Stanley is located on the rugged North West Coast of Tasmania, 379 km (235 miles) north-west of Hobart. It is a place with an interesting history and natural wonders to explore.
Tommeginne Aboriginal People
Aboriginal people have lived in Tasmania for at least 37,000 years, according to available evidence, such as middens, quarries and artefact scatters.
However, about 12000 years ago, the sea level rose separating Tasmania from the mainland and creating Bass Strait. This separation caused a population collapse amongst Tasmanian Aborigines and brought about what is called, the
Tasmanian effect; whereby, Aboriginal Tasmanians lost valuable skills and technologies (
2), probably due to the isolation.
The island of Tasmania was separated into nine separate tribal regions. Though, from what we know, Tasmanian Aboriginal people appeared to generally share practices and beliefs (such as "star gods" and the evil spirit Wrageowrapper.)(
1)
The Nut State Reserve at Stanley was called Moo-Nut-Re-Ker by the Aboriginal people who lived around Stanley. Today, there are many significant Aboriginal and historic heritage sites within the Nut Reserve, that have
ongoing importance for Aboriginal people.
One
enduring part of Tasmanian Aboriginal culture continues today, as women of Aboriginal descent still collect Maireener shells and make them into necklaces and bracelets. Some also make traditional baskets.
The French explorer Nicholas Baudin, described these baskets in February 1802:
"The baskets that the women use for fishing have some worth, from the great amount of work that must go into them, and so they place considerable value on them and will only exchange them with reluctance."
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| Tasmanian Aboriginal basketwork is twined in an s-stitch, which opposite in the z-twist.of similar basketwork from Arnhem Land and far north Queensland. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. |
1798: Bass and Flinders
Matthew Flinders and George Bass circumnavigated Tasmania in 1798, on the sloop Norfolk. They sighted and named the round lumpy area of land near Stanley, Circular Head, on 5 December of that year; this name is still used to describe the whole area.
But the round lumpy
area of land, which is 152 metres in height, with sheer cliff faces on three sides and surrounded by the sea, described by Matthew Flinders as a "cliffy
round lump resembling a Christmas cake", is
actually the core of an extinct volcano and is now known as "The Nut", or Munatrik (Aboriginal name).
After this time, a group of escaped and former convicts lived at Circular Head working and living an isolated life as sealers.
Captain Dixon came to Van Diemen's land from Scotland in 1820 on the Skelton and published his observations with information that was useful to emigrants and also suggested the formation of a pastoral company. |
| Chart of Van Diemen's Land "from the original survey brought by Captain Dixon of the ship Skelton of Whitby 1824". Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office |
People Arrive
In 1825, the Van Diemen’s Land Company,
established in the previous year by British businessmen, developed plans to provide wool to British factories with merino wool.
The company, had been granted 250 000 acres of land in Tasmania's far northwest by Lord Bathurst, decided that
a good place for a village and company headquarters would be nestled at the foot of The Nut.
Edward Curr was appointed the chief agent of the Van Diemen's Land Company at Circular Head: arriving in Tasmania in May 1826 with the surveyor Henry Hellyer.
The English employees from the company arrived on the
Tranmere, with livestock, supplies and equipment in October 1826, and settled in the Stanley area. These were the first Europeans to form a
settlement in this isolated and rugged part of northwest Tasmania.
Edward Curr reported that:
"The cottages of the married people are built of turf and shingled; that of the unmarried men is temporarily constructed of some of the deals which came out in the 'Tranmere' and shingled. Five huts have been built of turf and thatched for the prisoners."
Buildings appeared around the corner of today's Church and Pearse Streets, many built from the bluestone shipped from England as ballast.
Edward Curr left Stephen Adey, superintendent of stock and farms, in charge of the indentured servants and the 35 convicts in 1827 (117 in 1835), at Circular Head. However, news reached Curr of convict "insurrection", which as it turned out was justified by the very poor conditions and lack of food.
The port at Stanley opened in 1827, although it was little more than a wooden jetty, built by the chief surveyor, Henry Hellyer, who took his own life at Stanley in 1832.
Horrific Violence (1824 and 1831) A historian of the Van Diemen’s Land Company (VDC) claims that a group of its employees, taking 11 pairs of oxen from Launceston to Circular Head, were attacked by a “strong party of Natives who were however ‘severely handled’.” 1827, December: Meander River, Ritchie’s Hut ((Lennox 1990)
The master of the Van Diemen’s Land Company sloop, Fanny, Richard Frederick, told Mrs Hare, wife of the captain of the Caroline, that he, and his crew with four shepherds surprised some Aboriginal people at Cape Grim, killing 12. Mrs Hare wrote about this in her dairy, which was published a century later. The manager of the VDC reported that there were no casualties because “the guns mis-fired.” (Lee 1927)
1828, April 15: Proclamation (After more than a year of open conflict with the Aboriginal people). Van Diemen’s Land was officially divided into the Settled and the Unsettled Districts.
"Wantonly wounded and shot down, they [the Aborigines] retaliated. Fresh wrongs produced their kind: at length, every white man was a guerilla, and every black an assassin. The original temper of both parties was changed. Dread, detestation and treachery embittered every mind: even the humane yielded to the general sentiment."John West,
History of Tasmania, 1852
1832
Highfield Estate at Circular Head was built between 1832 and 1835, from bricks and local sandstone, for Edward Curr, as headquarters for the Van Diemen's Land Company. The property had barracks for the convicts, barns, stables and a chapel. In 1829 the company began leasing land to tenants.
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| Stanley- the old Barracks 'Highfield' (ruins), Libraries Tasmania |
When James Backhouse, a Quaker, visited the Stanely area in 1832, he
interviewed two Aboriginal women about their experiences living with these men and reported on their "'sufferings".
Backhouse also commented on the dances of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people:
In these dances the aborigines
represented certain events or the
manners of different animals; they
had a horse dance, an emu dance
a thunder and lightning dance, and
many others.
Backhouse cited in Roth 1968
The Colonial Architect of Van Diemen's Land, John Lee Archer, became Police Magistrate of the Circular Head district in 1838 and lived at Stanley for the rest of his life.
1840s
The town was named Stanley after Lord Stanley, a British statesman and British Secretary of State for the Colonies in the 1840s.
Buttermaking Begins
Mr and Mrs Michael Carty and family, from Bally-Dor, Ireland, were employed by the Van Diemen's Land Company as rural workers. They landed at Circular Head on the
Thomas Lawrie, on 6 March 1840 and were sent to the company's Hampshire Hills Estate.
The remote Hampshire Hills Estate proved to be unsuitable for agriculture and sheep farming, as the land was heavily timbered and barren in the higher westward ranges. So, as the company's fortunes waned, "Michael Carty and his young family were again
transferred to Circular Head, where he was appointed dairyman at the Green Hills, and his expert wife distinguished herself at buttermaking."
Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Saturday 6 August 1927
The first school opened in 1841. The first Post Office opened on 1 July 1845 and was known as Circular Head until 1882.
1850s
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| Cornwall Chronicle (Launceston, Tas. : 1835 - 1880), Saturday 19 April 1856 |
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| Scene outside the Commercial Hotel, Stanley, Tasmania, 1858, Archives Office of Tasmania |
After the 1840s, convict labour stopped and during the 1850s, the company began to lease out farming operations.
Bushrangers
John Stagg House and Eliza Turner and their children, from Gloucestershire England, migrated to Melbourne in 1841. They sailed to Launceston three years later, and then, moved to the Circular Head district where
they established Stag Farm. Mr House was murdered by Bushrangers 14 Sep 1853.
"On the evening of the 14th of September 1853 Henry Bradley and Patrick O'Connor (convict pass-holders, ex Norfolk Island) armed themselves with double-barrelled guns, and first plundered Spink's homestead, and thence proceeded to an adjacent station owned by Mr House. They tied up all the occupants of the place, and thrust them into the bedroom of the young ladies of the house. There they shot Mr House in cold blood, leaving him dying at the feet of the helpless women. They secured what plunder they 'could carry, and made for the coast, shooting a constable on the way. Immediately on the murder being known a large party of inhabitants started of in pursuit and a reward of £100 for their capture was offered."
Punch (Melbourne, Vic. : 1900 - 1918; 1925)
Shipwrecked
Henry Smith was the ship’s master and owner of the
Fanny. But on 9 June 1884, Henry and his youngest daughter sailed from Montague river with a cargo of potatoes for Stanley and died at sea when their
ship was wrecked in Emu Bay. A search was instigated but only the remains of the vessel were found.
Connected
By 1859 Tasmania was linked to the mainland of Australia by a cable laid across Bass Strait, from Cape Otway to King Island, by land across the island, then to Circular Head.
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| Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899), Thursday 15 December 1859 |
1860s  |
| Stanley 1866 - Circular Head, TAS, (c1890), Tasmanian Archives and State Library (Commons) |
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| Stanley 1866 - Circular Head (c1890), Tasmanian Archives and State Library (Commons) |
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1880s
In 1880, the first coach service between Stanley and Burnie began operation, a trip of close to seven hours.
1890s
Although the
port's location at the foot of The Nut provided some protection, the jetty was continually battered by severe easterly gales. By 1893, another jetty was built further east, which was to become known as "Old Wharf".
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Old Wharf - Stanley (c1890), Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office
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| Summer season - Stanley (c1890), TAS, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office |
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Tatlow's Coach at Stanley in front of W H Lean and Co, Stanley, tasmania, 01 Jan 1900, Libraries Tasmania
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| Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 22 August 1903 |
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The Wharves, Stanley, Tasmania, 1906-1930, Spurling, Stephen, III, National Library of Australia
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| Stanley, Tasmania - 1906. The Stanley Hotel can be seen in the centre of the photo....the building with the two chimneys. |
The weekly newspaper,
The Circular Head Chronicle, was established and printed at Stanley from 1906 to 1954, but now its headquarters operates at Smithton.
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| Old Barracks, Stanley, Tasmania (c1910), Tasmanian Archives and State Library (Commons |
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The Governor turning the first sod of the Stanley-Balfour Electric Railway, May 4th, 1911. Sears Studio photo, Stanley, Tasmania
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Motoring in Stanley, Tasmania, circa 1913
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WWI |
| North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times (Tas. : 1899 - 1919), Monday 19 August 1918 |
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| Stanley, Tasmania (1919). Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office |
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| Stanley wharf under construction, 1919. H J King photo |
1920sIn 1926, Stanley had bacon, cheese and other factories operating. In the early days, Stanley was also famed for the quality and quantity of the potatoes
grown here; timber-getting, fishing, dairy and other
agricultural industries were also prospering around Stanley.
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| Stanley wharf, buildings and the Nut, Spurling photo. (c1920), Tasmanian Archives and State Library (Commons) |
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| Myalla to Stanley, Tasmania, extension opening at Stanley, circa 1922. W Winslade photo |
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| Myalla to Stanley extension opening at Stanley, Tasmania, circa 1922. W Winslade photo |
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| Highfield beach, Stanley, TAS, Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Wednesday 12 July 1922 |
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| Circular Head, Stanley, TAS, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 6 November 1926 |
1930s
The 10th Prime Minister of AustraliaJoseph Lyons, the 10th of Australia (1932-1939), was born in Stanley in 1879. He attended the local school at Stanley and later began his teaching career in the town. The wife of Priminster Lyons was also very successful in her own right, as Dame Enid Lyons, was the first woman elected to the federal House of Representatives.
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| Joseph Lyons (as prime minister) standing in front of his birthplace and childhood home in Stanley, Tasmania, in 1935. National Library of Australia |
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Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Monday 2 December 1935
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| Tatlow's Royal Mail Coach, Stanley to Burnie, TAS. Alf Chester photo (c1930), Tasmanian Archives and State Library (Commons) |
With the laying of a submarine cable in 1936, from Apollo Bay to Stanley, the first telephone was connected to Tasmania from mainland Australia.
1940s and WWII
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| Advocate, (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Friday 15 March 1940 |
Tiie Stanley Girls’ Club have made
94 white cotton singlets for the C.W.A.
Cheer Fund for Circular Head soldiers
overseas.
Letters of appreciation have been
received from Privates Hanson, Heathhorn,
Leo Gardiner and Kalick. The
girls also have received letters from
Bill Grubb, Joe McGlone and Jimmy
Grubb for cigarettes received.Circular Head Chronicle (Stanley, Tas. : 1906 - 1954), Wednesday 11 December 1940
1950s
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| STANLEY FISHERMEN PREPARE, TAS, Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Saturday 5 June 1954 |
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The great mass of the Circular Head Bluff forms a dark contrasting background in well -kept arena and brightly-painted buildings of the S tanley showground, TAS. Circular Head Chronicle (Stanley, Tas. : 1906 - 1954), Wednesday 17 November 1954 |
Today Stanley is the main fishing port on the north-west coast of Tasmania. The town is also featured in the 2016 film adaptation of M L Stedman’s book, "The Light Between Oceans".
Around Stanley
Highfield Historic Site
Built from 1832 to 1835 for the chief agent of the Van Diemen's Land Company, this historic house, which is a rare example of domestic architecture from the Regency period, has been restored.
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| Highfield House is a Regency style house decorated French trellis-work veranda supports.The house was designed by John Lee Archer for James Gibson, Stanley, TAS. |
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| Convict barrack ruins, at Highfield House Stanley, Tasmania |
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| Highfield House Stanley, Tasmania, with The Nut in the background |
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| Stone buildings at high fields, Stanley, Tasmania |
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| Ruins of "Deer Park" gates, Stanley, Tasmania |
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| The Plough Inn was built in 1842 and operated as an inn until 1876 |
The Plough Inn was built by the Van Diemen's Land Company in the early days of the settlement as accommodation for travellers. The Plough Inn operated as an inn until 1876.
Poet's Cottage, which
was built in 1849 by John Lee Archer was intended for one of George IV's illegitimate sons.
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| Poet's Cottage, Stanley, TAS, which was built in 1849 by John Lee Archer, was intended for one of George IV's illegitimate sons |
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| Touchwood Cottage was built about 1840 |
Touchwood Cottage was built about 1840 in the Georgian style. Originally the house was part of a farm with ten acres.
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| Van Diemen's Company Store, in Stanley, TAS, was designed by John Lee Archer in 1843-44. It is constructed of bluestone, Michael Coghlan |
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| View from one of the lookouts at Circular Head "The Nut" towards the nearby beach at Stanley, Tasmania. Nicholas Cull |
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| Old Stanley Burial Ground in Stanley Tasmania, first internment in 1827. denisbin |
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| The old railway station in Stanley, Tasmania, is now a motel. denisbin |
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| Lyons cottage in Stanley, Tasmania, where Australian Prime Minister Lyons was raised, denisbin |
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| Stanley Town Hall, Tasmania, opened in 1911. The architect was Alexander North |
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| The town of Stanley Tasmania is dominated by the Nut a volcanic basalt plug which rises 143 metres. Take the chair lift to the top and look down on pretty Stanley. Note cemetery on far right almost on beach. denisbin |
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| Colourful and striped shops in Stanley, Tasmania. denisbin |
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| Old Commercial Bank, Stanley, Tasmania, circa 1904 |
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| This building is called Captain’s Cottage, Stanley, Tasmania, was built in the early 1830s. Captain Frederick Burgess, bought the cottage in the 1920s |
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| The Ship Inn, Stanley, Tasmania, was first licenced in 1849 |
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| Church Street buildings, Stanley, Tasmania, circa 1860 |
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| The bluestone Bond Store, Stanley Tasmania, was built as a customs store in 1835, Gary Houston |
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| Shops in Church Street, Stanley, Tasmania, Richard Horvath |
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| Stanley Hotel & Apartments, formerly the Union Hotel, at 19 Church Street, Stanley, Tasmania, This hotel has been continually licensed since 1847 under various names, the Emily, Freemason's, The Union and now the Stanley Hotel |
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| View of the town of Stanley, Tasmania, from The Nut |
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| St. James Presbyterian Church, Stanley, Tasmania opened in 1855 |
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| The first Church of England "St Paul" at Stanley, Tasmania, was a stone building built in 1846. This weatherboard church was built in 1887 and is situated in Church Street |
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| "Star of the Sea" Catholic Church in Stanley, Tasmania built 1897-1898 |
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| Marine Park, Stanley, Tasmania overlooking Little Wharf |
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| View of the town of Stanley, tasmania, from the top of The Nut. The Stanley Hotel in red and yellow stands out in the main street. Denisbin |
Circular Head Heritage Centre
Books To read
Out of Ireland, by Christopher Koch. The story of Irish "gentleman-convict" Robert Devereux and his transportation to Van Diemen's Land.
The Lost Boys of Mr Dickens, by Steve Harris. How the British Empire turned artful dodgers into child killers.
An Unconventional Wife: The life of Julia Sorell Arnold, Mary Hoban. Julia Sorell a feisty woman from Tasmania, marries Tom Arnold in 1850. Lots of famous names.
