The Old Post Office at Broadmarsh

Brighton

Brighton (including Bagdad and Broadmarsh)
Historic town on the road between Hobart and Launceston
Some Australian towns have the strangest names. Brighton, a pleasant seaside resort town on the southern coast of England, can surely have very few similarities with Brighton, a military post, 27 km north of Hobart. Yet, Governor Macquarie, in 1821 when he visited Van Diemen's Land, decided that this military post should be named Brighton 'in honour of our present gracious Sovereign's favourite place of residence'. So, today, on the Midland Highway between Hobart and Launceston, a world away from the England of King George IV and the English southern coast, there is a township named Brighton.

  • Contains:
The Blue bell Inn in Walker Street

Sorell

Sorell (including Midway Point)
Service township for the surrounding farming communities
Located 26 km east of Hobart on the Arthur Highway, Sorell is a service town for the surrounding farming communities. It lies in the heart of an area which was once the grain capital of Van Diemen's Land and which now specialises in sheep, mixed farming and dairy produce.

  • Contains:
Craiglea, one of the many historic homes in Pontville

Pontville

Pontville
Tiny historic village north of Hobart
The tiny village of Pontville is located 35 km north of Hobart on the Midlands Highway. Just a few kilometres from Brighton it became an important stopping point on the road from Hobart to Launceston in the 1830s and effectively replaced Brighton which, at one time, had been promoted as a possible future capital of the island. From this time on it became one of the major suppliers of stone for the whole southern region of Tasmania.

  • Contains:
Looking across to Snug from the boathouse south of the town

Snug

Snug
Small town now a commuter belt settlement
Located 30 km south of Hobart on the Channel Highway between Kingston and Kettering, Snug is another small town on the D'Entrecasteaux Channel which has attracted city dwellers and people interested in alternative lifestyles. Once a centre for fruit growing and timber cutting it has become urbanised in the last few decades.

  • Contains:
The historic St Matthews church

Rokeby

Rokeby
Interesting commuter suburb of Hobart
Located only 14 km from Hobart, Rokeby is an independent and fascinating settlement which is currently feeling the pressures of urban sprawl - pressures which were greatly exacerbated by the completion of the Tasman Bridge in 1965.

  • Contains:
The old convict ruins

Saltwater River

Saltwater River
Fascinating penal colony ruin - as interesting as Port Arthur
'Westward from Eaglehawk Neck and Woody Island lay the dreaded Coal Mines. Sixty of the 'marked men' were stationed here under a strong guard. At the Coal Mines was the northernmost of those ingenious series of semaphores which rendered escape almost impossible', such was Marcus Clarke's description of the penal settlement at Saltwater River in his famous book For the Term of his Natural Life.

  • Contains:
A timber yard near Bronte Park

Bronte Park

Bronte Park
Once a construction village, now a base for activity-based holidaymakers.
Located midway between Hobart and Queenstown (147 km north west of Hobart and 115 km east of Queenstown), Bronte Park is close to the geographic centre of Tasmania. It was once a Hydro-Electric Commission village. In recent times this tiny village, which is surrounded by excellent trout fishing lakes, has become a base for fishermen, canoeists and bushwalkers. The old HEC huts have been turned into a 'highland village' with chalet accommodation and, in turn, they have attracted other specialist accommodation to the area.

  • Contains:
Tasmans Inn (circa 1842) - Norfolk Bay Convict Station

Taranna

Taranna
Tiny township on the road to Port Arthur
Located 89 km south east of Hobart on the Arthur Highway, Taranna is a tiny, and rather sleepy, little settlement on the road to Port Arthur.

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