One Journey, 100 Stories

As you journey through the Heritage Highway region, the tranquil landscapes slowly unmask the darker secrets, the broken dreams and the colourful tales of downfall and success that marked the lives of the colony's first European inhabitants.  Long before their arrival, plentiful hunting and fishing had lured ancient Aboriginal tribes to the centre of our island.

The region's history reflects displacement, survival, and for some, the ultimate opportunity to make good.  Free settlers braved a hostile, unforgiving environment; yet ultimately, some would enjoy substantial rewards and achieve a place in society well beyond their wildest imagination.

For many of the 70,000 convicts, their transportation to Van Diemen's Land brought relentless hardship, brutality and deprivation; yet the skill and labour of these men produced some of the most outstanding architecture and design in the country.  Nowhere is this more obvious than in Tasmania's midlands. 

Rich or poor, this colonial outpost at the end of the earth was not for the feint-hearted.  Gracious homes, elegant churches and fading gravestones reveal tragedy, drama and a lifetime of exile.

Click to find accommodation, hotels and B&Bs in Longford, Evandale, Ross, Campbell Town, Oatlands, Avoca, Kempton and Pontville.

• An Eye for an Eye

  The first known white inhabitant of Campbell Town was the unlucky Thomas Kenton. He was apparently a sailor who left his ship and ended up in the town in 1821. A sketch of his very basic dwelling drawn by one of the first surveyors who passed through ...

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• Highway Robbery

  In the mid -19th century highwaymen and bushrangers were rife in the Midlands. One of the most likely places to be held up was north of Cleveland going through the heavily wooded Epping Forest ...

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• A Woman of Substance

  As you drive towards Avoca spare a thought for Maria Raake. Born in 1832 she grew up and lived on various properties around here, but not for her the quiet life ...

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• Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines

  

  For eight days in 1931 the world was glued to its radio sets following the exploits of a native American Indian, Wiley Post, and a young man from Campbell Town ...

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• A Reindeer, a Train and a Dinosaur

  

  Such is the variety of topiary between Oatlands and Tunbridge that has delighted Heritage Highway travellers for 40 years. The tradition was started by Jack ...

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• An 1820s Sleepover

  A Heritage Highway traveller of nearly 200 years ago was provided with some lively accommodation. A favourite of the time was ...

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• The Day the Circus Came to Town

  McKay's Bakery in Kempton was established in the 1850s and a century later, it had some rather unusual customers. Perry's Circus was in town ...

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• The Road Parties

  During the construction of the road that linked the north and south of the island, the Heritage Highway region was dotted with gangs of convicts stationed at some distance from each other and charged with building particular sections of the road ...

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• A Message Set in Stone

  

  The Ross Bridge is a national icon, constructed from locally quarried sandstone and built by convict labour. Its elaborate and superbly detailed carvings are the work of two convict stonemasons, Daniel Herbert and James Colbeck whose efforts earned them ...

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• The Bushranger's Motto

  

  Marauding bushrangers and bandits were a constant source of fear in the first half of 19th century Van Diemen's Land. Many were escaped convicts who felt they had little to lose. They lived by the motto, 'A Short Life and a Merry One!' Farm buildings were ...

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• Don't Spare the Horses!

  

  The early days of horse-drawn carriages on the Heritage Highway were exhilarating and often treacherous. Coaches from rival companies would often ...

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• George Washington of Van Diemen's Land

  

  This rather grand title was preferred by one Anthony Fenn Kemp after whom the village of Kempton was named. Having spent some time in America, he developed great admiration for Washington, however Kemp was better known as ...

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• The King of Iceland

  

  One of the Heritage Highway's most colourful characters was the self-proclaimed King of Iceland who ended up as a convict constable in the field police at Oatlands ...

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• The Young Irelanders

  

  Typically, convicts were dispatched to the colony for theft, forgery or assault, but not this group of exiles. They were mostly gentlemen of influence; well-connected, educated and idealistic. The Governor of Van Diemen's Land was instructed to treat them with ...

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• Arabian Nights

  By 1806, Hobart Town was suffering severe food shortages and expeditions of soldiers were being sent to the area around Pontville to hunt kangaroos and emus. One of these expeditions included a well-travelled member of the Royal Marines ...

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• A Man of Trees

  

  The delightfully named, Dr. James Appleyard made an interesting contribution to Longford's garden streetscape while he was church warden at Christ Church, located in the historic town of Longford ...

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