Launceston is a city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River (kanamaluka). With a population of 87,328, Launceston is the second most populous city in Tasmania after the state capital, Hobart, and the twelfth-largest non-capital city in Australia.
The history of Tasmania begins at the end of the most recent ice age when it is believed that the island was joined to the Australian mainland. Little is known of the human history of the island until the British colonisation in the 19th century.
Meander Valley Council is a local government body in northern Tasmania. It covers the western outskirts of Launceston, and further westward along the Meander River. Meander Valley Council is classified as a rural local government area and has a population of 19,713. Major towns and localities of the region include Elizabeth Town, Mole Creek, Westbury and the principal town of Deloraine.
Deloraine is a town on the Meander River, in the central north of Tasmania, Australia. It is 50 km west of Launceston and 52 km south of Devonport along the Bass Highway. It is part of the Meander Valley Council. As of 2011, the town of Deloraine had a population of 2,745
Longford is a town in the northern midlands of Tasmania, Australia. It lies 145 m above sea level at the convergence of the Macquarie River and the South Esk River, 21 km south of Launceston and a 15-minute drive from the airport. It is just south of the Illawarra Road, a road connecting the Bass and Midland Highways. It has a population of 3,863 and is part of the Northern Midlands Council area. The region is predominantly agricultural, noted for wool, dairy produce and stock breeding.
New Norfolk is a town on the River Derwent, in the south-east of Tasmania, Australia. At the 2011 census, New Norfolk had a population of 5,543.
The Bass Highway is a highway in Tasmania, Australia. It is a part of the National Highway, designated as National Highway 1 and connects the major cities across the north of the state – Burnie, Devonport and Launceston. The road was named due to its proximity to the Bass Strait.
Westbury is a town in the central north of Tasmania, Australia. It lies 30 km west of Launceston on the Bass Highway, and at the 2016 census had a population of just over 2,000. It is part of, and the headquarters of, the Meander Valley Council area.
Meander is a rural locality and town in the Meander Valley Council area of northern Tasmania, Australia. In 2011 it had a population of 415, forty percent of whom worked directly in agriculture, many in the dominant industries of grazing of sheep and cattle, and the dairy industry. The surrounding land has been modified by the original Indigenous inhabitants, who turned forest into grassland, and the later settlers, who have created extensive channels for irrigation and drainage. The town is 24 kilometres (15 mi) south of the town of Deloraine, Tasmania and is bisected by the Meander River. It sits between Quamby Bluff and Mother Cummings Peak of the Great Western Tiers mountain range.
Bracknell is a small rural town in northern Tasmania, Australia that was established to serve the needs of the forestry industry but is now a centre for the local farming community.
Sir Richard Dry, KCMG was an Australian politician, who was Premier of Tasmania from 24 November 1866 until 1 August 1869 when he died in office. Dry was the first Tasmanian-born premier, and the first Tasmanian to be knighted.
Caveside is a rural locality in Northern Tasmania, lying between the Great Western Tiers to the south and Mole Creek to the north.
Carrick is a small historic village 17 kilometres (11 mi) west of Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, on the banks of the Liffey River. The Meander Valley Highway passes through the town's centre; this road was formerly the main road from Launceston to Deloraine and Devonport. Carrick has a well-preserved 19th-century heritage; fifteen of its colonial buildings are listed on the Tasmanian Heritage Register including Carrick House (1840), St Andrew's Church (1848), the Old Watch house (1837), Monds Roller Mill (1846) and the Carrick Hotel (1833).
Mole Creek is a town in the upper Mersey Valley, in the central north of Tasmania, Australia. Mole Creek is well known for its honey and accounts for about 35 percent of Tasmania's honey production.
Hadspen is a town on the South Esk River in the north of Tasmania, Australia, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south west of Launceston. Hadspen has few commercial establishments and is primarily a residential suburb of nearby Launceston. Most of the town's buildings are residential, and relatively recent. The town's population of just over 2000 has grown rapidly from only a few hundred in the 1960s, and there are development plans that call for its doubling.
Henry Hunter (1832–1892) was a prominent architect and civil servant in Tasmania and Queensland, Australia. He is best known for his work on churches. During his life was also at various times a state magistrate of Tasmania, a member of the Tasmanian State Board of Education, the Hobart Board of Health, a Commissioner for the New Norfolk Insane Asylum and President of the Queensland Institute of Architects.
Whitemore is a small rural town in Northern Tasmania, in the Meander Valley Council area. The town's land and surrounding rural area was first granted to Richard Dry in the 1830s then sold for farming to William Hingston in 1854. Hingston constructed a Wesleyan Chapel, near which a few later buildings were added. Over time the town has had a blacksmith, post office, library, shops and petrol station; none of these remain in the 21st Century.
Hagley is a town in Northern Tasmania, Australia, 22 kilometres (14 mi) southwest of Launceston on the Meander Valley Highway. The area was used by the Port Dalrymple—an early name for George Town in Northern Tasmania—Aboriginal Tasmanians until they were driven from their lands by European settlement. Land grants from the 1820s, to William Thomas Lyttleton, William Bryan and Sir Richard Dry, led to the first buildings, and later gazetting of the town in April 1866. Lyttleton was associated with Hagley Hall in England; his naming of his estate led to the town's name, and he is believed to have bequeathed the town's land. Hagley is an agricultural centre sited on largely alluvial soil near the Meander River. As of 2011, the town had a population of 330, most of whom were Australian born. Hagley is remembered as the first site of coursing in Tasmania, which started at Quamby Estate in 1878. The town has had cricket and Australian rules football teams, but it no longer fields teams.
Exton is a rural settlement on the outskirts of Deloraine, Tasmania, that lies next to the railway line from Launceston to Devonport. Its population was estimated at 200 in 1932, and the 2011 census reported the area of Reedy Marsh, which incorporates Exton, had a population of 309 people. Exton lies within the Meander Valley Council local government area.
Chudleigh is a small rural village 64 kilometres (40 mi) west of Launceston in northern Tasmania, Australia. The town is in the Chudleigh Valley, between the Gog range and the Great Western Tiers. The area is primarily used for farming, though timber and lime production have been significant industries. The fertile flats of the valley are of alluvial origin, from the Permian era. The Chudleigh show, run by the Agricultural and Horticultural society, is an agricultural show held each February. Since 1889 the show has been held 125 times, and it is one of the state's oldest such events.
