Launceston is located in the north of Tasmania, Australia, where the North and South Esk rivers unite to become the Tamar. As the second
largest town in Tasmania, Launceston boasts historic streetscapes and yet, it is only fifteen minutes walk away from the natural beauty of Cataract Gorge, with its cascades and hiking trails.
Palawa Aboriginal People
Launceston is the place where the three rivers and three clans meet: The Tyerrernotepanner, the Panninher and the Leterremairrener.
About 60 000 BCE during the Ice Age, the sea level was much lower than it is today.
Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia were joined together in one large landmass. Aboriginal people came to Australia at least 50 000 years ago, populating the land
over time and forming distinct groups. New Guinea only separated from Australia 8.000 years ago, with the flooding of Torres Strait.
About 35,000 years ago, during the Ice Age, the sea level fell, and a land bridge formed, which allowed Aboriginal people
to move into Tasmania (Lutriwitja), from mainland Australia.
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| British Library digitised image from page 149 of "Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians [With plates.]" Date of publication: 1870 |
Then,
15,000 to 10,000 years ago, the climate warmed, and the ice, melted, causing the sea levels to rise. The land bridge became submerged and the Tasmanian Aboriginal people became isolated from mainland Australia.
Genetically, Aboriginal Australians are most similar to the indigenous populations of Papua New Guinea, and more distantly related to groups from East Indonesia. Compared to other populations, Australian Aboriginal people did not experience migration and population expansions, until the arrival of the British.
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| Portrait of a native Tasmanian man] [picture] / [T. W. Rider] Art work - 1840-1849, NLAUST |
Europeans
Dutch Explorer Abel Tasman
landed on the southern part of Tasmania in November 1642 and named it Van Diemen’s Land after the then, Governor-General, of Dutch East Indies, Anthony Van Diemen.
It wasn't until 1772, that a French expedition led by Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne landed at Adventure Bay, Bruny Island, which is
separated from the Tasmanian mainland by the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. The following year, Tobias Furneaux became the first Englishman to land in Tasmania.
Captain James Cook, in search of
Terra Australis Incognita ("unknown land of the South"), landed at Adventure Bay in 1777.
Matthew Flinders and George Bass sailed through Bass Strait in 1798–99 and determined for the first time, that Tasmania was an island. They sheltered from bad weather at Port Dalrymple.
A French expedition led by Baudin in 1802, explored the entrance to Port Dalrymple.
A Strange Tale
Samuel Emanuel Cox (1773-1891)Later known as Sammy Cox, the wild white man, he claimed to be the son of Squire Jervis of Shenstone Park, Lichfield, England. His father was killed in a hunting accident and Sammy became a ward of his uncle, Captain Jervis.
Some years later, Sammy accompanied his uncle Captain Jervis in the
Regent Fox on a voyage to the South Seas. But the boatswain told Sammy that his uncle was plotting to leave him on an uninhabited
island and claim Sammy's inheritance. This convinced Sammy to run into the bush, near the River Tamar in Van Diemen's Land, when the ship landed there in 1789.
Sammy claimed that he lived with Aboriginal people until 1812. This was when he met white settlers in the Quamby district.
Apparently, relatives in England later confirmed Sammy's story, that he was the heir to his father's and of his uncle, Earl St Vincent's properties.
Cox died in the Launceston insane asylum in 1891, claiming to be 117 years old.
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| Sammy Cox, Tasmania, 1890 |
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| Border Watch (Mount Gambier, SA : 1861 - 1954), Saturday 21 June 1890 |
SettlementIn 1804, the commandant of the British garrison Lt. Col. William Paterson, was in charge of establishing a camp where George Town is located today. A few weeks later, Patterson moved the
settlement across the river to York Town, and a year later, the settlement moved to the site of today's Launceston.
Cultural Clashes
☻ Van Diemen's Land settlements began as convict outposts of NSW.
☻ The British colonisation of Tasmania took place between 1803 and 1830, beginning with Lieutenant John Bowen taking a group of convicts up the Derwent River, in the Lady Nelson and the whaler Albion. Matthew Flinders and George Bass had
visited the site previously during their circumnavigation of Van Diemen's Land.
☻ With the arrival of the British, a clash of
culturally and technologically very different people began. According to research, there were six times as many white men in the colony, as there were women. Aboriginal Australians were deprived of their women (see
here). This was a major trigger for the ensuing violence.
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| British Library digitised image from page 127 of "Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians [With plates.]" Date of publication: 1870 |
Patersonia
☻ In its early days, the settlement was called Patersonia. However, the name was later changed to Launceston in honour of the New South Wales Governor Captain Philip Gidley King, who was born in Launceston, Cornwall.
☻ In August 1805, Paterson left for Sydney on the Sophia and Captain Kemp was left in charge. When Patterson returned in the following year, the inhabitants of the settlement had little food or clothing and had abandoned farming for hunting. The open area around Launceston was known as "Bullock's Hunting Ground".
☻ Flooding in late 1805 killed much of the cattle.
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| Colonel William Paterson (17 August 1755 – 21 June 1810). |
☻ Government House for the north of the colony was originally located at York Town from 1805 to 1808. Government Cottage at Launceston
was built in 1807, for Lieutenant-Governor Paterson. The area around the cottage was fenced and became the Government farm.
☻ Governor Paterson left Launceston in 1808.
☻ Governor Lachlan Macquarie visited Launceston in December 1811 and decided that George Town would be better than Launceston
as the main centre in Tasmania's north. However, many of the residents who moved to George Town later moved back to Launceston. The Bigge report of 1825 reversed Macquarie's decision and returned Launceston as the main centre for the region.
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| Lachlan Macquarie attributed to John Opie (1761-1807) |
☻ By 1820 colonists had occupied about 15% of the land between Hobart and Launceston and wheat farming, and livestock were thriving. Aboriginal people, however, were experiencing dispossesion.
☻ The first buildings were located in the vicinity of today's Cameron Street.
☻ George Arthur, Governor of the colony,
arrived in 1824 and issued a proclamation that placed Aboriginal people under the protection of British law and threatened prosecution and trial for Europeans
who continued to "wantonly destroy" them.
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| Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Saturday 13 June 1953 |
☻ In a report to the Colonial Office secretary, Governor Arthur expressed a desire to establish a "native institution" for Aboriginal people: "..... supply them with food and clothing, and afford them protection ... on condition of their confining themselves peaceably to certain limits". Governor Arthur admitted that convicts were responsible for committing many atrocities against Aboriginal people.
☻ Governor George Arthur issued several printed Proclamations in an effort to reduce the violent
interactions between the Aboriginal peoples and the British settlers, during the period of violence often referred to as The Black War.
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| Governor Davey's [sic - actually Governor Arthur's] Proclamation to the Aborigines, 1816 [sic - actually c. 1828-30] The first image shows Aboriginal people and European settlers living together peacefully. The second image shows leaders, representing the British and the Indigenous, shaking hands. |
☻ Europeans also brought with them diseases to which the isolated Aboriginal populations had no immunity and European men abducted and violated Aboriginal women. Sheep introduced by settlers disrupted the ecosystem and Aboriginal food sources.
☻ The Cornwall Hotel in Cameron Street was built in 1824 by John Pascoe Fawkner. He had moved to Launceston in 1819, with convict Eliza Cobb, whom he soon married
and established a bakery, timber business, bookshop, a newspaper (the
Launceston Advertiser first issued 1829).
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| The Cornwall Hotel, Launceston TAS, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 18 March 1905 |
☻ On 19 April 1828, Governor Arthur issued a "Proclamation Separating the Aborigines from the White Inhabitants". This divided the island into two parts to regulate and restrict contact between blacks and whites. Unfortunately, this operated as an official sanction to use of force to expel any Aboriginal people from the Settled Districts.
☻ Fighting between convicts and settlers became extremely vicious in 1828 and Governor Arthur declared martial law in the settled districts. Tasmanian Aboriginal people were declared "open enemies" of the state.
☻ Attacks on settlers by Aboriginal people increased to 259 in 1830, and governor Arthur was under pressure.
☻ On the North Esk River near Launceston, in March 1829, the Colonial Times reported that three colonists, Mary Mellor, James Hales and Thomas Johnson, were speared and killed by Aboriginal people. And two other stockmen were reported missing, believed killed: “(S)ome of the Aborigines were pursued and six Aborigines were killed – 4 men, a woman & child”.
The Black Line
☻ Aided by Aboriginal guides, the Black Line was instigated in 1830, to drive the Aboriginal people out of settled districts. The Black Line consisted of more than 2000 settlers, and soldiers, and cost more than half the annual budget of the Van Diemen's Land colony.
☻ Two Tasmanian Aboriginal people were documented as captured, and two recorded as killed during the operation. Aboriginal people made at least 50 attacks on settlers—both in front of and behind the line. The Black Line was disbanded on 26 November 1830.
☻ George Augustus Robinson, who had learnt some of the local Aboriginal languages, was brought in as a "conciliator" between settlers and Aboriginal people. Robinson befriended Truganini. For the next six years, Truganini and her partner, Woorraddy, accompanied Robinson on his "Friendly Missions", to move the Aboriginal people from the mainland to settle on Flinders Island.
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| Robinson with Tasmanian Aborigines, Benjamin DUTERRAU (1767 - 11 July 1851 |
The Town Grows
☻ In the
Launceston Advertiser In June 1830, John Pascoe Fawkner said that Mr Reed’s new stone store, built by John Sprunt, was the first four-storey building
in town. He also wrote that: “It should have shewn a more ornamental front, [as] the windows are too small to look well.”
☻ Reed’s store and house were sometimes
used as barracks for the British Regiments stationed in Launceston. Among Reed's associates in Tasmania at this time were James Henty, John Batman and William Buckley.
☻ Launceston Female Factory opened 1834. Closed 1855.
☻ The Launceston Horticultural Society was established in 1838, by Ronald Campbell Gunn and William Henty.
☻ Franklin House in Launceston was built by convict labour in 1838 for former convict and businessman Britton Jones, a Launceston brewer and innkeeper.
☻ In 1856, the few surviving Tasmanian Aboriginal people on Flinders Island were moved to a settlement at Oyster Cove, south of Hobart.
☻ After Truganini's death, it often claimed that she was the last "full-blooded" Aboriginal Tasmanian. However, Fanny Cochrane Smith was officially recognised as the last Tasmanian Aboriginal by the Government in 1889 (there are, of course, many people of Tasmanian (Palawa) descent today). Fanny married an English sawyer and ex-convict and they had 11 children. Horace Watson made audio recordings of Fanny singing. These wax recordings are the only recorded example of Tasmanian Aboriginal songs or of any Tasmanian Aboriginal language. They were made between 1899 and 1903. Listen
here.
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| Fanny Cochrane Smith, a Tasmanian Aboriginal woman, wearing a belt with wallaby pelts. |
☻ Launceston Female Factory (gaol) opened in 1834. Closed 1855.
☻ Two early settlers of Launceston, John Batman and John Fawkner were integral to the settlement of Melbourne in 1835. (and contentious).
☻ The Bank of Australasia opened in Launceston 1 January 1836.
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| The Bank of Australasia opened in Launceston 1 January 1836. Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 24 March 1906 |
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| The old Guardhouse stood in Charles St, Launceston, TAS, in the 1830s, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 24 March 1906 |
☻ The Launceston Examiner reported 8 February 1843:
"WE understand that an attempt was made yesterday, to set fire to the female factory, by some of the inmates of that building, and that they were tried the same day; the result of the trial has not transpired."☻ On 15 June 1846, Launceston Church Grammar School was founded, initially operating from a building in the North-East corner of George and Elizabeth Streets, At this time, Launceston was described as "a small town with a population of about 8000 people and the town was little more than a scattered village".
☻ By 1848 there were 763 stone or brick and 1213 wooden buildings in Launceston.
☻ Launceston was first declared as a municipality in 1853 and declared a city in 1888.
☻ A telegraph line opened between Hobart Town and Launceston by 1858. The first submarine communication cable was laid between Tasmania and Cape Otway in 1859.
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| Hobart Town Courier, 13 October 1826 |
Launceston's Development
1850s
A cricket match was held in Launceston in 1851: (Van Diemen’s Land v Port Phillip.
Between 1850 and 1890, Launceston developed as an industrial and commercial centre, boosted by gold mining at nearby Leroy and Beaconsfield. Launceston was proclaimed a city in 1888. And in 1895, the Duck Reach Hydro Power Station, on the South Esk River,
upstream from Cataract Gorge, provided the first hydro-electricity in the Southern Hemisphere.
In the late 1850s, drainage works were carried out in Launceston, the start of Australia's first underground sewerage system.
1860s
By 1861 Launceston's population had grown to more than 10,000.
The Victorian-Italianate style Town Hall was built in 1864.
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| Town Hall, Launceston, TAS, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office |
The Launceston Invalid Depot was established in 1868 in the old Military Barracks, located in what is now Royal Park.
1870s
The Western Line railway arrived in 1871.
Waverley Woollen Mills were established in the 1870s.
Tin deposits were found at Mount Bischoff in 1871 and in 1877, gold was discovered at Beaconsfield, which helped increase the prosperity of Launceston.
1880s
The Telegraph, later The Daily Telegraph was a newspaper published in Launceston, Tasmania, between 1881 and 1928.
A telephone was installed in Launceston at Thomas Edginton’s store in Cameron Street in 1883.
1890s
The Launceston City and Suburbs Improvement Association was formed in 1890 and Cataract Gorge was developed,
including building a rotunda for the bands.
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| Cataract Bridge with Launceston and East Launceston, TAS, in background (Card with poem by Shelley on reverse) (c1890) Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office Commons |
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| Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 13 February 1892 |
The Launceston District Nursing Association was founded in 1893.
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| Train wrecking in tasmania. Intense excitement was oauscd throughout Tasmania by a deliberate attempt to wreak the express train from Launoeston to Hobart, Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 30 September 1893 |
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| The Daily Telegraph was a newspaper published in Launceston, Tasmania between 1881 and 1928.Launceston, TAS, Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 27 October 1894 |
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| W.J. Southerwood Livery Stable, later took over Spearman’s route and went on to acquire the Launceston Omnibus and Tramway Company. Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 27 October 1894 |
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| Duck Reach Power Station was the first publicly owned hydro-electric plant in the Southern Hemisphere, and provided the Tasmanian city of Launceston with hydro-electric power from its construction in 1895 to its closure in 1955. Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 27 October 1894 |
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Fairthorne and Sons Pharmacy, Launceston, TAS, Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 27 October 1894
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| McKay, Sampson & McKinlay Importers, Launceston, Tas.Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 27 October 1894 |
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| Launceston Municipal Police, TAS, Tasmanian (Launceston, Tas. : 1881 - 1895), Saturday 3 November 1894 |
The Victoria Baths, built in 1897 to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, were in great demand as most homes did not have running water at this time. The Victoria Baths, which initially operated with separate pools for men and women, used to stand on the corner of Paterson and Wellington Streets.
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Registered stamps window at Launceston Post Office, TAS, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 18 February 1899
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| Oak tree on Prince's Square, Launceston, panted by Mayor W Hart in 1863 on the occasion of the Prince of Wales marriage. Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 25 February 1899 |
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| Duck Reach Power Station was the first publicly owned hydro-electric plant in the Southern Hemisphere, and provided the Tasmanian city of Launceston with hydro-electric power from its construction in 1895 to its closure in 1955. Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 25 March 1899 |
1900s
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| Launceston Corporation steam roller at work, 1902, TAS, Trainiac |
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| Queen Victoria Hospital for Women opened in Launceston opened 1897, (one of the first such institutions established by a group of Australian women). Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 21 May 1904 |
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| Cataract George and Trinity Church, Launceston, TAS, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 24 March 1906 |
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| St. John Street, Launceston, Tasmania - Centenary Day 1907, Kaye |
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Official opening of the tram service, Brisbane Street, Launceston. Number 1 tram (Elphin Road) and number 4 (Mowbray). Vandyck Studios (1911) Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office Commons
Launceston Tramways began operating on three routes on 4 August 1911.
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First truck to take a load from Launceston to Hobart, taking 13½ hours for the 130 mile trip. Gross mass was 4t 8cwt. Commer 2½ ton truck, 1911, Spurling photo Trainiac
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Launceston tram, TAS, No. 7 at Sandhill terminus. Burrows photo, 1913, Trainiac
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| Post Office delivery tricycles, Launceston, TAS. A R Ambrose, E D Pinkard and Roy Perry driving. Spurling photo, 1914, Trainiac |
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| New Launceston hopper barge Lienta, TAS, 1914, Trainiac |
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| Load of Sunshine harvesters for William Hart & Sons at Launceston railway station, hauled by C class locomotive. 1914, TAS, Trainiac |
WW1
During WW1, 21 Tasmanian Aboriginal men enlisted and served at Gallipoli, in Flanders, and on the Somme. Six of the men from Cape Barren Island were killed.
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| Private Jack Keith BradleyB Company, 12 Battalion, 3 Infantry Brigade, 1 Australian Division, Australian Infantry, Australian Imperial Force (AIF) Private Bradley died, aged 19, at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. He was the son of Claude Robert Edmund and Mary Bradley, of 15, Elizabeth St., Launceston, Tasmania. IWM Collections |
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Stewart McPherson McGowan #820419 year old clerk from Launceston in Tasmania.
His war records: recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewIma...
Service Number: 8204 Rank: Bombardier Unit: 6th Australian Field Artillery Brigade
Service: Australian Army Conflict: First World War, 1914-1918 Date of death: 27 November 1916
Place of death: France Cause of death: Killed in action Age at death: 20 Place of association: Launceston, Australia Cemetery or memorial details: Guards Cemetery, Lesboeufs, Peronne, Picardie, France Source: AWM145 Roll of Honour cards, 1914-1918 War, Army |
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Launceston, Tas. 1917. Group portrait of seven members of the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) in the courtyard of a building. It is possibly shortly before the nurses sailed on the transport ship SS Mooltan for service in the Middle East including Salonica, Greece. Staff nurse Sister Laura Grubb is on the far right. AWM
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1920s |
| The Prince's Arrival at the Anzac Hotel, Launceston, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 4 August 1920 |
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| Knight and Peter Bros. Pty. Ltd., of 123 Birsbane-street, Launceston, Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Friday 21 October 1927. Peter's Foundry in Launceston dates from 1833. The business merged with WH Knight's Phoenix Foundry in 1926. |
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View of Hobart and Campbell Street Gaol, Launceston Gaol opened in 1827. Libraries Tasmania
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| The 'Boat Train' at King's Wharf, Launceston, TAS, to meet the ship from Melbourne, 1927. Burrows photo, Trainic |
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| Supermarine Southampton, piloted by Fl-Lt Briggs, in Launceston, TAS. 1928, Burrows photo, Trainiac |
The worst floods in Tasmania’s history occurred in 1929.
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| Floods at the Launceston Electric Powerhouse, TAS, Newcastle Sun (NSW : 1918 - 1954), Saturday 13 April 1929 |
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| Flood at Launceston, TAS, Newcastle Sun (NSW : 1918 - 1954), Saturday 13 April 1929 |
1930s
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| Johnstone & Wilmot Building, Launceston, TAS, Johnstone & Wilmot, Launceston. William Johnstone (1820-1874) arrived in Tasmania in 1842 and set up in business as an importer of wines, spirits, cigars and a few other delicacies, and went into partnership with Stuart Eardley Wilmot. Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Friday 12 August 1932 |
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| Annear's Garage, Brisbane St, Launceston, TAS, 1933, Trainiac |
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| CHINESE CHILD REFUGEES Launceston Money Helps Twelve There are 200,000 war-afflicted children in Chinese refugcoe camps, and Launceston residents and organisations are paying for the care of 12 of them.Proportionately, the figures are extremely pleasing, according to Miss Ann Chung, secretary of the Chinese Relief Fund in this city. By the latest mail from China Madame Chiang Kai-shek's relief organisation has forwarded photographs of the children selected-to be kept by donations from Launceston. Ngwel Chin Pci, 12-year-old boy, of Hupei Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Wednesday 22 February 1939 |
1940s
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| As the train draws in at Launceston, TAS, Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Saturday 9 March 1940 |
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| Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Tuesday 13 August 1940 |
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| Launceston Church Grammar School, TAS, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 19 July 1941 |
Strange Characters in the City’s Memory "A century ago when the people of Launceston lived in small cottages hugging the uneven streets, the clanging of the bellman, with his familiar cry would bring heads popping out of doorways and children running. The bellman was one of the best known of the townsfolk, for he brought news as well as proclamations. This office was held for many years by James Cooper, popularly known as Chequers, who had been a rascal, but ended his days in piety.
In stature he was under medium height and in habits filthy, yet when arrayed in his official livery
–– a red coat much too large for him, trousers turned up about six inches, with a broad-brim white hat and a huge bell under his arm, he was as proud as a peacock.
Last Minute Reprieve.
Chequers rather exulted in his early offences against the law. He had suffered hundreds of lashes and more than once had been sentenced to death, but the sentence had been commuted. On one occasion his reprieve arrived when he was on the gallows. At the close of his life, however, he was a changed man. He preached in the streets and in season and out in his own rude way, urged the duty of repentance."
STRANGE CHARACTERS IN THE CITY'S MEMORY (1942, March 12). Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954)
During World War Two, about 23 Tasmanian Aboriginal men fought overseas.
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| Soldiers in train carriage (2/40th Battalion) - Launceston, 1940, Libraries Tasmania |
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| Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Wednesday 30 September 1942 |
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| Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Friday 27 November 1942 |
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| Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Friday 2 April 1943 |
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| Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Saturday 23 June 1945 |
1950s |
| Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Saturday 1 July 1950 |
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| R4 at the station, circa 1950, Launceston, TAS, 1950, Trainiac |
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| Launceston Football Club, TAS - Jubilee Premiers 1951 - left side detail, Kaye |
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| Waverly blanket factory near Launceston, TAS, Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Tuesday 12 January 1954 |
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| Royal Visit, Launceston, TAS, street scene, 1954, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office |
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| Royal Visit, Launceston, TAS, royal party on dais, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office |
Dorothy Edwards was also the first woman to be elected to the Launceston City Council. She served as an alderman for 15 years and was mayor 1955-1957,
1960s
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| 100th birthday anniversary, Launceston General Hospital 1963, by Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office |
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| Tasmania Box V,Unloading of Bewglass Car at Launceston Airport, TAS, Richard Munckton |
1970s |
| Launceston Library, TAS, (1979) Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office |
The Australian Maritime College based in Launceston, was established in 1978.
1980s
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| Gunpowder Mill at Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. Photographed on 28 January 1981. Arthur Chapman |
Forgotten Convict Graves
About 320 convicts are buried at the Rose Lane prisoner burial ground, in Glen Dhu, South Launceston, claims Kris Gatenby, who wants theses forgotten people to be remembered.
The cemetery was closed in 1874 and maintained by prison gangs and those on probation. In 1899, the headstones at the Rose Lane burial ground were removed, and the land ploughed. Later, Samuel Hutton was
planning to establish a brickworks on the site, until human remains were found.
At some stage, the council obtained the land, and it became a reserve and the land adjacent, a rubbish dump. The convicts, however, were forgotten. Ms Gatenby has uncovered many stories about these forgotten people, many who turned their lives around. Like, Matthew Burns, transported to Van Diemen’s Land, age 23, in the mid-1840s, for stealing an old shirt.
Death or Liberty! Rose Lane Prisoner Burial Ground Kindle Edition, by Kris Gatenby
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| Bricks that were inscribed by Glen Dhu Primary School pupils with some of the names and of convicts in the 1990s |
Around Launceston
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| View of the CH Smith complex in Charles Street, Launceston. This area, close to the Launceston waterfront was a place of warehouses and commerce. Charles Henry Smith came to Australia from England in 1852. These buildings were used as wool store. |
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| Albert Hall, Launceston, built for the Tasmanian International Exhibition of 1891. |
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| Launceston Gasworks site, TAS. The building was officially opened on 19 March 1932 |
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| A building in Launceston, Tasmania |
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| Former Rydge's Warehouse & Commonwealth Offices, Cnr George & Cameron Streets, Launceston, TAS, circa 1880 |
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| Bendigo Bank, Launceston, TAS. Original building circa 1866 |
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| The Examiner newspaper building, Launceston, TAS, built 1840s |
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| Former Chabad House, 5 Brisbane Street Launceston, TAS. Federation Style |
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| The Customs House was built in 1885, Launceston, TAS |
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| Queen Anne Architecture in Launceston, TAS |
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| The John Hart Conservatory was built in 1932, Launceston, TAS |
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The current Art Deco facade dates from the 1930s, Launceston, TAS. The original Hibernia Hotel dates from the 1830s
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| Launceston Post Office, TAS, circa 1889 |
_(4552583846).jpg) |
| Launceston's historic Victoria Esk View Terraces, Launceston, TAS |
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| Garthowen, Launceston, TAS circa 1882 |
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| Gothic style Launceston Town Hall building (dating from 1887) adjoins the Guildhall (1881), TAS |
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| Duck reach generation building, now a museum and interpretive centre, circa 1895, Launceston, TAS |
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| Launceston College, TAS, circa 1915 |
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| Macquarie House, Launceston, TAS, Macquarie House at 92 -94 Cameron Street was built by John Sprunt ) for Henry Reed in 1829 |
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| Old Ritchie's Mill, Launceston, TAS, from the 1830s |
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The Cornwall Hotel, now called the Batman Fawkner Inn, was licensed in 1826 by John Pascoe Fawkner. The names of John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner often appear side by side, even though the two were bitter rivals during their lives. Both men believed they were the rightful founder of Melbourne.
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Things To Do and Places To Go
Self -Walking Tours: Historic
Duck Reach Power Station Museum
EPIC OF THE PIONEERS
Read
The Broad Arrow;
Being Passages from the History of Maida Gwynnham, a Lifer is an 1859 novel published by the English writer Caroline Woolmer Leakey under the pseudonym Oliné Keese. Set in Van Diemen's Land, it was one of the first novels to describe the Australian convict system and one of only two colonial novels to feature a female convict as its main character.
Read free
