiful as well, albeit pretty dry.

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