Bushy Park, Tasmania
Location: 54 km from Hobart on the Lyell Highway between Hobart and Queenstown
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.
Text Kiln was constructed by Ebeneezer Shoobridge in 1867. On the walls of the Text Kiln are quotations from the Bible, such as 'And these words that I command thee this day shall be in thine heart and thy shall write them on the posts of thine house and on thine gate'. Inspection by appointment only.
Text Kiln
Hawthorn Lodge (1869), the original home of Robert Shoobridge (son of Ebenezer) and his family. It has been turned into a guest house.
Water Race (3km) built by William Shoobridge, son of Ebenezer, which takes water from a dam on the Styx River and runs it to the Oast House.
Magra
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. A typical rectangular symmetrical Georgian house, it was built in 1817 from convict bricks produced on the property. Stanton is a Tasmanian Heritage Listed property noted as being significant to the history of Tasmania. Thomas Shone arrived in the Derwent Valley in December 1816 from Sydney, having served four years of a sentence for passing a forged note in Shrewsbury, England, where he worked in a solicitors' office. His pardon came gift-wrapped with a 60 acre land grant and three convicts, and with the Van Diemen's Land hierarchy trying to 'domesticate' the areas outside of Hobart Town, Shone was given a wooded tract of land just outside of the fledgling township of New Norfolk.
This area had been settled largely by free settlers from Norfolk Island, displaced by that island's closure as a convict depot in 1808. The area still is home to the descendants of these rugged individuals. The name 'Stanton' was chosen by Thomas as an acknowledgement of his home village of Stanton-upon-Hine, in the old county of Salop, England. Stanton is today a Bed and Breakfast accommodation establishment.
The Shones' success as farmers did not escape the attention of bushranger Martin Cash. This Irish convict had been at Norfolk Island, escaped from Port Arthur, and ranged around the southern parts of the Midlands and Hobart with his gang members Jones and Cavanagh.
Cash's Cave remains in the heavily bushed gully in the hills behind Stanton, and it was from here that he watched the property until, in February 1843, during an afternoon social gathering, he and his gang kidnapped a neighbouring farmer, James Bradshaw, and used his identity to gain entrance to the house. Once inside, they herded the family, servants and friends into the living room, until 16 people were at gunpoint. Removing valuables from their person and from the house, the Cash gang made off back into the hills, eventually being captured finally in August of that year, after a celebrated foot chase through the streets of Hobart.
New Norfolk
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.
- More
- More
- More
Mt Field National Park
Mt Field National Park (16km west) 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.
Features: Russell Falls, Marriotts Falls; Lady Barron Falls; Horseshoe Falls; Lake Dobson, Tarn Shelf walk, Wylds Craig walk; Florentine Valley walk; Tall Trees walk.
Russell Falls
Brown Mountain Broad River region near Ellendale is the last remnant of pristine wilderness, the last biologically diverse and stable ecosystem in this area. The area adjoins and is a continuation of the glacial valley that begins in the Mt Field National Park. There are extensive areas of tall Eucalypt forest with rainforest understorey together with pure rainforest in association with rivers and creeks, marshes and moss beds together with the great diversity of plant communities make this area unique and of very high conservation value.
The eastern slopes of Mt Field and Brown Mountain are a natural backdrop to Ellendale township, the northern slopes are clearly visible from the Lyell Highway. A large proportion of the region is visible from Mt Field National Park, all of which are of high aesthetic values. Community needs for the present and future generations will be decimated if this area is to be clearfelled. Clearfelling will result in the ecological genocide of a unique part of our environment.
Mt Bethune Conservation Area
Meadowbank Lake
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. As the campground is on Hydro land, campers can stay for a maximum of 7 days. Access is through a gate on Ellendale Road, just west of Dunrobin Bridge, 2 km from the Lyell Hwy. Bring water and firewood.
Plenty
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.
To the European immigrants in the mid 1800's, the Australian environment was very different to the land they had left behind. To make their new surroundings more like home they introduced European plants and animals. Salmon was one of the many species chosen for introduction, largely because of the popularity of fishing but also because of the unexpected economic benefits.
After a number of failed attempts to transport them, the first live salmon and a small number of trout eggs arrived at these ponds in May 1864. 300 of 1500 brown trout eggs from the River Itchen survived a four-month voyage from Falmouth, Cornwall to Melbourne on the sailing ship Norfolk. By 1866, 171 young brown trout were surviving in a Plenty River hatchery. By 1868, the Plenty River hosted a self-sustaining population of brown trout which became a brood source for continued introduction of brown trout into Australian and New Zealand rivers.
Atlantic salmon, although successfully reared in the Plenty River hatchery and introduced at the same time under the sponsorship of the Acclimatization Society of Victoria, failed to establish themselves in Tasmania or Australia. Salmon are migratory fish, spending part of their life at sea. It was expected that once released, the fish hatched at Plenty would return to the Derwent River. Several releases were tried, but the Salmon never returned.
Redlands Estate
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.
At its peak the farm employed as many as 200 hop pickers with their families living on the estate, and many Tasmanians still hold fond memories of working at picking hops. In those days there were pickers' huts, a bakehouse, general store and even a butcher s shop. Only one of the pickers huts has survived but most of the other buildings are intact, though in disrepair. Now, after years of decline and neglect, the property is undergoing a modern transformation as a family residence, working farm, whisky distillery and tourism development.
Olmec Alpaccas: Black Hills
Olmec Alpaccas (5km north) have been breeding alpacas in the Black Hills for several years, resulting in a herd with fine, dense fleece. Olmec Alpaccas is committed to development of the alpaca industry in Tasmania through membership of both the Australian Alpaca Association (AAA) and the AAA committee for Southern Tasmania in the Tasmanian Region. Breeders and visitors are always welcome. All enquiries to (03) 6261 3496 (phone/fax) or 0429 613 496 (mobile).
Boyer
The town of Boyer (2km east) sits on the eastern side of the River Derwent opposite and slightly downstream of New Norfolk. It is named after a family who first settled in the area in the early 19th century. It is the site of Australian Newsprint Mills' plant in Tasmania. For many decades paper was shipped by tug and barge from the plant to the port of Hobart, Tasmania but all freight is now sent by road or rail. Tours of the Norske Scog Boyer Newsprint Mill are available Tuesdays and Thursdays for groups to see the papermaking process from start to finish.
Gretna
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.
Gretna is the location of three important heritage listed locations - St Mary the Virgin Anglican Church, the local church built in 1848; Glenelg House, designed by Henry Hunter and finished in 1878, is a fine two storey Victorian Italianate Villa built for the Downie family; Clarendon House, a two storey freestone Georgian house built by William Borrodaile Wilson in 1821. Clarendon's outbuildings comprise stone stables, barn and hop kiln (with unusual brick chimney) grouped in the Scottish manner about a walled farmyard, used for the penning of animals in winter. The buildings are all basically intact and have a fine setting in the landscape, high above the Derwent River.
The Church of St Mary the Virgin (1848) is a prominent landmark in a stark hillside setting. It was one of the earliest ecclesiastical buildings in Australia to be influenced by English design trends, in which buildings were closely modelled on medieval antecedents. The church was popularly known as the Woolpack church, the name being derived from the former Woolpack Inn, located nearby. The churchyard, which contains the graves of many pioneering families has important associations for the history of the local community, and is held in high esteem.
About Bushy Park
The first european to settle in the dramatically named Styx valley was AWH Humphrey who arrived in the area as early as 1812. The tiny settlement which grew up at this time was named Humphreyville but this was later changed to Bushy Park. In 1822 William Shoobridge arrived in Van Diemen's Land with some hops. He is credited with being the first person to grow hops in Tasmania although there are other claims. In 1824 a bushranger, John Logan, shot at Shoobridge as he tended his hops. In a stroke of good fortune, the bullet was deflected off a metal object in the pocket of Shoobridge - the event was put down to providence and hence the name of the valley.
In 1867 William Shoobridge's son, Ebenezer, came to the Styx valley and began growing and processing hops. He was, by any definition, a remarkable man who, with a combination of religious zeal and hard nosed capitalism, managed to make Bushy Park the largest producer of hops in both Australia and, that dubious accolade, the Southern Hemisphere. He built the iconic Bushy Park Text Kiln.
Behind the town is a 3 km water race (built by William Shoobridge - son of Ebenezer) which takes water from a dam on the Styx River and runs it to the Oast House. The water was used to drive a huge waterwheel which generated electricity to dry the hops. It is claimed that Bushy Park had electricity before Hobart. The hop industry flourished over the proceeding years with 2,600 people making the journey to Bushy Park to harvest the crop. Henry Jones of IXL Jam fame became involved in the hop industry in the early 1900's by becoming a hop trader.
In 1970 the first signs of over production became apparent in the markets. This led to smaller producers leaving the industry and by 1980 all the existing Hop properties were amalgamated at Bushy Park. In 1988 the present owners of the property, Haas Investments purchased the property from Elders IXL. The new owners began a period of upgrade including the present harvest complex that was built in 1992.
The harvest complex is one of the largest and most modern in the world with a capacity to pick 35-40 tons of dry hops per day. The two picking machines will pick 80 vines (max) per minute and dryers dry a floor in 8 hours. Sheep are grazed in the hop growing areas to eat the base growth from the hop plant before harvest.