Kempton was once a bustling town

Like many small places, Kempton is now a small town where, dare I say it, not much happens these days. Well, not like it did in the old days, anyway and maybe the locals prefer it that way. Mind you, the night we went to the pub for dinner, the bistro was packed.  So there are plenty of people in the area.  We had a great meal, washed down with a lovely 2013 Margaret River Shiraz.

Anyway, I digress.  Kempton is 48 km north of Hobart on the Midland Highway.  We stayed there on our way to Snug.  It was a very windy day and we were lucky because the van was facing into the wind.  Kempton has a lovely little free camp for self contained vehicles and there are a small number of powered sites for a donation.  We took a powered site and left a $5 donation.  There is an undercover BBQ  area, very clean with two power points and if you want access to the toilet and shower then you can get a key from the council for $10.

Kempton was originally settled in 1820 and has sported a number of names since then.   The first was Green Water Holes, then Green Water Ponds and then it was shortened to Green Ponds.  This was in the space of just over a year mind you.

Then some 70 odd years later it was renamed Kempton after Anthony Fenn Kemp.  Mr Kemp had a colourful history in the then colony of New South Wales and played an important part in the rum rebellion against Governor William Bligh.  He settled in Van Diemen's Land in 1816, where he became a leading figure amongst graziers, merchants, importers and shippers.  He imported red deer into Tasmania and at some time, was a director and later, the chairman of the Van Diemen's Land Bank.

There were two convict stations in Kempton and a military barracks and it was the main coach stop between Hobart and Launceston between 1842 and 1845.  There are many lovely buildings in Kempton and Dyart House is an excellent example.

Built in1843 by William Henry Ellis, Dyart House was originally called the Green Ponds Hotel, then it became the Commercial Inn.  At one stage it was an educational facility for young ladies and then a private house.

Mr Ellis was sentenced to transportation in 1825 for embezzlement. He was pardoned after serving only 5 years of his 14 year sentence.  He opened a store, part of which still stands opposite Dysart House.  He expanded his trading store by opening one in Bothwell and one in Ouse.  His business enterprises were very successful and provided the finance to build the Georgian style Dyart House.  Apart from providing fine accommodation for travellers, Dysart House hosted many glamorous functions in its ballroom and the impressive stables could house up to 22 horses.

Dyart House is now in private ownership

Kempton was a wheat and sheep area and over time, the town provided for every need from goods at the Green Ponds Store (owned by Mr Ellis), to drapers, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, a brothel, an Undertaker (run by one family for several generations), a steam flour mill, a brewery (run by a lay preacher) and a cordial factory.  

Glad to show you some photos of the lovely buildings that are still standing and used as private residences.

Built in 1840, the Congregational Church - looks like it needs some TLC

Kent Cottage today

Kent Cottage as it was around 1890 when it was it as owned by George Lumsden

Glebe House - built around 1839 by Reverend George Otter, the Anglican Chaplain for Green Ponds.  It was described as "one of the finest houses in town, a capital dwelling, having every possible convenience and suitable for a gentleman's family or scholastic establishment, containing flower and kitchen gardens and paddocks" 

Wilmot Arms Inn built in 1843

Wilmot Inn is a lovely old building, with a separate flat as well as 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, a breakfast room, formal and casual living areas, a commercial kitchen and a couple of fireplaces, set on 1/2 in the main street of town. It has been fully restored to its former glory, it served as a B & B for a while and is now a private home. The Inn was sold to its present owners in May 2014 for AU$459,000....what a bargain.

St Peter's Church - now deconsecrated and privately owned.

Building of St Peter's Church commenced in 1918 with the original cost estimate being 1600 pounds. It was finished in 1923, with a cost blow out to 3400 pounds....sound familiar people!

We enjoyed our short stay at Kempton, a place that I would be happy to return to during our travels around Tasmania.

Port Arthur....20 years later

We visited Port Arthur in 1995 prior to the massacre in April 1996 where 35 people were killed and 23 wounded by 28 year old Martin Bryant from Hobart.  Bryant was given 35 life sentences with no possibility of parole.  After the shooting which is considered one of the deadliest shootings worldwide committed by a single person, the then Prime Minister, John Howard, introduced strict gun control laws which restricts private ownership of semi-automatic shotguns and riffles as well as pump-action shotguns and uniform firearms licensing.  Not a bad thing in my book.......

Model of what Port Arthur would have looked like

Anyway, visiting Port Arthur twenty years later was a very different experience.  It is more commercial now, with a variety of walking tours and a cruise and the cafe where the massacre occurred has been pulled down.   Even though it was a bit on the commercial side, we enjoyed our day there and would recommend a visit.

For us, it is the only place in Australia where we feel as real sense of history. I suppose that is because Australia is such a young country by comparison to the rest of the world, especially Europe and Britain.

As far as food goes, Felons Restaurant was just OK....service was slow and the food expensive.

We were glad of our hats, but unfortunately Brett did not have a hat and ended up with a very sunburnt neck and face......so don't forget your headgear.

We enjoyed the cruise which provided a view of what the convicts saw as they came into dock at Port Arthur.  On the cruise we saw the dockyards which was a very busy and productive area between 1834 and 1848.  The convicts, under Master Shipwright David Hoy, crafted hundreds of whaleboats, brigantines and barques for the government and private enterprise.    To celebrate their achievements, local artists Ben Booth and Colin Langridge created a 25 metre long ship sculpture which gives a perspective of the size of the ships that were made at that location.

Ship Sculpture

Here is a link to information about the dockyard....interesting read..The Dockyard Guide

By 1840 over 2000 convicts, soldiers and free officers and their families lived in Port Arthur

Port Arthur was founded on the then novel idea that convicts could be reformed by a system based on punishment and discipline, classification and separation, religious and moral instruction, trade training and education.  The intention was to provide the opportunity for a convict to become a person that would fit in and be useful to society.   But, if you didn't want to take advantage of those opportunities,  just lookout, your life would be very unpleasant.

File photo of Port Arthur showing the lovely grounds

But while the intentions might have been good, the experiment of Port Arthur did not work for everyone.  Many ended up in the Paupers' Depot, too old or ill to be of any use to anyone and others ended up in the Lunatic Asylum.  Some, of course, did make good and lived useful, law abiding lives due to the skills that they learned there.

The Church facade is a popular choice for weddings.

Built in 1836-37, and never consecrated, the church could hold 1000 people.  As part of the religious and moral instruction element of the system, everybody had to go to church.   The Church was destroyed by fire in 1884.

The Penitentiary

The Penitentiary had four levels and it depended on how well behaved you were as to where your cell was.

136 convicts where housed on the ground (heavy irons) and 1st level (light irons).  They slept in hammocks, had a pair of blankets, a woolen rug, a small stool, a keg of water and a tin cup.

The top floor was for well behaved convicts and the dormitory style accommodation housed 348 men.  They had a mattress, a blanket, a rug, a spoon, a tine plate and a drinking cup.

The second level was the dining hall which was also used as a school room and there was a library and Roman Catholic Chapel.

The authorities program of reform included the separation of prisoners from each other for extended periods of time.  The focus was on psychological punishment. The facility was known as the Separate Prison because prisoners where always kept apart from each other in separate cells,  had separate exercise yards and separate cubicles in the chapel.  There was total silence and solitude.

The Separate Prison is the building on the right

File photo of inside the Separate Prison

The prisoners were given a number and they were never called by name.  They ate, slept and worked in their cell, being allowed out for an hours exercise per day.  When leaving their cell, the prisoner had to wear a hood over his face with slits for his eyes so that he could not be recognised by other prisoners.

And, god forbid if you broke a rule (of which there were many) you could be put in the 'Dark Cell' in total darkness and silence for up to 30 days on bread and water and 1 hours exercise each day.

I am sure the treatment of the prisoners in the Separate Prison gave rise to the Lunatic Asylum being built next door.

Originally the Post Office

This was the Doctors House. 

The ruins of the hospital up on the hill which was right next door to the flogging yard....wonder why????

Port Arthur is well worth a visit and the cruise gave a totally different perspective.  If we went again I would take a picnic and sit in the gardens to soak up the atmosphere.

Tahune Airwalk

Well, it's over...Christmas for another year and what a wonderful year it had been. Christmas was pretty good too with a visit from my son Brett and Christmas day spent with Nick and lovely friends in Snug Cabin and Caravan Park, Snug, Tasmania.

Whilst Brett was here we went to the Tahune Airwalk and to Port Arthur.  We had great weather on both days and in fact he got sunburnt when we were at Port Arthur.  It is easy to get sunburnt in Tassie....the air is so clean and clear and the hole in ozone layer over Tasmania (that extends from
Antarctica) is such that the sun damaging UV radiation has increased.  So we have to be very careful in the sun here.

We drove 53 km from Snug to the Tahune Airwalk through Huonville and Geeveston.  The Tahune Airwalk is situated in Arve Loop Forest Reserve, next to the 1.6 million hectare, world heritiage listed, Hartz Mountain National Park.    The Tahune Airwalk was opened in July 2001 and provides breath talking views of the forest canopy.

Brett and Nick Standing at the base of a very large tree...sorry, dont remember what sort of tree it was

View of the walk disappearing through the tree canopy.

View of the cantilever

I wasn't brave enough to go out on the Cantilever, but Nick did.  

There are 112 easy steps to get to the Airwalk itself and a number of walks/hikes as well as cable hang gliding.

There was a nice little cafe, a gift shop and although we didn't see it, there is an accommodation lodge as well.

Entry was only $28 per adult and I think it was well worth it.  






























We did the Airwalk and then the walk to the two steel cable foot bridges that span the Huon and Picton Rivers, which took about an hour although when we saw the sign that it was only 500m to the bridge, it was a very long 500m in my book.

One of the swing bridges over the Huon River

Not much water...we need rain!

The bridge wasn't scary, but then we were the only ones on it at the time.  

Next day...Port Arthur....