The Derwent Valley is famous for its historic villages. You can take a drive from Hobart, visiting the southern section of Midland Highway, Tasmania's first main road that was built by convict road gangs, before returning to Hobart via the Derwent Valley. The route then heads north-east to a number villages in the southern foothills of the Central Highlands, following Lakes Highway that ultimately passes Arthurs Lake on its way to Launceston. The return journey passes through the historic villages on the lower Lyell Highway, following the River Derwent as it winds its way through hilly terrain towards Hobart.
Redlands, on the banks of the Plenty River alongside the plenty Salmon Ponds, is one of Tasmania's most well-known rural estates. Once a thriving hop and grain farm, the estate contains an astonishing collection of heritage buildings and magnificent gardens featuring some of Australia s oldest European trees. The property has a remarkable history, with many overlays of stories from its convict past to modern times. There are intriguing links to the royal family and the emergence of colonial Tasmania s new-landed elite, our first banks, the development of trout fisheries and irrigation, and the property also holds a primary place in Tasmania s hop farming history.
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16km west of Bushy Park, Mt Field National Park is one of Tasmania's most loved national parks. The park has a wide variety of scenic features and wildlife and offers a great range of facilities for day visitors. Few other national parks in Australia offer such a diversity in vegetation, ranging from tall swamp gum forests and massive tree ferns at the base of the mountain, through rainforest along the Lake Dobson Road, to alpine vegetation at the higher elevations.
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The 3' 6" gauge railway line in Maydena was once used for hauling timber and osmiridium ore, as well as a way point for the Dam builders up at Strathgordon. A portion of the disused rail track is now being used by a pedal powered 'Rail track riders' tourist attraction. The Railtrack Rider is the first, and to date only, tourism product of its type in Australia. It is a tour deep into the southern Tasmanian rainforest, travelling on lightweight, pedal-powered rail carts (Railtrack Riders) along an abandoned rail line. Location: 2 Mayne Street, Maydena.
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The Nant Distillery is located on the Clyde River, 3 km outside the town. First settled in 1821 the historic convict built sandstone Nant homestead and farm complex are an important part of our national heritage. Today Nant is still a working farm breeding Angus cattle and Suffolk sheep. The old flour mill (circa 1823) has been converted into a full production whisky distillery. In 1823 Nicholas built a water driven flour Mill at Nant and the later new mill built in 1857 is now home to the Nant Distillery.
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Mt Bethune Conservation Area is 362ha. reserve of natural bushland, located 4km east-south-east of Ellendale. The majority of the 43 ha property comprises beautiful dry inland Silver peppermint (Eucalyptus tenuiramis) forest. Adjacent to Mt Field National Park, it is a popular spot for campings and bush walks. Bethune Camping Area, beside Meadowbank Lake, is a grassy camping and picnic area witg sites that can accommodate big rigs. Perfect for waterskiers and anglers, there s a launching ramp close by on the eastern side of Dunrobin Bridge. The lake is the final section of the Derwent River Hydro-electricity Scheme and the last of the catchment s 10 power stations is at the foot of the Meadowbank Dam downstream.
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Tasmania's most famous lake is a major attraction of Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park and part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. It is the deepest lake in Australia (190 metres) and the headwaters of the Derwent River, upon which the capital city of Tasmania is located. Lake St Clair is believed to have been scooped out during several glaciations over the past two million years. The area around Lake St Clair offers a wealth of walks, ranging from leisurely strolls to overnight bushwalks, as well as beautiful forests to explore. Lake St Clair is also the end point of the famous Overland Track, a long-distance walk which runs from Cradle Mountain in the north to Cynthia Bay on the southern shore of Lake St Clair.
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The Wall In The Wilderness, situated just outside Derwent Bridge, is Australia's most ambitious art project undertaken in recent years. Creator/designer, Greg Duncan has carved the history of the highlands in 100 metres of timber, most of which will be in our rare Huon Pine. The beautifully carved works set out in relief sculpture depict the history, hardship and perseverance of the people in the Central Highlands and pay homage to the individuals who settled and protected the area.
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A picturesque Georgian town (19km south east) set idylically on the banks of the River Derwent. New Norfolk is centrally located and is a perfect base from which to explore the surrounding areas. Mount Field National Park with its rugged beauty and seclusion is only 30 minutes away. New Norfolk is a recommended day trip destination from Hobart. The stretch of Lyell Highway between Bridgewater and New Norfolk is particulary pretty, especially in the early morning with the river is calm and the reflection on the water of the hills is mirror-like.
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Bushy Park is a quaint village of old houses, deciduous trees, moral fervour, and hop fields which seem to envelop every building and road. The tall wooden and metal frames holding up the hop vines are broken by lines of Lombardy Poplars, with neat and unusually shaped oast houses scattered in the fields away from the road. The Derwent Valley Community Market operates on the 3rd Sunday of each month in the old hospital grounds - lots of bric-a-brac, fresh produce and crafts.
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A town of just under 1,000 people, Magra is situated in the Derwent Valley a few kilometres north of new Norfolk. It consists mainly of dwelling houses and farmland. Accommodation is also available as the area is popular with tourists. Notable features of Magra itself include the surrounding hills and the plantation of Lombardy Poplars. In the graveyard of the Methodist Church at Magra (22km south east) is the grave of Betty King, the first white woman to set foot on Australian soil. The area now known as Magra was originally called Back River after the small river near Stanton homestead, the home of one of the earliest white settlers, Thomas Shone.
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Plenty (11km south east of New Norfolk), situated on the main road between New Norfolk and Bushy Park, is a small village, formely a location of hop growing. Plenty Salmon Ponds is the oldest trout hatchery in the Southern Hemisphere - in operation since 1864. It includes Museum of Trout Fishing and Hall of Fame. The settlement was first known as River Plenty, but by 1895 its post office had been renamed Plenty. The town is notable as it was the location of the first introductions of brown trout outside their native range.
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A tiny village on the River Derwent, Gretna was formerly known as Macquarie Plains. Gretna is home to one of Tasmania's most memorable monuments, a memorial to the Hamilton district's 22 fallen soldiers of The Great War (1914-18). Perched on a hill on the side of the Derwent, Gretna's memorial was built by Mrs A Walker of Clarendon to remember her nephews - Guy Davenport and Arthur Davenport - who were killed in the war. The memorial sits prominently at the southern entrance to the village. It also contains a plaque which was added for the 75th anniversary of Armistice Day.
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A charming and unspoilt historic Georgian village. Like Oatlands and Ross, Hamilton is still sufficiently removed from the over-commercialisation to offer the visitor an opportunity to experience what the villages of southern Tasmania were like in the 1830s and 1840s. It is the perfect place to stop, stretch one's legs and enjoy a tea or coffee breack on the journey from Hobart to the west coast. The origin of the town’s name is unclear although it was named by Governor Arthur, either after Hamilton on the Lower Clyde in Scotland or in honour of his friend William Henry Hamilton.
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Ouse, 15km north west of Hamilton, is a small rather quaint rural Central Highlands village on the Lyell Highway, situated on the junction with the Victoria Valley Road and on the banks of the Ouse River. Ouse is the settlement where convicts James Goodwin and Thomas Connolly broke out of the South West Wilderness four weeks after their escape from Sarah Island. Like so many of the towns on the Derwent River it was explored and settled soon after the establishment of the settlement at Hobart Town.
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The Gordon River Road from New Norfolk to Strathgordon passes through the small town of Westerway. 68 kilometres west of Hobart on the Tyenna River, Westerway was first was known as Russell or Russelldale, being named after Surgeon J J Russell, one of the party who discovered a set of waterfalls 3 km from Fenton Forest (although these are not the present day Russell Falls). Three religious denominations were once represented at Westerway. However, no churches now exist in the township.
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Tyenna (14 km south-west of Westerway) is a settlement on the Tyenna River in the Upper Derwent region and is situated approximately 80 kilometres west of Hobart. Only a remnant of a once thriving rural community remains. Tyenna was officially gazetted as a town in 1918 after timber workers built sawmills in the area. Before the establishment of the towns of Fitzgerald and Maydena, Tyenna was a supply base for Adamsfield’s osmiridium miners. Bushfires have have destroyed much of old Tyenna over the years. The Tyenna River is today a popular place for catching Brown and Rainbow Trout.
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Maydena, alongside the River Tyenna, is a town on the Gordon River Road, to the south west of New Norfolk. To get there, drive through the Bushy Park Hop Fields, past the Styx Valley, turn left at Westerway, past Mount Field National Park and Russell Falls, through Tyenna and Fitzgerald townships and then up to Maydena itself. Gordon River Road continues to Lake Pedder, Lake Gordon and Strathgordon, in the Southwest National Park of Tasmania.
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A classified historic town, Bothwell is the southern gateway to the central Highlands. In season Bothwell is also known as the gateway to some of the best trout fishing in Australia. Bothwell is the home of Australia's first Aberdeen Angus stud. The town, laid out in 1824, was populated by mainly settlers of Scottish descent and today still has a distinct Scottish flavour. True to its Scottish Bothwell has one of Australia's top whiskey distilleries, Nant Distillery, housed in the historic Nant Mill. Here you can sample the fine single malt whiskeys made using pure local Highland waters.
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Tarraleah Power Station, located on the Upper Derwent River, was opened in 1938. The nearby township of Tarraleah was originally built in the 1930s by the Hydro Electric Commission to house Tasmania's pioneering hydro electricity officers and management. After a multi-million dollar redevelopment, the former Hydro construction village has become a 120 ha estate that comprises Tarraleah Lodge with accommodation, dining options. Fresh water trout fishing, boating, bushwalking, mountain biking and kayaking are all popular activities in and around the township. Tarraleah is also home to one of the highest altitude golf courses in Australia.
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Though it is a very small dot on the map, and a tiny community in Tasmania's Central Highlands where Lyell Highway crosses the River Derwent, Derwent Bridge is the gateway both to Wild Rivers National Park and Lake St Clair (5 km). You'll find Derwent Bridge on the Lyell Highway at the southern edge of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, midway between Hobart and Queenstown. It is just south of Lake St Clair and the Lake St Clair visitor centre; and it is north of Lake King William and the Butlers Gorge Power Station.
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The Derwent Valley is famous for its historic villages. You can take a drive from Hobart, visiting the southern section of Midland Highway, Tasmania's first main road that was built by convict road gangs, before returning to Hobart via the Derwent Valley. The route then heads north-east to a number villages in the southern foothills of the Central Highlands, following Lakes Highway that ultimately passes Arthurs Lake on its way to Launceston. The return journey passes through the historic villages on the lower Lyell Highway, following the River Derwent as it winds its way through hilly terrain towards Hobart.
The stretch of Lyell Highway between Bridgewater and New Norfolk, which follows the River Derwent, is particulary pretty, especially in the early morning with the river is calm and the reflection on the water of the hills is mirror-like. New Norfolk, the regional centre, is a picturesque Georgian town (19km south east), centrally located and the perfect base from which to explore the surrounding areas.
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