Along the Heritage Highway - Campbell Town

The Heritage Highway runs from Launceston to Hobart in Tasmania. Our first stop was beautiful Evandale, and a short 40 minutes away was Campbell Town, famous for the convict built Red Bridge. There were a lot of roadworks going on to widen the road along the highway, however the delays are not long. We stayed at Campbell Town a few times on our trip, as it is a good central location and also we knew Blackburn Park was a great free camp. Located at the southern end of the town next to the Elizabeth River, and near the Red Bridge, the campsite is peaceful, except for the odd train that liked to blow its whistle at the nearby train crossing. This is a free permit camp, and like Evandale, a two day permit must be obtained. It is a lovely large grassed area with a little shade, but no facilities, other than a few tables and benches. It is walking distance to supermarkets and cafes. There were a few happy campers there, but there is so much space there was plenty of room.

View from our window.

Also nearby, across a pedestrian bridge from Blackburn Park, is Wardlaw Park where a collection of chainsaw sculptures that depict the history of Campbell Town can be seen.

Campbell Town is another 'convict' town. The information centre, located at the north end of the main street, was closed each time we were there, I guess the lack of volunteers leads to reduced opening hours. That is the reason we pick up information on all different towns when we visit each info centre. Campbell Town was named by Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1821, after his wife’s maiden name of Campbell. It was established as a garrison town in 1826, one of the four garrison towns linking Launceston and Hobart. The Elizabeth River is also named after Governor Macquarie's wife.

Blackburn Park is located near the famous Red Bridge, believed to be the oldest brick arch bridge in Australia. It was completed in 1838 and has over 1.5 million bricks all hand made by the convicts.

We made daily visits to Valentine Park, and the close by café’s. The park was part of the Grange property, and named after the owner. An interesting park worth a visit. There are toilets and picnic tables, some in the shade of big beautiful trees. There is a statue of Eliza Furlong and a ram, this is a sheep farming region. Born in Glasgow, she married wine merchant John Furlong. After the death of four of their six children, they were advised to move to a warmer climate. Eliza and her sons studied sheep and the wool industry and decided to move to New South Wales. They collected many sheep from different farms around Saxony and in 1829 William and the sheep set sail. The ship stopped at Hobart for supplies and William was offered land to start a wool industry, which he did. In 1831 Eliza and the family joined him on his property, Winton, just north of Campbell Town. Elizabeth died in 1859.

Also in Valentine Park is a monument to commemorate the Transit of Venus. In 1874 the transit of Venus was viewed from Campbelltown, one of eight official observation sites in the world. It was again viewed in 2004, and 2012. The next viewing will be around 2117. The beautiful Grange in the background, hosted parties for astronomers who visited for the Transit. The Grange was built in 1847 as an English manor house. It was designed by Everard James Blackburn and was the home of Dr William Valentine who enjoyed astronomy. He hosted a party for the United States Naval Observatory who  came to witnessed the Transit of Venus in December, 1874.

There is a Convict Brick Trail which is a line of red bricks running up the main street from the Foxhunters Return, an old coaching inn dating back to 1833. Designed by stonemason Hugh Kean, and constructed by convicts, the inn is National Trust listed, and is described as "the finest and most substantial hotel building of the late colonial period in Australia." The inn is now a accommodation place with the cellars now a book store open to the public. The cellars are where the convicts were housed during construction and also a typical inn cellar. The Brick Trail is a single line of bricks with each brick depicting the lives of every convict that reached Australia. We had a look at quite a few but didn't find our PERRETT convicts - really need more time. The brick had the convicts name, age on arrival, the ship and year they arrived in, their crime, sentence, and a little comment. There are over 2,500 bricks – no we didn’t count them, a local told us. 

There are a lot of cafes and antique shops, but it is the historical buildings that we like. The old Campbell Town Inn, also designed by Hugh Kean was built in 1840, is a grand building that now houses an antiques shop, and cafe. It is across the road from Valentine Park.

The towns first Methodist Chapel was built in 1839 and was located behind this second Methodist Chapel built in 1846. The first chapel was built from funds raised by the congregation, and soon out grew its congregation. The first church behind became the residence for the caretaker. By 1880 this chapel too became too small and a new Wesleyan Brickhill Church was built in the main street - which is now for sale, and this building became a Sunday School. Today I think it is a private residence - so beautiful.   

The Wesleyan Bricknell Church - for sale.

There are just so many beautiful colonial buildings in Campbell Town.