Names of North West Tasmania
Tasmanian nomenclature owes much to the work of the early surveyors and explorers. Usually, armed with little but the sketchiest of maps, they opened up previously undiscovered or little known country. They usually named features and localities by drawing upon the names of prominent citizens from the United Kingdom or elsewhere. For example, the surveyors employed by the Van Diemen's Land Company commemorated prominent members of the Company in names such as Bischoff, River Inglis and the River Cam". The first wave of settlers, often unaware of their work, gave their name to different localities, for example, the town of Baden (in the Oatlands municipality) was formerly known as Rumney's Huts, commemorating an early settler who erected a crude dwelling in the areas. Frequently the names of pioneers or the names of their properties became place names. Sometimes this meant that a given locality had more than one name or that the same name was used for more than one locality.
Abbotsham
Abbotsham is adjoined to the north by Ulverstone, to the north-east by Forth, to the south by Spalford, to the west by Gawler, all of which localities are at least partly contained within Central Coast. Abbotsham became popular as a social meeting place in the early part of the 20th century. There were four church halls, which held dances and other functions, but as travel became easier and faster it faded. Joseph Smith was its first white settler. It is believed to be named after a Major Edward Abbott who was a Stipendiary Magistrate in the district. It was original the name of a secular Parish in the County of Devon.
Aberdeen
A suburb/locality within Devonport, Aberdeen is adjoined to the north-east by Spreyton, to the south-east by South Spreyton and Acacia Hills. The name first appears in 1915 Walch's Almanac. The origin is not known, but is most likely named after Aberdeen in Scotland. was the river, after Sir George Arthur, Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemens Land (1824-36).
Acacia Hills
Acacia Hills is adjoined to the north-west by Melrose and Aberdeen (City of Devonport), to the north-east by South Spreyton, to the east by Latrobe. The name is probably descriptive of the indigenous vegetation found here - mimosa, acacia, thorntree or wattle, a polyphyletic genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae.
Acton
Acton is a suburb of the city of Burnie. Acton is most likely named after a former English village which has been absorbed into Greater London.
Alcomie
A small farming community 23 Km. south of Stanley; at the junction of Alcomie Road and South Road. It is situated in prosperous crop growing area. The name is thought to have been given by the Van Diemen's Land Co. surveyors, but there is nothing to substantiate this. The name is said to be a local Aboriginal word meaning 'beautiful view'. The western part of the locality is farmland, while the south-east remains heavily timbered. Mrs Eveline Reid (nee O'Malley), wife of pioneer farmer James Reid, was the town's first post mistress.
Ambleside
A residential district of Devonport, Ableside is 4 km north-west of Latrobe, on the east bank of the River Mersey. Its name was bestowed by the Tasmanian Nomenclature Board, in 1958 at the instigation of local residents. Mount pleasant was also submitted as a possible name, but was rejected as there was already a Mount pleasant in Tasmania and it was Government policy not deplicate names. Ambleside is the name of a tourist resort in the Lakes District of England.
Arthur River
Arthur River is the name of both a river and a small township on the northern part of the West Coast of Tasmania. The first to be named was the river, after Sir George Arthur, Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemens Land (1824-36).
Barrington
Barrington is a rich farming area approximately 20km south of Devonport and is situated between the Forth and Don Rivers. Exploration of the area, lead by Nathaniel Kentish, was made extremely difficult by thick forests and rough terrain. The area was settled by several Methodist families from the Westbury district in 1865. Barrington is regarded as the birthplace of Methodism in the Sheffield district. The first settlers were led by John and Charles Coleman and were later joined by Alexander Smith, John Harmon, Benjamin Green, John Reeves, Charles Packett and William Smith, all members of the Methodist Church. The name “Barrington” was originally applied to a Parish in or before 1855. Lower Barrington was gazetted as a locality in 1965. The name is said the family of Viscount Barrington, a title in the Peerage of Ireland. Other sources cedit the name to Charles Barrington, who was appointed to act as Head Oversser in General Orders issued at Outer Cove, Port Dalrylmple (present day Georgetown on the Tamar Estuary).
Beaconsfield
The town of Beaconsfield, previously known as Brandy Creek, dates back to the late 1840s when small quantities of gold was discovered in the area. Commercial gold mining only got underway in the 1870s which led to a substantial growth in the town’s population. Brandy Creek was renamed Beaconsfield in 1879 in honour of Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield and British Prime Minister. By this time the reef was the richest gold discovery anywhere in Australia and virtually overnight Beaconsfield became Tasmania's third largest town.
Beauty Point
Beauty Point is a port town in the West Tamar region approximately 5 kilometres north of Beaconsfield. This was the first deep-water berth that was established on the Tamar River and it once serviced the goldfields at Beaconsfield. The settlement was previously known as Ilfracombe before it was changed to Beauty Point at the turn of the last century. The current name is reported to have been because a cow named "Beauty" was buried there around the turn of the century.
Bellfield
Bellfield, near East Devonport, is an unbounded locality is arbitrarily located at the junction of Port Sorell Road with Frankford Road and the unofficially named Piping Lane, at the common point of three address localities, namely East Devonport, Wesley Vale, and Latrobe.
Bengeo
Approximately 7 kilometres west of Deloraine, near Red Hills, lies Bengeo Road, named after a large farm established in the area in the mid 19th century. Originally a 1200 acre land grant made to Colonel Schaw, the property was purchased by John Archer in 1840 and named Bengeo, after his native village in Hertfordshire, England.
A church once stood at a site on Coxs Road which once formed part of the Bengeo estate. Little of it now remains apart from stone walls which formed the church’s foundation and the remnants of a graveyard. The church would have been a simple wooden structure which stood at the site from the 1860’s to the 1890’s. It is possible that the building may have been removed to Bengeo farm and may still exist as one of many outbuildings on the property.
Beulah
Beulah is a small settlement in the foothills of Mount Roland approximately 15 kilometres southeast of Sheffield. The name Beulah is taken from the Bible and means ‘my heaven and my home forever more’. Beulah is the name of the land of Israel in the Bible, and the land of peace described in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. At first it the area was called 'Reuben Austin's Paradise', then just 'Paradise'. Reuben Austin is also credited with naming 'Beulah', while other members of the Christian Brethren gave names to the 'Garden Of Eden' in Lower Beulah and 'Promised Land' beyond the township of Roland. Beulah once had three churches; an Anglican and a Baptist church which were built shortly after the turn of the 20th century and a Christian Brethren Gospel Hall established in the 1930’s.
Bishopsbourne
Bishopsbourne is a village situated approximately 35 kilometres south west of Launceston, at the junction of the Bishopsbourne and Liffey Roads. It was built on land belonging to the Bishop of Tasmania, Bishop Nixon, who arrived in the colony in 1843. He named the property Bishopsbourne and went on to establish Christ College at this site.
Black River
Now it is a small quite hamlet on the Bass Highway, 23 Km. east of Smithton, originally the town was about 2 Km. further up stream. It was a timber town; a large portion of the blackwood, which was cut, went to Victoria. Around 1860 it was known as The Black Wall in The Forest, it had its own hotel, school and Post Office. However, it started to decline in the 1880's and was almost gone by 1900. The current position grew as the highway through the area gained importance. In Balliere's Gazetteer of 1877, an alternate name - Blackwall - was given as the name of a Postal Receiving Office at what is Black River today, however Walch's Almanac of 1878 makes no refrence to it. A now disused railway siding here was named Black River Siding, and later changed to Wiltshire Log Siding. The river is said to have been so named because of the dark coloyr of its waters after running through peaty soil.
Blythe Heads
The perennial Blythe River rises near Rabbit Plain on the slopes of Mount Tor (west of Loongana) and flows generally north into Emu Bay in Bass Strait, at Heybridge, at the opposite end of the bay to Burnie. The river descends 685 metres over its 61-kilometre course. The river was named after Blyth in England, it being an old seaport and market town on the south side of the River Blyth in Norumberland, England. Van Diemen's Land Company' surveyor, Henry Hellyer, recorded the name on his 1828 map of the North West that documented his exploration of the area in 1827.
Heybridge takes its name from Heybridge Rivulet, which appears to be the stream shown as Ramshorn Creek on Arrowsmith's Map of Tasmania, 1834. Heybridge Rivulet is most likely named after a civil parish and large village in the Maldon district of Essex, England.
About Blythe Heads/Blythe River >
Boat Harbour
It was originally named Jacobs' Boat Harbour after Captain John Jacobs, master of small vessels owned by the Van Diemen's Land Company trading between its establishments at Circular Head and Woolnorth with Launceston between the late 1820s and the 1840s. Boat Harbour Beach is a popular tourist destination.
About Boat Harbour >
Borrodaile Plains
The Borrodaile Plains are on the Van Diemen's Land Company's road to Middlesex. They were named by Fossey after William Borrodaile Jnr, a director of the V.D.L. Co. in 1825 (now wrongly spelt on the Government charts).
Broadmeadows
A small rural place on the Bass Highway, 7 Km. west of Smithton. The area was once heavily covered with blackwood and eucalypt trees; it was cleared and drained and became highly developed farming district, which might explain the reason for its name.
Burnie
The name was changed from Emu Bay to Burnie around or at the time the town was surveyed in 1843. The name honours William Burnie, who was a director of the Van Diemen's Land Company.
Names of Burnie and Suburbs >
Calder
An isolated community 15 Km. south of Wynyard, on the junction of the Calder Road and the Zig Zag Road. It is in the heart of a logging district and close to a large pine plantation. The name recalls James Erskine Calder (1838-42), Chief Surveyor of the Van Diemen's Land Company, 1838.
Calder Upper
This is a little community in a logging area, 13 Km. south of Wynyard on the Calder Road. Both Calder Upper and Calder have large pine plantations growing around them.
Cam River
The earliest known reference to the parish of Elliott was in 1894. Cam River was first surveyed by the VDL Company in 1827 and was named after an English river in the same way as the Mersey was named.
Camena
Formerly Upper Blythe. In 1910, a post office was established on South Road, five kilometres west of Ulverstone. The Deputy Postmaster General advised the local council that a native word, Camena, had been chosen as a suitable name for the post office. In 1912 the post office was closed due to the local population having a habit of calling at the Ulverstone Post Office for their mail, thus depriving their own post office of the revenue. In 1925, the Penguin Council was advised by the Postmaster General that a request for a post office had been acceded to and that it was to be known as Camena and situated at Upper Blythe. The origin of the word Camena is unknown.
Carrick
Carrick is a small town on the Bass Highway approximately 15 west of Launceston. The area was first settled in 1823 and was originally known as Lyttleton, after Captain William Thomas Lyttleton who was granted over 1300 acres of land in 1825. Carrick has many historic buildings including Monds Flour Mill and St Andrew’s Anglican Church. Carrick once had a Wesleyan Methodist chapel which was demolished in the 1930’s. The Liffey River was originally called the Penny Royal Creek, and Carrick was first called Lyttleton. The current name is thought to recall Carrick Island in County Antrim, Ireland. Carrick means 'rock'.
About Carrick >
Castra
The word castra is an ancient Latin word meaning "camp". Thw town of Castra was proclaimed 14.5.1877. In 1865 Lt-Colonel Andrew Crawford initiated his scheme for land settlement of a 50,000 acre reserve at Castra and Lower Castra. Fifty Anglo-Indians, including many retired officers in the Idian service, purchased land, but not many stayed. Col. Fooks named Castra Rivulet in 1867.
About Castra >
Caveside
A small rural town situated at the base of the Great Western Tiers, its name is descriptive of its location. The town lies in an area of limestone and the ground is pitted with sinkholes, a danger to the cattle that graze the fields. To the west are two undeveloped cave complexes, Wet Caves and Honeycomb Caves, which are an attraction to cavers.
Central Castra
Central Castra is small farming district on the Central Castra Road approximately 15 kilometres south of Ulverstone. It was an area that was part of the soldier settlement, organised by the government and Colonel Andrew Crawford in the late 1860's.
About Castra >
Cethana
Previously known as Round Hill, after the Round Hill mine at the locality (1915). The name Cethana is derived from the Aboriginal word for hair. The name was originally given to Cethana Road when it was still in the planning stages.
Christmas Hills
A district in the far northwest. It is situated at the junction of Bass Highway and the Christmas Hills Road, 14 Km. west of Smithton. Christmas Hills Road runs south from the Bass Highway. The hills, and nearby creek of the same name after which the locality is named, were discovered and named on Christmas Day. The locality is near Brittons Swamp. Christmas Creek was in the vicinity of the Mt Merton Mine. Christmas Hills, Duck River, Allen, Edith and Nabageena were all proposed names for trig. stations south of Smithton and the named of Nicholls, Olga and Olga Damsite were proposed for trig. stations in the South West. This locality is not to be confused with Christmas Hill, between port Sorell and Deloraine, near Elizabeth Town, which lends its name to the Christmas Hill Raspberry Farm there.
Chudleigh
Known as the Village of Roses, Chudleigh is a pretty little village located 7 km east of Mole Creek by the Great Western Tiers. The site of Chudleigh Village, then unnamed, is shown as a Glebe on an 1840s map, on land reserved for the Church. John Badcock Gardiner was grahted land here in 1829. Gardiner was born at Pougill, Devon in 1800 and was married in England at Bickleigh, some 15 miles north of Chudleigh. This close connection suggests Gardiner as the person who named Chudleigh. It was settled from the 1850’s but never developed into a sizeable town despite being connected by rail to Deloraine and Launceston in the 1890’s.
During the 1880s, freelance journalist Theophilus Jones travelled extensively throughout Tasmania, penning over 100 articles for local newspapers writing as "Our Special Correspondent”. After visiting Chudleigh in 1883 Jones wrote: “There is nothing remarkable about the village of Chudleigh, as it does not muster more than a dozen and a half of roofs, the inn, post and telegraph office, two stores, two places of worship, and a few houses and farms by the roadside. The inn, named the Chudleigh Inn, is kept by Mr. Daniel Picket and his wife”.
About Chudleigh >
Claude Road
The locality of Claude Road takes its name from a major road which run through it. The road takes its name from nearby Mount Claude; it was named by Henry Hellyer of the VDL Co. in 1826 after a French painter named Claude. Several painters or sculptors of that name are recorded, however the most likely is famous landscape artist, Lorraine Claude (1600-1682), born Claude Gelee.
Cooee
A dormitory suburb of Burnie, Cooee takes its name from the call made by the local Aborigines in the area to one another that was heard by the early European settlers. The call was used by the local Aborigines meaning "come with me". The Cooee Creek Post Office was opened 1.4.1906. During the 1970s Cooee proudly promoted its "Golden Mile" of new and used car lots and service stations.
Corinna
Corinna is a small settlement deep in the heart of the Tarkine rainforest. The locality was originally known as Royerine. The town of Corinna was proclaimed in 1894, and the locality was gazetted in 1959. Corinna (kurina) is part of the Aboriginal name for the Pieman River, Kurina Borgemum. The Pieman River flows through from south-east to south-west, following the south-western boundary. The Savage River flows through from north-east to south-west, where it joins the Pieman. Corinna was first listed in the 1899 edition of Walch's Almanac. Corinna Creek was marked as Foster Creek on Road Plan 2 Montagu, 1899, however Roll Plan F14 by George S Lefroy, 1882, shows Corinna Creek further upstream, and what is officially named Watsons Creek.
About Corinna >
Cradle Mountain
It has been claimed that Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain was named thus in 1827 because of its resemblance to a miner’s cradle—more than two decades before the Californian gold rushes brought that device to worldwide attention. This seems unlikely; the mountain was christened by a young Englishman, V.D.L. Co. surveyor Joseph Fossey, and neither Fossey nor the company’s principal surveyor Henry Hellyer is known to have had mining experience or geological expertise.
About Cradle Mountain >
Cuprona
The early postal name for the locality was Ellenton. With the copper boom, the once tiny community exploded into a lively settlement. An application was made to the company in 1904, for a site to place a hotel. The company absolutely refused the application. However a nearby farmer provided a site and the Ellenton hotel was built. By 1907 the district's name was changed from Ellenton to Cuprona which was derived from the chemical symbol for copper, Cu. The Cuprona settlement had a billiard saloon, stores, a barber, butcher's shop, miners' huts, boarding houses, dance hall and a hotel named the Ellenton with Jeremiah McAuliffe as licensee. Town blocks were selling at £90. At this stage about fifty men were employed at the mine, managed by Leigh Hancock. The abandoned copper mine is about 1km W of Cuprona, north of and adjoining the Blythe iron lode, east of the Blythe River. Cuprona is located about 15 kilometres south-east of the town of Burnie. The Blythe River forms the western boundary.
Deloraine
Settlement of the district surrounding Deloraine dates back to 1825 when some of the first land in Van Diemen's Land became available through the purchase of government leases. Settlement was slow until the 1850s when the government started selling land outright for £1 an acre. This resulted in a dramatic increase in population which led to Deloraine becoming a municipality by 1863.
St Mark’s Anglican church it is situated above the east bank of the Meander River and dominates Deloraine’s skyline. It opened in 1859 but it is not the first Anglican church built at the town. The first church opened in 1845 on a site on Emu Bay Road on the west bank of the Meander River. The district was named by Thomas Scott, a relative of Sir Walter Scott. The name is taken from Sir William Deloraine, a character in Scott's 'Lay of the Last Minstrel'.
About Deloraine >
Detention
A quiet rural area on the Bass Highway 28 Km west of Wynyard, the locality is named after the Detention River which flows through it and enters Bass Strait there. In the winter of 1826, VDL Co. Chief Agent, Edward Curr, depatched the company's agricultural adviser, Alexander Goldie, and surveyor Joseph Fossey in a whaleboat from the company's newly established headquarters at Circular Head (Highfield, Stanley) to examine the coastline and its rivers from the Mersey to Cape Grim for the company in the Caroline, under the command of Captain Robert Hare. During the voyage, Fossey named the Tret River, as shown on map to accompany Report of Tour in April and May 1827 by Joseph Fossey. As the river was in flood and the party was stranded there for several days, the river's name was later changed to Detention River.
Devonport
No one is exactly sure how Devonport got its name although it is obvious that the origins must be associated with the County of Devon in southern England. One school of thought argues that Devonport was named with a sense of nostalgia for the 'old country', after the coastal town of Devonport in the county of Devon. The more likely origin is that the district around the city was called the County of Devon and that this naturally led to the port being named Devonport.
About Devonport >
Dial Range
The Dial Range is a small mountain range south of the town of Penguin near the coast. It extends about 14 km north to south and 4-5 km west to east. It is bordered on the east and south by the Leven River, with the Gunns Plains to the south. Its name is believed to have been given because it was seen as being shaped like a sundial.
Doctors Rocks
Doctors Rocks is both a geographical feature and a district on the north west coast of Tasmania between Somerset and Wynyard. The geographical feature is a basalt outcrop on the beachfront, behind which an escarpment rises to the north west coast plateaux.
Don
The river on which the town is built is believed to have been named by the surveyors of the Van Diemens Land Company after the river in England of the same name.
About Don >
Dundas
Dundas was a historical mining locality, mineral field and railway location on the western foothills of the West Coast Range in Western Tasmania. It is now part of the locality of Zeehan. The Adelaide Mine near Dundas was the location of special specimens of Crocoite and other rare minerals. Dundasite is named after Dundas.
Dunorlan
Dunorlan is a farming district situated approximately 15 kilometres north of Deloraine at the junction of Dunorlan and Weegena Roads. At one time it had a railway station on the North-Western Line. In 1829 Captain Moriarty was granted 2500 acres of land in the district and named it Dunorlan. In 1846 Henry Reed purchased Dunorlan and subdivided the estate into 13 farms which he leased to tenants. Reed already owned significant amounts of land at Wesley Dale near Chudleigh. As one of Australia’s wealthiest men, Reed was also a noted philanthropist and Christian evangelist.
Settlement of the district surrounding Deloraine dates back to 1825 when some of the first land in Van Diemen's Land became available through the purchase of government leases. Settlement was slow until the 1850s when the government started selling land outright for £1 an acre. This resulted in a dramatic increase in population which led to Deloraine becoming a municipality by 1863.
East Devonport
East Devonport was originally named Torquay, probably after the town in Devon, England. During discusions prior to gazettal of the name for the locality, the Postmaster General's Department objected to both names under consideration - East Devonport and West Ulverstone, on the basis that P.M.G. departmental procedure was for the town name to be placed first, and the directional indication last, when naming post offices. East Devonport incorporates the unbounded localities of Panorama Heights, Pardoe Downs and Rannoch. East Devonport was chosen rather than West Ulverstone, and chosing the latter would cause confusion as to it's actual location.
Edith Creek
An important logging and farming district on the northwest coast, 16 Km. south of Smithton. A milk-processing factory is the main industry in the town. It was named after the wife of the surveyor, K.M. Harrison, who is noted for having conducted major survey work on Flinders Island.
Elizabeth Town
The name, which is the christian name of Gov. Lachlan Macquarie's wife, was originally meant to be given to New Norfolk but it was given to the next town decreed because New Norfolk had already been named.
About Elizabeth Town >
Edgecumbe Beach
A small holiday retreat area on the northern side of the Bass Highway, 57 Km. west of Burnie. It is situated between the Hellyer Beach and Crayfish Creek. The name is taken from a early land grant in the vicinity in the name of Mary Edgecumbe. The daughter of William and Mary Mitchell, who arrived in Van Diemen's Land on the 'Mary Ann' in 1831, Mary Edgecumbe (nee Mitchell) was born at Longford, near Launceston, 4.4.1837. The sand dunes nearby had been once known as Edgcumbe Bank. The beach between Black River and Brickmakers Bay was known as Peggs Beach, after a family in the vicinity. The name was gazetted 26.9.1962.
Erriba
A small isolated community on the Cradle Mountain Road, 10 Km. south of Wilmot. A large pine forest is on the eastern side of the settlement. A name was not given to the district until 1910 when a Post Office was to be opened. "Erriba" is the aboriginal name for cockatoo and was used to name the place because the bird was common in the district.
Eugenana
A suburb/locality within Devonport, Eugenana is adjoined to the north by Tugrah, to the north-east by Quoiba, to the east by Spreyton, to the south-east by Aberdeen and to the south-west by Melrose. Eugenana is the Aboriginal name for the eaglehawk. The name first appears as a Post Station in 1918 Walch's Almanac.
Exton
Exton is a rural settlement on the outskirts of Deloraine, that lies alongside the railway line from Launceston to Devonport. Exton was first known as Marsh Paddocks, a name that was used also by an early Inn. Rev Samuuel Marin and his wife Saarh, built Exton House in 1845, and bred cattle on the estate. The locality takes its name from the estate, which recalls a Miss Exton, an early settler from England. The pown was proclaimed under the Police Act in 1865.
About Exton >
Flowerdale
A rural community and a division of the Waratah-Wynyard municipality, flowerdale takes its name from the Flowerdale River. The river valley is known for its pristine hills and scenery, the name of the river is a reference to the wildflowers there.
Forth
Previously known as Hamilton-on-Forth, the village predates the larger settlement of Devonport. James Fenton, a young man of Irish descent came to the Forth estuary in 1839 in search of arable land. Assisted by his hired male companion, he erected the first European edifice in the district, and in 1840 returned to take up permanent settlement. Like the Forth, many rivers in the north of Tasmania were given Scottish and Irish names due to the predominance of settlers from those countries.
About Forth >
Forthside
The name is taken from the Forth River, which it adjoins. It is said to be named in a similar way to Merseyside in Liverpool, UK, that locality being beside the River Mersey. The Forth River is believed to have been named after the barc Forth, a vessel chartered by the Van Diemen's Land Company which first sailed from England in 1833. It is known to have carried the company's indentured servants between Circular Head (Stanley), the Tamar River settlement (Launceston) and Hobart in 1834. The map first appeared on Frankland's map, published in 1837. This explanation for the naming of the river appears to be incorrect as the name appears on an early map by Joseph Cross, drawn in 1830.
Garden of Eden
Located on the Kentish coastal plains occupied by Devonport and Latrobe, The Garden of Eden was named after Paradise was discovered (see separate entry for Paradise). Scottish pioneer settlers gave the unusual place names of the region as they opened up the land. Since many of them had been forced off their lands by English Lords or religious persecution, it is no wonder that they viewed this place as a gift of providence.
Gawler
Gawler lies about 3 kilometres south of Ulverstone of which it is now virtually a suburb. Nathaniel Kentish, a surveyor, named the Gawler River after Governor George Gawler of South Australia, from which the settlement later derived its name. It was Gawler who recommended Kentish move to Tasmania from South Australia to take up work opportunites there. South of Ulverstone, along the Top Gawler Road is the specularly situated and lovingly maintained McCulloch Memorial Cemetery. A memorial plaque at the entrance to the private cemetery remembers James and Rosanna McCulloch, pioneer settlers and their descendants in the Gawler area.
Alongside the Bass Highway near Lillico beach, a stand of six poplar trees and headstones can be seen near the road’s edge. At the site is a memorial plaque which states that this place was the location of the first Methodist service held in the Forth District. Only two headstones remain with the rest of the cemetery along with the church grounds now buried beneath the Bass Highway. Now, only two headstones and a memorial plaque are the only indication of the church and community which once worshipped and socialised at a spot next to the busy highway.
Gentle Annie
Located on the Kentish coastal plains occupied by Devonport and Latrobe, Gentle Annie is said to be named by bullockies who used the term for very long drawn out hills that meant an exhausting haul for their teams.
Glenore
Glenore is a farming district situated approximately 7 kilometres south of Hagley at the junction of the Hagley Station Lane and Black Hills Road. Glenore was the name of a farm established by William Bryan in the late 1820’s. William and his wife Jane were pioneer landowners in the area who had originally arrived in Van Diemen's Land from Ireland in 1824. Glenore is the name originally given to the township of Whitemore. Glenmore these days, however, is marked on maps as an intersection situated approximately 12 kilometres south west of Carrick and 3 kilometres west of Whitemore in the Norfolk Plains district.
Gowrie Park
The small town of Gowrie Park is located 16 kilometres south of Sheffield. It is a starting point for walkers climbing Mount Roland. The town has a history as a Hydro construction village. Investigation for the power scheme began in 1952 and construction commenced in 1963. The scheme consists of seven dams and power stations which harness the waters of the Fisher, Mersey, Wilmot and Forth Rivers. The Cethana Dam is the second largest of its type in Tasmania and the Devil’s Gate Dam is a high concrete arch which forms Lake Barrington.
Some sources claim Gowrie Park was named after the family, Lord Gowrie having been Governor-General of Australia in the 1930s. This is incorrect; in thelate 19th century, the area was a cattle run owned by William Henry, who called it Gowrie. When the run was developed some years ago as a park for the use of youth organisations, scouts, cadets and so on, it automatically became known as Gowrie Park. The present township of Gowrie Park is situated some distance from the original township. The new town was originally known as Gowrie Park Hydro Camp.
Guildford
A railway junction on the Emu Bay Railway Line, 59 Km. south of Burnie. The village still exists but the station was closed in 1984. It was the junction for the Waratah branch line until its closure in 1940. The name was applied when the line was extended to Leslie Junction in 1898. The name was given to the locality in 1897 by Mr. Norton Smith after the main town in Surrey, England. The Post Office was opened in 1900, and the name first appeared in Walch's Almanac the following year.
Gunns Plains
Gunns Plains is a farming district approximately 25 kilometres south of Ulverstone. It is noted for its impressive limestone caves which are a tourist attraction. The name honours Ronald Campbell Gunn, who discovered the valley in 1860. Gunn was an explorer, a botanist, an adventurer and a public servant who collected and discovered many plants. He is remembered as the most prolific botanical collector across Tasmania for over 40 years, sending samples to Kew Gardens and the University of Scotland.
About Gunns Plains >
Hagley
William Thomas Lyttleton (1786?-1839), soldier and settler, was a distant connexion of the well-known Lyttelton family of Hagley Hall, Stourbridge, Worcestershire, England. He used the family crest on his silver, gave a family name, Westcote, to one of his sons, and the name Hagley to his property in Van Diemen's Land and to the nearby village.
About Hagley >
Hampshire
A district in the north west of Tasmania inland from Burnie. It was first settled by Europeans in the late 1820s when rolling plains were mistakenly believed to be good grazing ground for sheep by the surveyors of the Van Diemen's Land Company. It was named for its similar appearance to the English county of Hampshire.
Harford
Harford is an agricultural district situated south of Port Sorell and about 20 kilometres east of Latrobe, the nearest large town. The area was once more heavily populated and a small settlement centred around the Heidelberg Hotel has entirely disappeared. Harford was previously known as Greens Creek; though an import shipping place on the Rubicon Estuary, as was Squraking Point (the town of Moriarty) a township was never laid out. Harford was also occasionally referred to as Heidelberg, Harforld being originally the name of a secular Parish in the County of Devon. The name Harford was first referred to in the Tasmanian Land Gazette 1.7.1862, p.21. and Heidelberg in 1868. Two churches were established in the Harford district; St Alban’s, which is now a barn and a Methodist church, the location of which is marked by a small well kept cemetery.
Havenview
Havenview is a suburb of Burnie. It is situated south-east of the city at the southern end of the Old Surrey Road area above Emu Heights.
Hawley Beach
Takes its name from Hawley House, built nearby as a substantial country residence in 1878 by a retired Indian Army officer, Major Arthur Dumbleton, and named after the Dumbleton family home in 'Hawley House' in Aldershot, England, after which it was modelled.
About Hagley >
Hellyer
Hellyer Beach is a popular beach on the northwest coast. It is on the western side of the mouth of the Detention River, 53 Km.west of Burnie. The river, which was discovered by VDL Co. surveyor and architect, Henry Hellyer, 16.2.1827 was named the Don River by him at that time during a voyage back to Circular Head from the Tamar River aboard the Caroline of Calcutta with Capt. Robert Hare. The river and the gorge it flows through were later renamed in his honour. It is marked on Frankland's map of Van Diemen's Land, 1832, as 'the Don or Hellyer River'. Henry Hellyer was born at Portchester in Hampshire circa 1790 and died in 1832.
Henrietta
A small village on the Murchison Highway 32 Km. south of Burnie. It is situated at the junction of Takone Road on the western side, and the East Yolla Road on the eastern side. The town was named and the Post Office opened 23.2.1907. There are two suggestions as to the origin of the name, which is taken from the Henrietta Plains. One is that it is dervied from an aboriginal word meaning 'crystal'. The other is that the plains were named by Gov Lachlan Macquarie after his wife, Henrietta.
Heybridge
Heybridge is a village on the northern Coast of Tasmania. The village is located where the Bass Highway crosses the Blythe River, and is bounded by the Blythe River National Park to the south and Bass Strait to the north. Interestingly, a 1857 plan of part of the township shows the early street names, all of which are now changed.
Highclere
Highclere is a small settlement about 18 kilometres south of Burnie in Tasmania’s North West. The settlement grew around a siding built in 1903 by the Emu Bay Railway Company. It was initially called Oonah Road Siding before this was changed to Highclere in 1922.
Highfield
Highfield is the name coined by the Tasmanian Housing Department for a housing subdivision in suburban Devonport between Stony Rise and Miandetta. It is not to be confused with Highfield Estate, eatablished as the headquarters of the Van Diemen's Land Company in 1829, which today overlooks the town of Stanley.
Holwell
Holwell is a small rural community in the West Tamar region and is located approximately 15 kilometres southwest of Beaconsfield. Holwell was known as Cotton's Hill until the late 1880’s. When four English families arrived — the Ropers, Greens, Reynolds and Matthews, all from Holwell in England, it was “at their instigation the name was altered”.
The first settlers in the area included the Hinds families and the Kerrison family who were bushmen more than farmers. When the ‘Tasmania Mine’ at Beaconsfield was in full production, millions of feet of timber were conveyed to the sawmills by teams of bullocks and horses. Mr Mark Kerrison, one of the original settlers established a saw-mill at Holwell. He also took a leading part in the establishment of the Cotton’s Hill Wesleyan Methodist church. In 1887 Kerrison attempted to have a State school built to serve the Holwell and Flowery Gully district but this did not open until 1912.
Irishtown
A small rural town on the Irishtown Road, 11 Km. south of Smithton. Patrick O'Halloran and his family were the first white settlers. A prosperous dairy-farming district, it is thought to be one of the best in the state. Originally it was named Upper Duck River. Note that while Duck River does not flow through the locality several of its tributaries do. The town got its name because of the inlux of migrants to the area during the Irish Potato Famine of the late 1840s/early 1850s. The famine killed more than 1 million people in five years and led to many Irish men and women emmigrating to the Americas and the Australian colonies. Irishtown Junction was a station on the Stanley-Trowutta railway line.
Kentish
The first name given to the district was August Plains, when Surveyor Kentish surveyed the area in August 1842. Later it was called Kentish Plains, then Kentishbury, and finally shortened to Kentish. It was Scottish pioneer settlers who gave the unusual place names of northern Tasmania as they opened up the land. Since many of them had been forced off their lands by English Lords or religious persecution, it is no wonder that they viewed this place as a gift of providence. Their descendants still live in the area today.
Kimberley
Kimberley is a small settlement approximately 20 kilometres northwest of Deloraine that established at a fording point across the Mersey River. The area was previously known as Kimberley's Ford when it was the site of a convict probation station established in 1845. Kimberley was once a thriving village with a school, railway station, a store, a public hall, a hotel and three churches. Kimberley was named after John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley (1826-1902), Colonial Secretary 1870-1874, 1880-1882. It was previously known as 'Kimberleys Ford'.
About Kinberley >
Kindred
Kindred is a small rural settlement in north west Tasmania approximately 15 km south of Ulverstone. It was settled from the late 1850’s and it is thought that the name “Kindred” is derived from the fact that many early settlers became related through marriage and therefore ‘kindred’. Kindred had two churches, a Methodist church which was built in 1865 and an Anglican church built at a much later but undetermined date. Little is known about the building. Fundraising for a church began in the 1895 in the form of a “Sports at Kindred” carnival which was to become an annual event. The sports were held in John Russell’s paddock and events such as handicapped sprints, horse jumping, handicapped sawing and a cigar and umbrella race were held to “aid the building of a new Anglican church”.
About Kindred >
Lake St Clair
Lake St Clair was named in 1835 by Surveyor-General George Frankland after the St Clair family of Loch Lomond, Scotland. Frankland also named Cradle Mountain, its name is descriptive.
Lapoinya
A small agricultural centre on the north-west coast of Tasmania west of Wynyard. The name is Tasmanian aboriginal word for fern tree, a plant that abounds in those surviving untouched parts of the original temperate rainforest. The area in noted for the Lapoinya Rhododendron Gardens with some of the tree varieties growing as high as 6m tall.
Latrobe
Named after Administrator Charles Joseph La Trobe,who was acting Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania for a few months (1846-7). When first named it was La Trobe but later changed to its present name. An important port town, boats operated from Bells Parade until the Mersey River silted up.
Leith
A large seaside settlement on the Bass Highway 10 Km. west of Devonport. It is mainly on the northern side of the highway and the eastern side of Port Fenton. Forth River is on the eastern side and Turners Beach on the west. Port Fenton had been planned as a major port but the Forth River silted up. It was named after a seaport in Scotland.
About Latrobe >
Lemonthyme
This is an area at the southern end of Lake Cethana. The power station is named Lemonthyme and the district around the Lemonthyme Creek and Hill are logging areas. Logging roads going in many directions but the power station is 23 Km. south of Gowrie Park.
Leven
The name given to a picnic area overlooking the Leven River, 9 Km. south of Nietta-just off the Loongana Road. Close to the Leven Canyon, a favourite tourist spot for its spectacular view from the top of a crag. Leven was the original name given to Ulverstone.
Liffey
A town and river located 41 km south west of Launceston, Tasmania. The river was named by Captain William Moriarty, from Counry Kerry, Ireland after a river in Ireland which flows through the centre of Dublin.
Lileah
A small farming district on the northwest coast, 18 Km. south of Smithton. It is situated at the junction of the South and Lovetts Roads. Its name is taken from Mount Lileah, which is on the western side of the area. The locality was originally named O'Brien's Corner. Lileah is either a local Aboriginal word used as a name to identify a souce of fresh water at this location, or a word meaning 'fresh water'.
Lillico
A rural locality to the west of Devonport, Lillico is believed to be named for Alexander Lillico (26 December 1872 – 14 December 1966), a Tasmanian politician who represented the area from 1924 to 1954. He was an Independent member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council from 1924 to 1954, representing Mersey. He was created a Knight Bachelir in the New Year Honours List of 1962.
Loongana
A district in the upper reaches of the Leven River around the Loongana Range, 34 Km. south of Burnie. First recorded in the 1903 edition of Walch's Almanac, Loongana isaword of Aboriginal origin meaning to run swiftly. It is said to have been named after a ship of that name which made a record breaking trip to Melbourne in 1912 carrying firemen and rescue gear for a major mine disaster on the west coast. The name was first applied as a Parish name.
Lower Wilmot
Lower Wilmot is farming district and small settlement approximately 30 kilometres south of Ulverstone. It is situated near the junction of the Wilmot and Hayes Roads, close to the Wilmot River.
Lower Barrington
Located to 166 km south-west of Devonport to the east of the River Forth, Lower Barrington is a small rural community. The name “Barrington” was originally applied to a Parish in or before 1855. Lower Barrington was gazetted as a locality in 1965. The Forth River, forms the south-western boundary, while the Don River forms the eastern boundary. The River Don Trading Company had a tramway terminus in the Lower Barrington area. It was from here they railed timber to their mill at the Don. This resulted in opening up the district; now regarded as one of the best farming areas in Tasmania.
Loyetea
A small isolated place on the Loyetea Road 28 Km. south of Penguin. It is in a mountainous area overlooking the Leven River. It is a district that is used for logging around the Loyetea Peak south of the hamlet.
Luina
A tin mining town on the Waratah Road, 16 Km. west of Waratah. The town was built to house workers of the Cleverland Tin Company. The mine was first worked in the early 1900's, but closed due to labour shortage. However, the mine and was reopened in 1968. Today it is nothing more than a few streets and empty spaces where once there were houses. It can be located on the south side of the Whyte River.
Magnet
The former township of Magnet is located at the edge of Tasmania’s Tarkine region. It developed around the Magnet Silver Mine in the shadow of the Magnet Mountain range. The settlement was mostly populated by workers from the mine. By the start of the Great War Magnet’s population peaked at about 500 with about 200 men employed in the mines. The township was connected to nearby Waratah by a narrow gauge railway. The area is now a popular fossicking destination and remnants of the settlement can still be found in the bush.
One of the best descriptions of Magnet dates back to 1928 although by this time the town was well past its heyday:“Notwithstanding that the township of Magnet has been in existence for a period of over 34 years, it has not assumed any great dimensions in the way of population. It is generally viewed as a very remote village, or, in mining parlance, described as a dead end. The main buildings consist of a very cosy and comfortable public hall that does credit to the generous support accorded it by the local people. The hotel, which is not of city pretensions, is well conducted,….the churches consist of a Roman Catholic and Methodist, the last named being used at intervals for Anglican services”.
Marrawah
Marrawah is the local Aboriginal name for the gum tree. Marrawah is Tasmania's westernmost settlement and the furthest settlement from Hobart (491 km). The area has several important Aboriginal sites, such as Aboriginal carvings at Mount Cameron West and Sundown Point.
About Marrawah >
Mawbanna
In 1922, the Deputy Postmaster General advised that a post office, which was to be established at a railway station at Howth, was to be known as Mawbanna. Then in 1928, it was determined that the railway station should also changed its name to accordingly. Previously the station was called Brickmakers, which resulted in much confusion with mail delivery.
About Maybanna >
Meander
Meander is a small town about 20km south of Deloraine. The town dates back to the late 19th century when the area was informally known as East and West Meander. European squatters with their cattle first crossed the Meander River, in the spread westwards, in the mid 1820s. Until the founding of Westbury in the early 1820s the river was known as The Western River. In 1900 a township near the present town of Meander was surveyed but this was never developed. The proposed town was to called be Cheshunt Town after the nearby Cheshunt Estate. The present town of Meander was planned and laid out a short distance away and gazetted in 1907. It is assumed that the current name is descriptive of the river's path.
Mella
Mella is a small dairy farming and agricultural district 3 Km. west of Smithton, just south of the Smithton Airport. Mella is believed to be a local Aboriginal word meaning 'to run'.
Melrose
A locality to the south of Devonport, Melrose is adjoined to the north-east by Tugrah, to the east by Eugenana and Aberdeen, to the south-east and south by Acacia Hills and Lower Barrington. George Melrose surveyed the area, naming Melrose Creek after himself in 1853. Melrose is also believed to have named Tarleton. Melrose was shown as the name of a Post Office at the locality of Blackabys Station in 1888 Walsh's Almanac. The name was adopted for the locality upon the suggestion of a Mrs Joy Harper in June 1616, as a replacement for Blackabys Station, the name in local use at the time, that had never been officially recognised. There is a town named Melrose in Scotland, that is about 30 miles S E of Edinburgh, but it is not believed to be the source of the locality's name.
Mengha
A small farming district on the northwest coast; 8 Km. south of the Stanley tum off on the Bass Highway. Situated on South Road the district is well watered by Deep Creek that runs through the middle of Mengha. Its name is the local Aboriginal word for 'toe'. The locality was originally known as Madwin.
Meunna
Eight farms had been established at Preolenna for a soldier settlement following World War II, referred to as the Preolenna Estate until being renamed to Meunna. The locality is now unpopulated, with the exception of the Tarkine Wilderness Lodge, after the farms were acquired and converted to forestry plantations in the late 1990s. 27 farms disappeared around Preolenna, and Maweena disappeared altogether along with its school, the youth centre, and an entire community.
Miandetta
A suburb of Devonport, located beside the River Mersey to the south of Bass Highway. The area was known locally as Appledore, bcause of the many apple orchards established in the area before residential development commenced. The name is of Aboriginal origin, either meaning 'River Bend', or being the Aboriginal name for the river bend at the locality.
Middlesex
This locality is on the southern side ofthe Cradle Mountain Road about 20 Km. west of Lake Cethana. The Middlesex Plains were discovered and named by surveyor Henry Hellyer the Van Diemen's Land Company, accompanied by Richard Frederick (master of the VDL Co. sloop, Fanny) and Isaac Cutts on their trek from Circular Head to St Valentines Peak and back, in February 1827. The Plains selected as a place to raise sheep on its open country, but the cold, wet winter weather soon proved it an unsuitable site. The name has its origin in the English County of that name. Daisy Dell and Fourways are other names that have been applied to the locality at different times but are no longer in common use.
Milabena
A small agricultural centre on the northwest coast of Tasmania west of Wynyard. Pronounced Milla-Beena, the name is of aboriginal origin. Over the years, the name had been alternatively spelt as Milbeena. Tuckers Hill was an early name for Milabena, though Milabena or Milabeena has appeared on numerous early maps.
Mt Roland
In 1823, Captain John Rolland sought to find an overland route from the Westbury District to the North West coast, getting no further than Mount Rolland which would be later named after him, but with a slightly different spelling. The aboriginal word for Mt. Roland is Ta Neem Er Ra, and translates as open grassy plain. It was probably so-called because the top of the mountain is a plateau which would have been fire-farmed by the indigenous population.
Moina
A town situated 45 km inland from Devonport on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Moina was the site of a brief gold rush in the late nineteenth century and then one of the largest Wolfram and Bismuth mines in Tasmania. The name is thought to be either a derivation of a small crustacean of the same name found in Tasmanian waters, or a corruption of the native word for water rat. Moina was original the name of the local Parish.
About Moina >
Mole Creek
A town in the upper Mersey Valley, in the central north of Tasmania, it takes its name from a local water course which passes through caves. It is thought that the common connection between caves and moles was holes in the ground may have something to do with the name. Mole Creek is well known for its honey and accounts for about 35 percent of Tasmania's honey production including Leatherwood Honey (a noted monofloral honey) which is unique to Tasmania and sold internationally.
About Mole Creek >
Moltema
A small farming village 3 Km. west of Elizabeth Town at the junction of the Brooklyn and Railton Roads. Formerly named Whitefoord Hills it was changed to Moltema in 1915. The name is said to be an Aboriginal word meaning 'to run'.
Montagu/West Montagu
Montagu is an agricultural village 16 Km west of Smithton on the Montagu Road. It was built up by the Van Diemen's Land Company to house its indentured servants and convicts working on its Woolnorth property. The name recalls John Montagu (1797-1853), a British army officer and civil servant who served as Colonial Secretary of Van Diemen's Land from 1834 to 1842, and Colonial Secretary of the Cape Colony from 1843 to 1853. Montagu is best known for his highly publicised dispute with Sir John Franklin, the famed polar explorer who held the office of Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land at the time. The Montagu Park Recreational Reserve is located near the Robbins Island Passage, some 29 km from Smithton.
Montello
Montello is an inner southern suburb of Burnie situated on the Montello Hills between the city centre and Upper Burnie. Named after the Montello Hills on which it stands. Thought to be named after a well known horse that raced there when the racecourse was situated on top of the hill. Plans for the subdivision by Van Diemen's Land Company were issued in 1949.
Montumana
A small agricultural district on the Bass Highway 24 Km. west of Wynyard, at the junction of the Newhaven Road; there was a siding on the North-Western Line at Montunana. The locality was previously known as Detention River East. An even arlier name for the locality was Ellison. Montunana is of Aboriginal origin but its meaning is not recorded. In 1966, discussions were had regarding the naming of the automatic phone exchange to serve the Detention River, Rocky Cape and Montumana districts. Members were informed that the Circular Head Council had been consulted over the matter, as had Mr. K.M. Dallas of the University of Tasmania. Both Mr. Dallas and the Council were of the opinion that the name of the exchange should be "Rocky Cape", as was the local branch of the Tasmanian Farmers Federation.
Mooreville
Mooreville is a small settlement situated approximately 5 kilometres south of Burnie. The name of the settlement as well as the road to Burnie was given by a local landholder, Mr James Henry Munce, in the late 1850s. The name comes from a location in England known to him.
Moorleah
The Postal Department saw fit to change the name from Upper Flowedale to Moorleah in 1914. It was in response to confusion by so many place names preceded by upper and lower.
Moriarty
Moriarty is a locality to the southn of Wesley Vale, between Devonport and Port Sorell, in what is today a large poppy growing area. The name recalls either Capt William Moriarty (1792 -1850) who had a property at Dunorlan, who briefly held a large grant of property at Dunorlan before selling out to Henry Reed, or his sister was Miss Lucinda Moriarty, who was the first resident of Latrobe at Frogmore. She was aided by her nephew 17 year-old Roddham Douglas, son of Sir Adye Douglas (later Premier of Tasmania). Two very prominent landowners in the district around the 1840-60s were Sir Adye Douglas and Police Magistrate, Henry Douglas. Both were related to the Moriarty family. The secular parish of Moriarty is referred to in the Tasmanian Land Gazette of 1.7.1862, p8. The locality of Squeaking Point was originally known as Moriarty.
Mount Roland
Mount Roland has been known by number of names. In the 1840s, it was marked as Mount Grey on Nathaniel Kentish's maps drawn in the 1940s following his exploration of the Kentish Plains. That name honours fellow explorer, George Grey, well known for leading an expedition into the Shark Bay area in Western Austraia. Another early name was Rolloand's Repulse, which, like its current name, honours Captain John Rolland who, with his foot soldeiers, were sent in 1823 by Gov. William Sorell to open up an inland route through to the North Werst Coast. While he was blocked from achieving his goal by the mountain that after was given his name, he did succeed in climbing this mountain in Dec 7, 1823. Apparently about 3 years later VDL Co surveyor Joseph Fossey (along with Henry Hellyer) appears to be the first person to summit and name this mountain 'Rolland's Repulse' on his early field map F210 of the Quamby River. Later VDL Co maps by both Fossey and Henry Hellyer change this to Rolland Mountain although on one occasion the Survey Dept seem to correct this back to Rolland's Repulse. Somewhere along the way, the spelling was changed to 'Roland'.
Myalla
A rural district 2 Km. south of Sisters Creek and the Bass Highway, on the western side of the Sisters Creek. opened in 1914, the railway station at Myalla served the farming area of Sisters Creek. Myalla is a word of Aboriginal origin, said to mean 'to grow'. The Myalla Receiving Office (Post Office) opened 2.10.1907.
Nabageena
Nabageena is a farming and timber-milling district 20 Km south of Smithton, at the junction of the South and Maguire's Roads. Nabageena is an aboriginal word said to mean "sunny hills"; the locality is at the foot of the Sunny Hills, and was known by that name until 1910. The area was late opening up, and it was 1900 before the first land selections were made.
Natone
Natone is a small rural community near the junction of the Stowport and Camena Roads, approximately 20 kilometres south of the city of Burnie. The Natone district once had two churches, a Methodist church at Upper Natone and St Michael’s Anglican church at Natone village.
Nietta
Nietta is a rural community situated approximately 30km south of Ulverstone. The Wilmot River forms most of the eastern boundary, and the River Leven forms much of the western. The B15 route (Castra Road) enters from the north and terminates at Nietta village. The name was used for a Parish from 1886. Nietta is an Aboriginal word meaning “little brother”. A post office and a State school were opened at Nietta in 1910 but the school was subject to frequent closure due to the poor condition of the roads. The area was opened up for settlement by returned soldiers after World War I.
About Nietta >
Nook
Nook is a farming district approximately 6 kilometres north of Sheffield in northern Tasmania. Originally known as “The Nook”, the name reflected the area’s seclusion and isolation. In 1884 the Hobart Mercury’s “Special Correspondent” visited the area, writing for a series called “Through Tasmania”:
“The Nook is about four miles northerly from Sheffield, and may be reached direct from Latrobe via Tarleton, or by the round-about by Railton and Sheffield. The first settler came here about 15 years ago, and began his toilsome inroad in the forest. It then was a very good day's work to get to Latrobe and back by starting early, and coming back late. There were no roads, and it was heavy work swagging provisions. As for drays they often, particularly in winter, had to be dragged up to the body in the mud….Mr. Henry Bott, perhaps the earliest bona fide settler, is from near Birmingham, and with his sons has freeholds aggregating 385 acres,.. [they are] a tolerably large family, who, by appearances, inherit the parent's industrious habits and kindly disposition. Nothing like fifteen years in the Tasmanian bush to take the nonsense out of people.… Spring Vale is the name of Bott’s property…..Near the main road a new schoolhouse is going up, a good substantial building…There is a goodly number of settlers about The Nook, and children thrown in, the muster will not be far short of 200 souls. Why the place is called The Nook, when so many better names might be adopted, is a puzzle. Spring Vale would be a better”. The Nook was in fact named because of its geographical shape. It is tucked in beside the Badgers Range on the east and shielded from the westerly weather on the west, like a cosy nook.
No Where Else
Located on the Kentish coastal plains occupied by Devonport and Latrobe, The Garden of Eden was named after Paradise was discovered (see separate entry for Paradise). No Where Else came into being because the original road from Barrington ended in a farmers back yard. So, there was literally no where else to go!
North Motton
North Motton is a village and dairy farming district on the Preston Road about 10 kilometres south of Ulverstone. North Motton was one of only four locations in the greater Ulverstone region where the Primitive Methodists built churches; with other churches built at Gravel Hill, Norfolk Creek and Penguin. In 1865 a handful of Primitive Methodist families settled in the North Motton district including Nathan and Sarah Brothers, John and Ann Eagle, Isaac Brett and the Revell family. The first church service was held in the house of John Hudson. The name recalls William (Billy) Walter Motton, an early white landowner.
About North Motton >
Northdown
Northdown was the first settlement on the coast near Torquay (present day Devonport). It was settled by Capt. Thomas who arrived in the ship, Albion 3.5.1826. Edward Curr of the Van Diemen's Land Company selected it as the the site selected for the headquarters of the in 1827. The Company moved from Northdown to Circular Head in 1829, establishing Highfield House there as its base. It is believed the name was coined by Captain Charles Hardwicke in 1824. A retired merchant seaman, Capt. Hardwicke was granted 200 acres of land at Norfolk Plains (near Launceston) by Gov. Lachlan Macquarie as part of a drive to encourage free settlers to the area to establish farms. In 1819 he was granted a further 500 acres for the capture of escaped convicts. Between the years of 1814 to 1829 Hardwicke received over 3,000 acres in land grants for services in capturing escaped convicts and bushrangers.
Oldina
Oldina is a small rural settlement situated approximately 15 kilometres south of the town of Wynyard. The district was previously know as Upper Moores Plains before it was changed to Oldina in late 1910.
Oonah
A small settlement on the Oonah Road, just off the Murchison Highway, 38 Km south of Somerset. Oonah is situated in the middle of a pine plantation. A station on the Emu Bay Railway was 22 Km. east of the settlement was named Oonah Road Siding. This siding was used mainly to pick up produce from farms along the Oonah Road. The word is of Aboriginal origin and is said to mean 'platypus'. The name was first recorded in the name of the Oonah Tin Mine (1890) and then as a Parish name in the 1891 edition of Walch's Almanac. It appears in the Almanac's 1909 edition in a list of towns, railway stations and post Stations (post offices).
Panorama Heights
An eastern suburb of Devonport. It is on the elevated part of the eastern side of the Mersey River and on the southern side of the Bass Highway. It was named because of its setting after the suburb was first subdivided and blocks of land were made available for purchase.
Paloona
Paloona appears to have been adopted as the name for and later gazetted as a town, locality or railway siding in 1965. It is said to be the Aboriginal name of a man, possibly an Aboriginal man from Circular Head. Other sources say the name is the Aboriginal word for waist or belly. Agricultarual activity was restablished in the Palooma district in 1899. A photograph of Paloona township was printed in the Tasmanian Mail, 20.10.1906.
Paradise
Located on the Kentish coastal plains occupied by Devonport and Latrobe, 8 kilometres south of Sheffield, legend has it that Paradise was named by a land-prospecting farmer who came through dense undergrowth cover, emerging to find a magnificent view of Mt. Roland. Sitting down at the base of a large gum tree, he was said to exclaim "This is truly paradise". However, so dense was the undergrowth that the area was not able to be opened up until after two bushfires.
Historic recordsit was called 'Reuben Austin's Paradise', after pioneer settler Reuben Austin, and then just 'Paradise'. Reuben Austin is also credited with naming 'Beulah', while other members of the Christian Brethren gave names to the 'Garden Of Eden' in Lower Beulah and 'Promised Land' beyond the township of Roland. Since many of them had been forced off their lands by English Lords, Scottish landlords or religious persecution, it is no wonder that they viewed this place as a gift of providence.
Parrawe
Parrawe was originally a Parish name applied in the early 20th Century. It first appeared as a Parish name in Walch's Almanac 1929 edition. A receiving office for the postal service opened 1.9.1926 and closed 16.10.1964. The word is of Aboriginal origin, meaning stop, abstain or cease. It is likely that, when the first whites passed through the area, they encountered Aboriginals and enquired of them the name of the locality. Not understanding what was being said to them, they would have shouted 'parrawe' as a demand that they leave the area. Many Aboriginal names across Australia have this origin.
Penguin
Penguin is a seaside town situated approximately 10 kilometres west of Ulverstone. It was established in the 1860’s and was one of the last coastal towns in the northwest to be settled. The Victorian gold rush created a renewed demand for timber and consequently wood cutters and splitters moved into the area. The town was named by the botanist Ronald Campbell Gunn after the penguin rookeries that were once common along this part of the coast.
About Penguin >
Port Latta
Originally known as Cowrie Point, Latta is the native name for iron ore. The name was chosen was chosen because Port Latta is the location of an iron ore pelletising plant and port from which iron ore mined at Savage River is exported. Numerous other names were considered: Tayatea, the native word for the freshwater lobster found in the creeks and rivers of North-West Tasmania. Crayfish Creek and Crayfish Creek Beach adjoin the Port Latta industrial site; Brickmakers Bay, the name of nearby bay; and Port Hardwicke, after Captain Charles Hardwicke explored the North Western Coastline in 1823. A retired merchant seaman, Capt. Hardwicke was granted 200 acres of land at Norfolk Plains (near Launceston) by Gov. Lachlan Macquarie as part of a drive to encourage free settlers to the area to establish farms. Brickmakers Bay was rejected as it is already the name of a nearby geogrphical feature and the duplication of names would cause confusion. Tranmere, being the name of the vessel that brought the first white settlers to the area in October 1826, but was rejected because the name was already in use in Southern Tasmania. Port Spicer, after the first warden of Circular Head, was also considered.
Port Sorell
Port Sorell was originally a fishing and sealing port named Burgess, however, the name was officially changed to Port Sorell in 1822. The settlement town was used as the port for the Van Diemens Land Company. The town was laid out in 1834 and was used as a place with a big trade in wattle bark. In the 1840s it became the official seat of government for the district, and as such was known as Burgess, after Tasmania's Chief Police Magistrate, Francis Burgess. The settlement was part of the Police District of Westbury. By the 1850s, it was referred to as "Burgess, Port Sorell". Port Sorell was first used as the name of the local parish. It honours William Sorell (1775-1848), Lieut-Governor Van Diemens Land (Tasmania) 1816-24.
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Preolenna
Henry Hellyer traversed the region on an expedition in 1827. The location was noted for the presence of coal in the nearby Jessie Gorge/Maweena area and some 5000 acres of "first class milling" timber and "first class basaltic soils" About 1914 some coal seams were discovered there and were mined but the coal proved unsuitable.
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Presevation Bay
A little settlement 1 Km. west of Penguin on the Bass Highway. It was not until 1852 that selected lots were taken up and farmed. The name is taken from the bay on the coastline in front of the settlement. Contrary to popular belief, the bay was not named by James Cook (he came nowhere near the place) or George Bayy, but recalls a visit by three early European settlers who took refuge here in 1845 when the whaleboat they were sailing in was amost swamped in a storm. They camped for the night here, then sailed on to Emu Bay (Burnie).
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Preston
Preston is a small rural settlement on the banks of the Leven River approximately 18 kilometres south of Ulverstone. It was once a thriving community on the Ulverstone Nietta Railway line which boasted a sawmill, a post office, a State school, a general store, a public hall and two churches; St Alban’s, an Anglican and a Methodist church. Preston Post Officed opened on 1.1.1896. Formerly known as Dooey's Plains, discovered in 1861 by James Monaghan Dooley, District Surveyor for the Country of Devon. Preston takes its name from a town o the same name in England where Dooley was married in 1840. Raymond Creek was re-gazetted as Preston Creek in 1975.
Promised Land
Scottish pioneer settlers - either Baptists or Brethren - gave the unusual place names of the region as they opened up the land. Since many of them had been forced off their lands by English Lords or religious persecution, it is no wonder that they viewed this place as a gift of providence. The name was gazetted 5.6.1957.
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Quoiba
Quoiba is a southern suburb of Devonport situated on the western bank of the Mersey River. Quoiba is the Aboriginal name for the wombat, according to Colin Pitt, Surveyor General of Tasmania, 1938 – 1953. The general area was previously called Spreyton Station before Quoiba was adopted. Quoiba was in fact a railway siding a short distance from the railway station. In the 1940s there was move to change the name to South Devonport but this was rejected by residents. Quoiba is now largely an industrial area and is virtually indistinguishable from neighbouring Spreyton.
Railton
Railton is a country town approximately 20 kilometres south of Devonport. It was first known as Redwater Creek but its is unlikely that the later name of Railton has anything to do with railways. The name Railton was used as early as 1859 but there were no trains in the area until the mid 1860’s. Legend has it that the town was named after a member of the Winter family, Miss Railton Winter. But the coming of the railway was important to the town, which gained a new hotel, a public hall and general store.
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Rannoch
An eastern suburb of Devonport, Rannoch is situated east of East Devonport, between the eastern end ofTorquay Road and John Street. The Parish name of Templeton was first suggested for the name of a new Housing Department subdivision at East Devonport in 1979. That name was adopted as the name of the subdivision but has since fallen into disuse. The present name is taken from the name of an early settler's property in the area. The name has its origins in the village of Kinloch Rannoch, in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, at the eastern end of Loch Rannoch, 29 km west of Pitlochry, on the banks of the River Tummel.
Riana
A small town nestled next to the Dial Range some 15 kilometres from Penguin. The name is of Aboriginal original meaning either 'dance' or 'white man'. The name was first applied to nearby Mount Riana, part of the Dial Range.
Ridgley
Ridgley lies approximately 15 kilometres south of the city of Burnie and in recent years the settlement has become a commuter suburb. Ridgley was originally a small farming centre established by the Van Diemen's Land Company. Ridgley also played an important part in the building of the Emu Bay Railway. The town has been well served by a number of religious denominations including Anglican, Methodist and Catholic.
Red Hills
Red Hills is a small settlement and farming district 5 kilometres west of Deloraine on the Mole Creek Road. The name is derived from "Red Hills Farm" and the Red Hills Inn established by James Bennett in 1851. Red Hills is no longer the “populous locality” that it was in the late 19th century and it is now hard to imagine the once thriving settlement described in the two reports. St Luke’s celebrated its centenary on 24 April 1965 in a ceremony led by Robert Davies, the Bishop of Tasmania. In little over a decade, services ceased, mainly as a consequence of a decline in population. Along with St Luke’s, other Anglican country churches in the parish of Deloraine, including Chudleigh, Bengeo and Mole Creek have closed or disappeared. The story of St Luke’s is a reminder of a long vanished world and of a community and way of life which centred on the country church.
Redpa
Redpa is a small settlement situated 40 Km. west of Smithton, at the junction of the Comeback and Fairview Roads. Originally named Marrawah East it was changed to Redpa in the early 1920's. Redpa is the local Aboriginal word for mosquito. The name was originally suggested by L Hall, Secretary for Lands,30.9.1913, for the name of a siding on Jaeger's tramway, a branch line of the new Smithton to Marrawah railway line to Jaeger's bush mill. The name was not used for the siding - it was called Jaeger's Mill instead - but was applied to the locality, replacing the name Bacala, which had been duplicated (a platform on the North East line near Lilydale bore the same name).
Riana
Riana is a small rural township located 13 kilometres south of Penguin. The settlement was started by loggers and over time farming became the main activity. At the close of the 19th century the recently settled Riana district was described in some detail by the correspondent for the Launceston Examiner:
“…The district is a rising and most promising one. Riana is the southern (upper) portion of the Pine road, Penguin, and, has been opened up only within the last six or seven years. The Pine road runs in a due south line from Penguin, parallel with and on the western side of the Dial Range, and extends for a distance of ten miles…..By far the larger number of farms are on the western side of the road, as also are all the by-roads. The soil is a good dark chocolate and black, and yields excellent crops. For the first eight miles from Penguin the timber is almost solely stringy bark, beyond that myrtle, sassafras, celery top pine, and blackwood are the most plentiful. The Dial Range is said to contain various minerals, but nothing of importance has yet been discovered…..The chief industries are farming and timber getting. Potatoes and oats are the chief crops. Pine Road is well supplied with educational institutions and churches, as there are three of each within a distance of four miles…. Recently two petitions were sent to the Postmaster-General, one asking for a post office to be established at Riana and the other for a telephone service from Penguin….”.
Roland
Roland railway station was the terminus station on the Sheffield railway branchline. The name originates from nearby Mount Roland, originally named Rolland's Repulse. Captain John Rolland who, with his foot soldeiers, were sent in 1823 by Gov. William Sorell to open up an inland route through to the North Werst Coast. While he was blocked from achieving his goal by the mountain that after was given his name, he did succeed in climbing this mountain in Dec 7, 1823. Apparently about 3 years later VDL Co surveyor Joseph Fossey (along with Henry Hellyer) appears to be the first person to summit and name this mountain 'Rolland's Repulse' on his early field map F210 of the Quamby River. Later VDL Co maps by both Fossey and Henry Hellyer change this to Rolland Mountain although on one occasion the Survey Dept seem to correct this back to Rolland's Repulse. Somewhere along the way, the spelling was changed to 'Roland'.
Romaine
The name recalls William Romaine, one of the original settlers of the Van Diemens Land Company, brought out to Tasmania (then Van Diemens Land) in 1839. At that time the Company began leasing bush blocks to tenant farmers, but there were few takers. It started selling its land in and around the settlement, renamed Burnie after a Company director in November 1842. Sales were slow and Burnie stagnated. In 1880 its population was only 300. Romaine appears on a list of men, women and children to be shipped from London as tenant farmers to Circular Head on the Thomas Laurie.
Roger River
The name originated ftom a property on the bank of that river, and was considered as the name for Trowutta Station in 1918. The name was originally approved as Rogerton, then changed back to Roger River in 1978. The change came about as a result of the name being originally given to what is now Duck River. Suggestions for an alternate name were sought for the locality as it was unacceptable to have a place called Roger River on the Duck River. Some possibilities put forward by members were Roger River North or East, North Trowutta and Trowutta Corner. It was decided that the settlement on the banks of the Roger River be named Rogerton, and its local school was known by that name from 1923. Trowutta Corner was selected as the new name for what had been called Roger River on the incorrect map. Just who Roger was seems to have got lost in the deliberations.
Sassafras
Sassafras is a locality on the Bass Highway between Latrobe an Elizabeth Town. Sassafras was settled about 1857 it was very thick with sassafras trees and it is thought that this gave it its name. Henry Rocliffe was one of the pioneers of the Sassafras district. Regional pioneer settler James Fenton referred to area populated by the shapely aromatic tree common to the area as the "Queen of the Valleys". Nearby Sassafras East is also a rich farming district, and is located 6 Km east of Sassafras on the East Sassafras Road.
Savage River
The township at Savage River was constructed from 1965 to 1967 when Roy Hudson's Industrial and Mining Investigations Pty Ltd received backing to construct a mining project in the area. The name is either a reference to Mr Savage, the storekeeper at Deloraine probation station in the 1840s, or to the aborigines of the region who, back in the 19th century, were referred to by the white settlers as 'savages'.
Scopus
A small rural place on the Montagu Road 9 Km. west of Smithton. It is a cattle and dairy farming area adjacent to Mowbray Swamp. Scopus Creek was originally callee Muddy Creek. The locality has been referred to by this name since the beginning of 1900: Mount Scopus (Mountain of the Scouts) is the location for the first campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Shearwater
A town on the north-west coast of Tasmania, it lies on the Rubicon Rivulet. It borders the Rubicon Estuary, which has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area because of its importance for waders, especially Pied Oystercatchers. This indicates the town's name is derived from the Short-tailed Shearwater or muttonbird, seen in abundance here.
About Port Sorell >
Sheffield
Sheffield, “the town of murals”, is a country town in northern Tasmania approximately 25 kilometres south of Devonport. Sheffield is approximately 25 kilometres south of Devonport. The area was explored by the surveyor Nathaniel Kentish in 1842 who was trying to find a route from Deloraine through to the north west coast. According to J. R. Skemps’ ‘A History of the North West Coast’, in 1861 the first public house, the Sheffield Inn, was opened by James Poulett, a native of Sheffield in England. This is possibly the origin of the town’s name. The area was subsequently opened up to settlement and by 1862 plots of land had been sold and the settlement of Sheffield had been named. Another suggestion is that Sheffield was named by Edward Curr, the Tasmanian Manager for the Van Diemen's Land Company, after Sheffield, England as he was a native of that city. Curr was associated with the establishment of Sheffield.
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Sisters Beach
A small town located not far from Wynyard, in Tasmania's North West. It is located within the Rocky Cape National Park on the old horse trail known as the Postman's Track that once formed the only connection between Emu Bay (now Burnie) and the Van Diemen's Land outpost of Stanley. Sisters Creek, after which it is named, is home to platypus and the profusion of smaller creeks hide an orchestra of frogs. Sisters Island is a small island off Sisters Beach.
Smithton
The earliest recorded mention of Smithton was in 1858. It is believed the settlement was named after Peter Smith, an Irishman who had been a constable and later became the licensee of the Plough Inn at Stanley. From Stanley, Peter Smith came to Smithton, buying some 500 acres of land from the Poke and Ollington families, and in various ways was so successful that he was able to return to Ireland. Duck River was so named by Alexander Goldie, agriculturalist to the VDL Company, and surveyor Joseph Fossey on the occasion of their journey from Georgetown to Cape Grim in August 1826.
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Somerset
Somerset is located on the estuary of the western bank of the Cam River midway between the township of Wynyard and the city of Burnie. At one time it was a town in its own right but is now practically a satellite suburb of the city of Burnie. In 1856 the settlement was named in honour of the Earl of Somerset. In earlier times it was also known as ‘Port Maldon’ and ‘The Cam’, with the latter name being used well into the 20th century.
By the turn of the 20th century, the name, Somerset, was generally known by residents as applied to a little township eight kilometres west of Burnie. In former years this town was invariably known as the Cam, which is really the name of a river on whose banks the town of Somerset stands. It was a long time in the making before the name of Somerset caught on after having its crown land parceled out in 1845 in the “township of Somerset.” Today Somerset forms part of the Burnie-Somerset urban area.
In 1904 a scene-setting description of Somerset published in Launceston’s Daily Telegraph: “It is only somewhat recently,…that the name of Somerset is known generally by residents on the North-West Coast, as applied to a little township five miles west of Burnie on the main Coast road. In former years this town was invariably known and spoken of as the Cam, which is really the name of a river on whose banks the town of Somerset may be said to stand….This little town is peculiarly forced upon the mind of the stranger as he approaches it from Burnie, as being a quiet little place, without any ambition to rise, a kind of tranquility prevails which impresses itself on its inhabitants and peace and contentment reign…Among the public buildings of Somerset are a Town Hall, Church of England, Roman Catholic Church, and Methodist chapel… With these places of worship the people should lack nothing spiritually…”.
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South Nietta
South Nietta is a rural community situated approximately south of Ulverstone. Nietta is an Aboriginal word meaning “little brother”. The area was opened up for settlement by returned soldiers after World War I.
South Riana
South Riana is a small rural settlement which is centred around the junction of Pine Road and Masters Road approximately 20 kilometres south of Penguin. The settlement began as a base camp for loggers and cutters before farming developed. At the close of the 19th century the Riana district was described by a correspondent for the Launceston Examiner: “…The district is a rising and most promising one. Riana is the southern portion of the Pine road, Penguin, and, has been opened up only within the last six or seven years… The soil is a good dark chocolate and black, and yields excellent crops. For the first eight miles from Penguin the timber is almost solely stringy bark, beyond that myrtle, sassafras, celery top pine, and blackwood are the most plentiful. The Dial Range is said to contain various minerals, but nothing of importance has yet been discovered…..The chief industries are farming and timber getting. Potatoes and oats are the chief crops”.
South Spreyton
South Spreyton is a semi-urban area on the Sheffield Road approximately 10 kilometres south of Devonport. It was once an important apple growing region but this has declined with urban encroachment. South Spreyton is adjoined by to the north by Aberdeen and Spreyton, to the east and south by Tarleton and Latrobe, and to the west by Acacia Hills.
Spalford
A small rural district 9 Km. south of Ulverstone on the Castra Road. It is situated just below the junction with the Clerke Plains Road. The original white settler in the district, John Bingham, a native of Spalford, Nottinghamshire, England, gave the name to his property at the locality. Bingham migrated to Tasmania in 1857. The town was established in 1883.
Sprent
The township of Sprent lies about 12 kilometres south of Ulverstone. Sprent was originally known as Eden but the general area was better known as Castra Road. The township on Castra Road was officially named Sprent in 1887. It is believed a post office was established four years later.
The Sprent Uniting Church is unique in that it is a combination of three former churches as will be seen later in the article. The first of these was the “Castra Road” Wesleyan-Methodist church which was originally located about 2 ½ km south of Sprent at the site of the old Methodist Cemetery. This church opened in December 1871. A single report from the Examiner is the only record of its opening. The report describes the church as being at Upper Gawler but from the report’s description it is undoubtedly the Wesleyan Castra Road church. The report refers to the “new slab road” which ended at the junction of the Gawler Road, nine miles from Ulverstone. The slab road (made from slabs of timber) was competed at about the same time as the church.
The area did not become as populous as was hoped and “for some time it was felt it could not render effective service to the [Sprent] community”. However the old church remained at this location until the early 1940’s when a section of it (the vestry) was removed to Sprent and was joined onto the Castra Road Presbyterian church (located at Spalford) which had been purchased by the Methodists. The Shalom Uniting Church is now the only place of worship still in use in the entire Castra Road district. The Castra Road church had a relatively short and uneventful life. The growth of Ulverstone and the opening of a Presbyterian church in the town in 1910, improvement in roads and rural depopulation, all contributed to the church’s closure in the 1940’s. In 1947, the building was purchased by the Methodists and relocated to nearby Sprent where it continues to be used by the Uniting church.
About Sprent >
Spreyton
The name was first applied to the Spreyton Plains, first refered to as a fruitgrowing district, and the name of a secular parish in the County of Devon. The town's name first appeared in a list of Post Stations in Walch's Almanac 1884. Spreyton's post Station was later named Quoiba. The name 'Spreyton' first applied as a Parish name - earliest firm evidence of this being dated 1856. A tidal flour mill was established at Spreyton in 1852 by S. Kelsey on land he purchased that year at the point where Figure Of Eight Creek joins the Mersey River.
Until 1894 when the road via Horsehead Creek was constructed, the only way to get from Spreyton to Devonport was via Middle Road. Produce from South Spreyton and Barrington had to go to Tarleton for loading onto railway trucks until 1893 when the connecting road link between Tarleton Road and the Bass Highway was built. The original Spreyton railway station was then transferred from the old site opposite the Ovaltine factory to the main roadjunction in Spreyton, so that farmers could convey their produce to the Spreyton station instead of to Tarleton.
Squeaking Point
Squeaking Point is a locality near Port Sorell. According to the book, Bush Life, by James Fenton (p.25), Squeaking Point was named from the fact that Captain Friend of the ship Rebecca released a little pig here, and it ran off into the bush nearby, squeaking lustily. The land for the township of Moriarty on Marlborough Road was reserved in 1845. The township was later re-named Squeaking Point, and the name Moriarty given to a locality nearby when it was reserved as a townsite.
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Stanley
The Aboriginal name for the Circular Head district was Martula. Stanley was named after Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby (1775-1851), the Secretary of State for the Colonies at the suggestion of James Gibson, the second manager of the Van Diemen's Land Company's Highfield Estate.
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Staverton
Staverton is a rural settlement on the Staverton Road approximately 15 kilometres southwest of Sheffield. The name Staverton is taken from a village in Northhamptonshire, England. Due to the areas remoteness and the lack of roads, Staverton was not settled until the 1890’s. By the turn of the 19th century a post office had opened and a State school was established. Religious services were held in the school until Staverton’s first and only church was built by the Baptists in 1910.
Stirling
Stirling is the former name of a small settlement contiguous to the township of Ridgley in Tasmania’s North West. Stirling was also known as ‘Nine-Mile’, a reference to the distance from the settlement to the town of Burnie. At the turn of the 19th century Stirling was described as having a post office, general store, school and church. By the time of the Great War the name Stirling was dropped as the larger settlement at Ridgley overshadowed and absorbed its smaller neighbour.
Stony Rise
Stony Rise is a residential suburb of Devonport. The name originally appeared on early map as a descriptive notation, and was adopted many years later as the locality's name. James Fenton, who pioneered to Forth River valley, refered to it in his book, Bush Life (p.48). In August 1966, the name of a local man, James Dooley, was considered for the locality's name. The first use off the name was for Stony Rise Road.
Stoodley
The name Stoodley was first used as the name of the Parish in the Country of Devon in the Municipality of Kentish where the locality is found. Stoodley was a railway station on the Sheffield branch line. The Dasher River forms a loop through the south-east corner of the locality, enclosing part of the Dasher River Conservation Area. Stoodley was gazetted as a locality in 1965. It is not known where the name originated, but is most likely that of an employee of by the Van Diemen's Land Company involved in exploration of the area, or Isaiah Stoodley (arrived 1833 per Jupiter), Simon Stoodley (arrived 1832, per Isabella), both of whom were who was sent to Van Diemen's Land as convicts.
Stowport
The name was first used for the secular Parish of Stowport in 1856. The township of Stowport was established circa 1900. The name appears to be a corruption of Stew Pot by which name the first mud track was known. It was originally called Stoney's Road because it led to parts of Capt. H Buller Stoney's planned war service settlement scheme at, and south of Wivenhoe. The scheme was abandoned when the Crimea War broke out.
Stoney's Road went from the first crossing of the Emu River, along present day River Road, then up over the hill behind Ormsby Street and into what is now Upper Stowport Road. It gave a shocking grade and was terribly muddy for bullock carts - so much so that it gained the name 'Stew pot' Road, which was corrupted to Stowport, the name eventually given to the district it served. The present road which replaced it went through in the 1890s. The name was gazetted in 1966, and confirmed in 1967.
Sulphur Creek
Sulphur Creek is a small coastal settlement approximately 5 kilometres west of Penguin in the north west of Tasmania. It was originally known as Penguin Creek before the town Penguin was established. For many years Sulphur Creek was a venue for horse racing. According to Max Stansall, the land on which a Primitive Methodist church was built formed part of a racecourse and was donated by Andrew Ballantyne with the intension of breaking up the racing.
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Takone
A small isolated settlement 7 Km. west of the Murchison Highway at Henrietta, 2 km north from the confluence of the Arthur and Hellyer Rivers. It is on the Takone Road, where it crosses the Rattler River just before it enters the Inglis River. It is situated in the rugged country of the foothills around the Campbell Range. The name, repeated in the name of West Takone, is of Aboriginal origin, meaning to sigh.
Tarkine
The name "Tarkine" was coined by the conservation movement in the 1980s, being the anglicised pronunciation of one of the Aboriginal tribes who inhabited the western Tasmanian coastline from the Arthur River to the Pieman River before European colonisation. The Tarkiners seasonally travelled throughout the region, travelling as far as 140 km north to the Hunter Islands hunting for mutton birds and fur seals, and as far as 100 km east to the Surrey Hills for wallabies and emus.
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Tarleton
Tarleton is named after William Tarleton, a notable official in the middle and late 19th century - among other things was Police Magistrate, Chairman of the Marine Board of Hobart, Commander of the Hobart Volunteer Artillery and Churchman. Born in Penley Hall, Flintshire, Wales on 31 May 1820 to Thomas Tarleton and Frances Egerton. He passed away on 7 Jul 1895 in Hobart, Tasmania. Pioneer settlers Thomas Johnson (1808-1869) and his wife Dolly Dalrymple Mountgarret Briggs (1810-1864), the first known child of an Aboriginal and white person union, moved there in 1845. In early 1851 they leased and acquired by purchase part or all of the 600 acre Tarleton town reserve, and portion of Ballahoo Island together with some of the suburbs of Tarleton. Johnson built a Sherwood Hall, now a museum in Devonport, at the latter place for public recreation dances religious services and as a school.
Temma
An isolated mining settlement on the west coast line set in the Temma Harbour 38 Km. south ofMarrawah. It was the place used by the mines at the Mount Balfour field. A horse-drawn tramway connected it to the Mount Balfour area and was built in 1911. When the mines declined the population of Temma also declined but there is still some living at Temma. The word is of Aboriginal origin, meaning 'hut'.
Tewkesbury
A small rural settlement 27 Km. south of Burnie in the St.Marys River Valley. Situated at the Oonah and St.Marys Roads junction, it is in the middle of a pine plantation. The name with first used for a railway station on the Emu Bay railway line. It is named after a town on the border of Gloucester and Worcester.
Thirlstane
Thirlstane is a farming district near Port Sorell and is about 20 kilometres east of Devonport. The name is derived from the former Thirlstane estate that covered a large part of the area. In the 1890’s it was anticipated that Thirlstane would develop into a town but this was never realised. In 1893 a report published in the Launceston Examiner described the settlement at Thirlstane:
“The Thirlstane township, which is attractively situated, constitutes a remarkably handy centre for the operations of the surrounding districts, the productive and thickly populated districts of Moriarty, Northdown Valley, and Sassafras being in close proximity. The settlement contains an excellently kept state school, a Town Hall, Weslesyan Church, while St. George's Anglican Church is within easy distance …”
Togari
A locality in the far northwest 40 Km. west of Smithton on the Rennison Road. It is in an area that was divided up by the government and used as the Montagu Swamp Soldier Settlement Area when it was being developed by the Closer Settlement Board in north-west Tasmania. Togari is on the western side of the Montagu River. Taken from the name of the secular Parish in the County of Wellington (the name was first applied in the 1890s), Togari is a word of local Aboriginal origin, said to mean 'summit, 'head' or 'crown'. The locality was originally gazetted as Montagu Swamp, but was charged to Togari in 1961 to avoid confusion with the locality of Montagu.
Trowutta
Trowutta is a rural district 25 Km. south of Smithton on the Trowutta Road. An area that was late developing, it was not until 1902 that the first land was selected and then 1905 before the first settlers arrived. A further 6 Km. south is the Trowutta Caves State Reserve. The name is an Aboriginal word for a 'flint' or 'shatpening stone'. It was first recorded as a Parish name in the County of Wellington and then applied to a spur railway from Stanley, A railway station at Trowutta opened 26.5.1920. A postal receiving office had been opened at Trowutta on 1.2.1912.
Tugrah
Tugrah is a suburb of Devonport. It is situated on the Tugrah Road which branches off the Stony Rise Road. It is on the banks of the Don River and was serviced by the Don River Railway when it was operating. The name is of Aboriginal origin, and means 'to eat'. It was first used for Tugrsh Road, and then Tugrah railway siding on the Barrington line.
Tullah
A town in the northern part of the West Coast Range, on the west coast of Tasmania, about 111 km south of Burnie. The town is roughly divided into two "suburbs", an older northern and a younger, more planned out southern. the northern half was originally a mining town called Mount Farrell, established in year 1900 after silver lead ore was discovered in the area. Tullah was one of many Aboriginal words on a list drawn up in 1885 by Leventhorpe Hall, Chief Draftsman of the Surveys Office, to be applied to any new towns, parishes, railway stations and schools.
Turners Beach
Turners Beach is located at the western mouth into Bass Strait of the Forth River, opposite the village of Leith located on its eastern mouth. The area was officially named Turners Beach on 21st March 1961. The beach was originally known as Scott s Beach, named after the Scott family who operated a flour mill on Claytons Rivulet. One school of thought suggests that Turners Beach was named after the Turner family who lived in The Gables in the 1920s.
About Turners Beach >
Ulverstone
Ulverstone, or ‘River Leven’, as it was once called, was permanently settled by Europeans from the late 1840’s after Andrew Risby developed farmland from the thickly forested wilderness. During the 1850’s the district received new settlers and was also frequented by transient timber splitters. In 1854 Hugh Ross McKay opened the first store and the Leven Post Office opened in 1857. Despite the growth of River Leven, the settlement remained without a church until the late 1860’s.
The earliest reference to Ulverstone was in 1854 in a private sale of 500 acres of land on the River Leven, three miles from Ulverstone. Before that, when there were no inhabitants, it was simply known as Badger Plains. The municipality of Leven was officially changed to Ulverstone in 1944. It is named after the South Cumbrian town of Ulverston (note the different spelling) in the English Lake District when it was surveyed in 1855. No explanation exists as to reason for the selection of the name. The name is first known to have been used in 1854 when Hugh Ross McKay opened the Ulverstone Store.
About Ulverstone >
Upper Blythe
Upper Blythe was a rural settlement centred on a ford on the Blythe River approximately 20 kilometres south west of Penguin. The area is now part of Camena. Researching the history of churches in the Penguin hinterland is complex as churches were moved around the district and settlements were renamed and went by different names.
Upper Castra
Upper Castra is a farming district on the Castra Road approximately 20 kilometres south of Ulverstone. It was once part of a thickly wooded area developed by Colonel Andrew Crawford after he retired from the Indian Army. Upper Castra once had three places of worship, these being Anglican, Methodist and Baptist churches. All of these churches have closed and have been either demolished or removed. The word castra is meant as "camp" in this context, and Upper Castra is so named because it is further inland from Castra. In 1865 Lt-Colonel Andrew Crawford initiated his scheme for land settlement at Castra in Tasmania's north-west. Fifty Anglo-Indians, including many officers, purchased land, but not many stayed. In Tasmania the term 'Anglo-Indians' appears to cover English people who resided in India (at the time part of the British Empire) then in Tasmania, those of English-Indian parentage and those who were born in India of English parents.
About Castra Road >
Waratah
Possibly named because of the abundance of the Waratah shrub (Telopea truncata) at the locality. The species of waratah found in Tasmania, which is smaller than those on the mainland, appears on the crest of the City of Hobart. The Van Diemens Land Company surveyors were responsible for naming the town.
About Waratah >
Weegena
There are two alternate meanings recorded for this Aboriginal word: one claims it means 'campfire, fireplace', the other claims it is derived from Wigena, meaning 'dead wood'. The locality was first known as Blackmore.
Wesley Vale
An industrial town 9 Km. east of Devonport on the Sorell Road. Once a quiet little rural town, in the 1960's a board mill was built there and then later a paper mill. The district around Wesley Vale is still a farming area. The locality was originally known as Native Hut Corner on account of an Aboriginal encampment and dancing ground there. The locality was named by Henry Reed who arrived in Tasmania in 1827 and was an early white settle in the area. Reed was a staunch Methodist, and named his proprty after John Wesley, who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The Uniting Church at Wesley Vale is the third church built by the Methodists in the area. The first church, a “bush chapel”, was opened in May 1866 and built on land donated by Sampson Andrews.
West Kentish
West Kentish is a village on the Kentish Road that leads to Lake Barrington west of Sheffield. It is named after Government Surveyor Nathaniel Kentish who explored and surveyed the area with a party of 20 probationary convicts in 1846. In earlier times the area around West Kentish was sometimes referred to as “Promised Land”.
West Pine
West Pine is a small rural community approximately 8 kilometres south west of Penguin on the North West Coast. Located west of Pine Road, the area was originally called "Pine Road West”. It was locally known as "West Pine” which was eventually adopted as the official name of the district.
Whitemore
Whitemore (spelt Whitemoor until the 1860’s) is a small rural settlement near Westbury in Northern Tasmania. Whitemore was once the southern part of the original Quamby estate granted to Richard Dry senior, whose son became Premier of Tasmania. The area around Whitemore Creek was sold to William Hingston in 1854. It was Hingston who donated land for a Wesleyan chapel in 1857. As well as a being a place of worship, the chapel served as a Sunday school and as a day school for local children during the week. It also housed a library. Known as "Whitemoor chapel”, the name was adopted by the village that grew around the church.
Wilmot
Wilmot is a village on the Wilmot Road approximately 30 kilometres south of Ulverstone. The district was named after Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, who was the first non-military Governor of Tasmania. The area was settled in the 1890s and was called “The Junction” by the locals. Settlers were challenged with the difficult task of clearing land which was densely timbered and where roads were poor in an isolated district. In 1899 a visiting reporter for the Examiner wrote: “I might state that I asked a leading resident of the Upper Wilmot what it was proposed to bestow on the new settlement, and he replied: "Well, if the Premier treats us handsomely in the matter of roads, we will call the place "Braddon Town or Braddonville."In 1903 the settlement was officially proclaimed as Wilmot.
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Wiltshire
Wiltshire developed as a railway settlement on the Bass Highway. It is believed to be named after Wiltshire in England by a surveyor of the the Van Diemen's Land Company, possibly Henry Hellyer. He named numerous places in North-West Tasmania after English counties, such as Hampshire, the English county where he was born; Wiltshire is a neighbouring county so would no doubt have been there. The town of Wiltshire is 130 km from his home town of porchester. Originally Wiltshire was known as Wiltshire Junction, as it was for here that the line had a junction to Stanley at Wiltshire, while the main line went inland towards Balfour. Wiltshire railway station opened on 26.5.1920. In 1990 the two extremities of the line were closed due to dwindling traffic, and outbound logs and silica stone, and inbound fertiliser traffic at Wiltshire became the sole reason for the line. The word "Junction" was dropped from the name in 1968 after the main line beyond Wiltshire was closed.
Wivenhoe
Wivenhoe is a suburb of Burnie situated on the east bank of the Emu River. It has developed into an industrialised area which is located about 3 kilometres south-east of the city centre. It is named after the town (and parish) of Wivenhoe in Essex County, by Captain Henry Butler Stoney in the 1850's.
Woolnorth
A large property "on which fine wool was to be produced in the north of the colony" owned by the Van Diemen's Land Company, it being foundered in 1825 by Royal Charter of King George IV. The property originally took in most of the North-western comer of the state. What remains of the property - on Cape Grim - is now open to prearranged tours. The local Aboriginal name for Cape Grim is recorded as Kennaook. Under the Aboriginal and Dual Naming Policy, the point is represented on maps and publications as 'Temdudheker / Woolnorth Point'.
The name is derived from the joining of the words 'wool' and 'north', as the company's charter was to administer the grant of land on which fine wool was to be produced in the north of the colony of Van Diemen's Land. According to VDL Co. Chief Agent, Edward Curr, it was first designated as Woolnorth on Henry Hellyear's map of the voyage of the Caroline in April and May 1827, under the command of Captain Robert Hare, an expedition to examine the coastline and its rivers from the Mersey to Cape Grim. Hellyer is believed to have coined the name 'Woolnorth'. Cape Grim was named by Matthew Flinders, 10.12.1798, because of its appearance. "being a steep, black head".
Wynyard
Wynyard is a town on the northwest coast approximately 20 kilometres west of the city of Burnie. The area around Wynyard was originally named Table Cape by the explorers Bass and Flinders. The name was changed to Wynyard in the 1850s, in honour of Edward Buckley Wynyard, Lieutenant-General of the New South Wales Corps. In his capacity as commander of troops in New South Wales, Van Diemen’s Land and New Zealand, Wynyard visited Table Cape in 1850-1. Three ex-convict Alexander brothers established a settlement, Alexandria, on the west, or Table Cape, side of the Inglis River in the 1850s. After the Inglis River was bridged in 1861, Alexandria began to fade and Wynyard, with better wharfing, became the district's centre of commerce. Until the 20th century Wynyard remained a small town with a population of less than 500. Originally named Table Cape after the nearby geographical location named by Bass and Flinders in 1798. The town's name was changed to Wynyard about 1850.
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Yolla
Yolla is small rural town on the Murchison Highway approximately 20 kilometres south of Wynyard. The area was originally covered by Myrtle Beech forest, which was gradually cleared for farming. When first settled in the late 19th century the area was named Camp Creek but this was changed to Yolla in 1906. Yolla grew up around a butter factory which opened in 1906 and is situated approximately 20 kilometres south of Wynyard. When first settled in the late 19th century it was named Camp Creek but this was changed to Yolla in 1906. The name is derived from an Aboriginal word for muttonbird.