Heritage Highway Guides Attractions Events in Tasmania

Campbell Town was one of the early coaching stops between Launceston and Hobart and sits on the banks of the Elizabeth River.
It was named by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, after his wife’s family, during a visit in 1821.
It was, and is, the centre of the sheep-farming region and is a popular stopping point on the journey north and south. It has a population is around 900, and there is an impressive collection of colonial buildings such as The Grange (the local wealthy doctor’s house designed by convict architect James Blackburn in the late 1840s), the Foxhunters Return a lovely example of a 19th century inn built in 1834, St Luke’s Church (1939) and the convict-built Red Bridge (1836).
From Campbell Town you can head east past Lake Leake to Freycinet and the east coast.
Just opposite St Luke’s look out for the monument to Harold Gatty, a native son of Campbell Town. In 1931, with American Wiley Post, he was the first person to fly around the world. In 1929, Gatty had flown as navigator with Roscoe Turner in a record 19-hour non-stop flight from Los Angeles to New York. He went on to serve, as an Australian citizen, in the U.S. Army Air Corps.

Evandale is a Georgian village south of Launceston, best known for its 19th-century buildings and relatively untouched streetscape.
The town, with a population of nearly 1,100, is only five kilometres (three miles) south of Launceston Airport.
Every year, avid cyclists suit up in skin-hugging Lycra for a national championship road race. But wait till you see their bikes - you'll never associate penny farthings with straight backs and top hats again. These National Penny Farthing Championships are a highlight of the Evandale Village Fair, held on the last Saturday in February.
Many of the arts and crafts made in the area are showcased every Sunday at the Evandale Market, with more than 100 stalls of crafts, food and amusements. The Evandale Light Railway Society runs trains in conjunction with the market on the second and last Sunday of the month (subject to the weather). At other times, you can visit local antique galleries and craft shops.
Look out for the statue of renowned 19th-century artist John Glover, who lived and died in nearby Deddington. Clarendon House, a grand Georgian mansion owned by the National Trust, is 10 kilometres south, towards Nile. The Tasmanian Gourmet Sauce Company produces delicious berry, pasta and chocolate sauces, as well as many relishes and chutneys. The company's tasting centre and factory are on the B41, between the town and the Midland Highway. They are set among the beautiful Ericvale Gardens, where you can see Tasmania's largest display of topiary.
The region was discovered in 1811 by Governor Lachlan Macquarie but the town was not settled until 1816. It was named after George William Evans, a painter and surveyor, and was home to John Kelly, whose son was the bushranger Ned Kelly.
Evandale has an average maximum of 23 degrees Celsius (74.5 degrees Fahrenheit) in January and 11.5 degrees Celsius (52.5 degrees Fahrenheit) in June.
The town is just off the Midland Highway, an easy 20-minute drive from Launceston on the C416.

Take your time travelling along Tasmania’s historic Heritage Highway - from Launceston to Hobart. Slow down - perhaps not to the pace of the horse-drawn coaches that once rattled through the wide grazing lands.
Today, the highway follows the route pioneered in 1807. Those first explorers took eight days to traverse the island. Soon afterwards, the fastest horse-drawn coaches were pounding their way between Hobart and Launceston in 15 hours, changing horses every 10 miles.
These days, you can drive from Launceston to Hobart in a couple of hours. But if you do, you’ll be missing some of our most stunning pastoral scenery, bypassing colonial towns and villages – such as Perth, Oatlands, Ross, Campbell Town, Kempton and Pontville, where sandstone church spires overlook English oaks, elms and chestnuts, Georgian cottages line quiet streets and stone bridges are reflected in leaf-dappled water.
You will hear the stories of the people who shaped the landscape we see today – the convicts who hauled and hammered stone for bridges and churches; the bushrangers who stole from unsuspecting travellers; and the farmers and graziers who opened up the new land, making their fortunes from bushels of wheat and bales of wool.
You can stay in a bed and breakfast cottage that once housed indentured servants; or enjoy a leisurely meal at a country pub where generations of travellers have been served at the mellow timber bar.
All along Tasmania’s Heritage Highway’ time moves at a leisurely pace. To add an element of mystery to your journey try a game of Skullduggery.The game leads you with a series of clues to learn more about our early settlers.

Kempton was settled in the 1820s and originally called Green Ponds.
The streetscape, with its inn, church and shops, is very much as it was in the 19th century, and Dysart House, now privately owned, at the southern end of town, is an exceedingly handsome mansion. The highway now bypasses the town but it is worth stopping by to explore.
The first land grant went to Anthony Fenn Kemp, after whom the town was eventually named. You can see the entrance to his property – Mount Vernon – just south of Kempton. (You can find out more about the rather notorious Anthony Fenn Kemp in the wonderful novel, In Tasmania, by the British novelist, Nicholas Shakespeare, who spends part of each year here.)
Kempton is 49 kilometres (31 miles) north of Hobart.

Longford is 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Launceston and centre for the local farming district. Prior to European settlement the area was used by the Panninher band of the northern midlands.
The town went through a number of names before settling on Longford in 1833. It sits at the confluence of the Macquarie and the South Esk rivers.
You will see many convict-built houses – the farmers were provided with free convict labour and created grand reminders of their English heritage. Christ Church is the site of the First Settlers Cemetery and an arboretum was created that aspired to represent every tree mentioned in the Bible.
Longford still has that bucolic air of a 19th century country village. Three early free-settler estates, Woolmers (1816), Panshangar (1821) and Brickendon (1824) were developed by the dynastic Archer family, who arrived in 1813 from Hertfordshire, and their descendants still farm the area today.
Also, at Woolmers, which is regarded as the most authentic remaining example of an Australian pioneer farm, you can visit the National Rose Garden with more than 4,000 roses on display.
Nearby are antique galleries, a good bakery, and art and craft shops, including one that specialises in dolls’ houses and miniatures.

Oatlands is a pretty colonial town, about 84 kilometres (52 miles) north of Hobart, with the largest collection of sandstone buildings in Australia, and many of its old cottages are now cafes, antique stores or restaurants. Oatlands is another town selected and named by Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1821.
The A1 Highway bypasses the town, now, but the signature landmark you will notice is the striking sandstone silhouette of Carrington Mill (1837), and the town was once important to the wheat farmers who worked the district’s big farms. The local gardening enthusiasts are creating a parterre garden near the Mill.
Nearby is Lake Dulverton, which is restocked with fish from the Oatlands District High School Aquaculture Centre and is a popular fishing spot. There are free barbecue facilities, shelters and toilets nearby.
The Central Tasmanian Tourism Centre is at The Stables, 85 High Street (tel: (03) 6254 1212).

Perth, with a population of around 1800, was settled in 1821, and is about 15 kilometres (9 miles) south of Launceston. It has a number of historic buildings, notably churches (Baptist and Methodist) and inns.
Explore the historic town walk (the post office has brochures), see the wooden carved sculptures at the Lions Train Park and then taste unique leatherwood honey at the Tasmanian Honey Company.
Perth is the point where you turn from the A1 Highway, north-west to the B52, the B54 and eventually to Devonport.
The nearby South Esk River is a popular fishing spot.

Pontville was sited by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, in 1821, and was an early garrison town, where convicts built the bridge over the Jordon River. During World Wars I and II the area had a major army camp.
The convicts and soldiers are gone now but the historic buildings remain: St Matthew’s Catholic Church and St Mark’s Church of England (designed by convict architect James Blackburn), the Crown Inn (1835), the Sheiling (1819) and other cottages that now offer colonial accommodation.
Pontville, with a population of around 1400, is 27 kilometres (17 miles) north of Hobart, and you can walk along the riverbanks, read the headstones in the old churchyards and admire the pottery and crafts at studios roundabout.

Ross sits on the banks of the Macquarie River, and is one of Australia’s most appealing convict-built stone villages. Cobble-style paths and old, tall elm trees line the main road and give this picture-perfect town an air of tranquillity.
The Ross Bridge, designed by John Lee Archer, is Australia’s third oldest, and possibly the most beautiful of its kind left in the world. The detail of its 186 carvings by convict stonemasons was deemed of such high quality that it won the men a free pardon.
Like other parts of Tasmania’s Midlands, the Ross area is famous for its superfine merino wool. The Tasmanian Wool Centre features a Heritage Museum and Wool Exhibition.
Another attraction not to miss is the Ross Bakery, with its original semi-scotch brick ‘3 bag’ wood-fired oven. (In a scotch oven the fire is lit inside the oven; in a semi-scotch oven it’s lit in a chamber to one side of the oven.) The bakery, which has the capacity to bake more than 300 loaves of bread (‘3-bag’ refers to three hundredweight bags of flour), has been operating on the site for more than a century.
The main crossroads of the village is said to represent Temptation (Man O’Ross Hotel), Recreation (Town Hall), Salvation (Catholic Church) and Damnation (the gaol, which is now a private residence).
Ross was settled in 1812 and many of its original sandstone buildings have been restored. The population is around 300 people. The Ross Female Convict Station Historic Site is a significant archaeological site.
Ross enjoys a daily average maximum temperature of 23.5 degrees Celsius (74.5 degrees Fahrenheit) in January and 11.5 degrees Celsius (52.5 degrees Fahrenheit) in June. It is 80 kilometres (49.5 miles) south of Launceston and 122 kilometres (76 miles) north of Hobart.

A highway with a thousand stories – from convicts to farmers, bushrangers, villains, writers and painters. Cross a landscape first cleared by Aborigines for hunting and quickly settled by European farmers. Explore picture-perfect Georgian villages that began life as overnight stops for horse-drawn carriages. Look out for whimsical hedge shapes, 19th Century sandstone road markers, the ghoulish faces on the Ross Bridge, and gracious colonial homesteads. The Heritage Highway links the northern city of Launceston to the capital of Hobart and the first Europeans to use the route, in 1807, took eight days to make the journey.