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| Craiglea, one
of the many historic homes in Pontville
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Pontville
Tiny historic village north of Hobart
The tiny village of Pontville is located 35 km
north of Hobart on the Midlands Highway. Just a
few kilometres from Brighton it became an
important stopping point on the road from Hobart
to Launceston in the 1830s and effectively
replaced Brighton which, at one time, had been
promoted as a possible future capital of the
island. From this time on it became one of the
major suppliers of stone for the whole southern
region of Tasmania.
The area around Pontville was first explored
by Europeans in early 1804 and by 1806, with
serious food shortages in Hobart Town,
expeditions of soldiers were being sent into
this area to kill kangaroos and emus. It is
claimed that during one of these expeditions
Private Hugh Germain, a well educated member of
the Royal Marines, started giving various local
sites exotic names. Thus, only a few kilometres
north of Pontville, lies the incongruously named
village of Bagdad and Pontville is actually
situated on the banks of the equally
incongruously named, Jordan River. It is said
that Germain travelled through the area with a
copy of The Bible and the Arabian Nights and
delighted in giving places names like Jerusalem,
Jericho, Jordan, and Lake Tiberius. In fact the
headwaters of the Jordan River rise in Lake
Tiberius before flowing through Jericho.
By the 1820s there was a small settlement at
Pontville but the real development of the
village occurred in the 1830s and 1840s when it
took over from Brighton and became a major
centre for the district and an important
traveller's stopping point on the road between
Port Dalrymple (Launceston) and Hobart.
Pontville was developed on land which was
originally owned by William Kimberley. In 1838
this land was sold and a number of important
buildings - the Police Station (1839), the
Courthouse (1842) - were constructed.
By the mid 1840s the town was thriving with a
population of over 2000 people. By the 1860s
there were six flour mills operating in the
area.
Although the town's growth occurred in the
1840s many of the old buildings predate this
period of development.
Things to see:
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The Sheiling
The Sheiling, for example (located behind St
Marks Church of England) dates from about 1819
and was originally constructed as two separate
cottages. The strange name is nothing more
complex than the Gaelic for 'cottage'. The land
was sold to William Kimberley in 1818 and he
built the cottages on what was the main road
through the village. It is likely that the house
was used by the local police at one stage. It
was converted into a single private residence in
the early 1950s.
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| The Barracks
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The Row or The Barracks
Similarly 'The Row', known sometimes as 'The
Barracks', near the bridge over the Jordan
River, was built in 1824 as accommodation for
soldiers. The building is a combination of five
cottages - three with roof dormers and two
larger cottages with three bays. As a row of
dwellings it is an important feature of
Pontville. It is now accommodation.
The Old Post Office
Further along the Midland Highway, near St
Mark's Church, is the Old Post Office which was
built sometime before 1830 to house the
Officer's Mess. There is some evidence that in
the 1850s, when a timber verandah was added, it
was a coaching inn. In 1861 it became the
Pontville Post Office. It is currently an
antique and gift shop.
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| The
impressive facade of St Marks Church of
England |
St Marks Church of England
However the majority of the historic buildings
in Pontville date from the 1840s and 1850s. St
Marks Church of England, on the Midland Highway,
was built between 1839–41. The National Estate
register records the importance of the building
in great detail: 'A very unusual
Romanesque-style church designed by noted
architect James Blackburn and built of finely
tooled local white ashlar stone in 1839-41. It
is not a large structure, comprising only four
bays, and is symmetrical in composition,
featuring a simple pitch-roofed nave with Celtic
crosses at each gable end and square towers at
each corner. The latter are pyramid-roofed in
iron and their smooth walls are interrupted only
by fortress-like slits. Each bay features
round-headed trefoil windows and is
distinguished by an unadorned pilaster...Of
special note is the presence of the historically
important graveyard to the rear of the church
which includes the graves of the Butler
families. Church and graveyard together are
relics from the early years of the Colony and
are inseparably associated with the religious
and social developments of the district.'
It is likely that the church was opened by
the Governor, Sir John Franklin, although the
foundation stone can no longer be seen. It was
not consecrated until 1884 as there was a legal
dispute over the ownership of the land.
Brooksby
Over the road from St Mark's is the historic
home 'Brooksby' (c. 1840) which was originally
built for Lieutenant George Brooks Foster, the
Assistant Police Magistrate in the district. In
1874, after it had been used as a boarding
school, it was sold to the Butler family.
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| The Crown Inn
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Other Historic Buildings
Other buildings of interest in Pontville include
'Landsdowne' at 4 Glebe Street which was built
around 1840 with a wide verandah and interesting
diagonal balustrading, the Pontville Bridge
(1847) which has been considerably modified over
the years, the Congregational Church (1876)
which is built of local stone, 'Epsom' (c. 1835)
which has been variously known as 'The Castle
Inn and Brighton Hotel', 'Tasmanian Hotel' ,
'The Crown Inn' and 'Epsom Hotel', and the Roman
Catholic Church of St Matthew (1866) which was
gutted by fire and rebuilt in 1927-28.
