Broadmarsh Probation station: Operated 1842 – 1844
Location: 1218/1290 Elderslie Road, Broadmarsh, Tas. 7030

In November 1836 local landowners again petitioned the Governor to either have the old line improved or a new line surveyed. At this point the Inspector of Roads, Captain Alexander Cheyne, expressed his willingness to investigate options for the Broadmarsh and Black Brush road, noting that the pressure of other ongoing works might cause delays. Although eventually surveyed and marked out, work does not appear to have commenced on this new line of road until 1842, with the arrival of a probation party at Broadmarsh. Despite the objections of locals who preferred the old road route, the probation party was set to work on the new line, which in large part follows the present road from Brighton to Broadmarsh. With Broadmarsh already a settled district, no Crown land was available in a suitable location for the probation party. For this reason, the station was erected on land owned by William Gunn.



In 1842 Invercarron became the site of the Broadmarsh Convict Probation Station. The Broadmarsh Probation Station was opened some time in 1842, perhaps in June as the schoolmaster Thomas Hayward’s appointment is dated June 13th. Two out-stations were established. A party of about 50 men with an Assistant Superintendent at the Dromedary who were employed cutting wood, and a further 40 men housed in huts at the Black Brush working on the road in the vicinity.

An outbuilding at Invercarron

On 16 April 1843 James William Henry Walch, late Captain 54th Regiment and unattached brevet major, was appointed Superintendent. At the end of 1844 there were 240 probationers, possibly including some from Norfolk Island, in Broadmarsh. Following the resignation of Walch late in 1845, Samuel Lloyd, a half-pay Lieutenant in the army, was appointed Superintendent on 28 October 1845. Lt. Gov Charles Lt Trobe visited the station in late 1846 and was shocked at "the utter abandonment of all all order and decency" at Broadmarsh. The convicts huts were samll, poorly ventiliated and filthy, the solitary cells were "filled with rubbish and filth". So apalled was La Trobe at the state of the station he immediately dismissed Superintendent Lieut. Lloyd. At that time, the station housed 150 men with a further 70 at Dromedary and 30 at the Black Brush.



In June 1847, orders were given for the station to be abandoned, and from that time the Probation Station system began to wind down. Very little remains of this Station, which is not surprising considering that the buildings were in such poor shape at the end of 1847. A plaque and information sign stand by Elderslie Road on the outskirts of the village on former Probation Station land.