Hollybank Trees, Launceston

More on Hollybank Nature Reserve.

In 1854 as history goes, the Reserve was a Sawmill, back then the grant deed covered 240 hectares purchased on 16 February 1854, making it one of the oldest land grants in the area. The deed seems to first belong to a carpenter and another man a solicitor with considerable interest in land in Northern Tasmania.
Over the years farming was in the area, men trained at Hollybank for the bush and became accredited in timber skills, then the Forestry Commission bought the property and in April 1955 the commission purchased it for 2809 pounds ($22,500 in today’s values). They the Forestry Commission take care of Hollybank Nature Reserve these days.

Today it's known as Hollybank Nature Reserve and Treetop Adventures.

Photos of some of the trees which I took about 1 week ago.  The first photo was taken near the Cricket Pitch!

The photo below is the only bit of holly I could find without dust all over it!

Below a bit out of focus holly with dust!

Tennis Rackets, Launceston, Tasmania.

Hollybank Nature Reserve not far from Launceston and has a history with tennis.
Once Hollybank was once a Nusery and of course trees were introduced.

The link with tennis is that the 1st Alexander Tennis Rackets were made from imported English Ash grown at Hollybank from about 1933, 109,200 Ash trees were planted, the trees took a long time to grow and it's believed no rackets were made from the wood from Hollybank.
The plantation didn't take quite as well as planned, and was abandoned in 1946.
Some of the wood used in their products was still sourced locally, however, Willow harvested from the North Esk River was used for the company to make Cricket Bats.
Other trees planted were 800 Corsican pine planted in 1935, experimental plots of Larch, Douglas Fir, Californian Redwood and Western Hemlock.

The Alexander factory was wound down in the late 1950's and sold to Spalding in Victoria, Australia, Spalding being another brand of tennis rackets.
Photo of the factory is borrowed...

The Factory is now the Police Boys Club.

Little Blue Lake, Tasmania

A little bit about Tasmania, the Island I live on and in..

Tasmania abbreviated as Tas and known colloquially as Tassie is an island state of Australia.  It's located 240 km (150 mile) to the south of the Australian mainland, separated by Bass Strait.
The state encompasses the main island of Tasmania, the 26th largest island in the world, and the surrounding 334 islands.  The state population is approximately 519,166, just over 40% of people live in the Greater Hobart precinct, which forms the metropolitan area of the State Capital and largest city, Hobart.

Tasmania's area is 68,401 km (26,410 sq miles), of which is the main island covers.  64,519 km (24,911 sq miles) promoted as a natural state, protected areas of Tasmania covers about 42% of the land area of the state, which includes National Parks and World Heritage Sites.
Wikipedia..

The photo below is of the Little Blue Lake which is located in the north eastern area near Gladstone, Tasmania.  Photo taken by youngest son as we have never been there, a place to visit in the future. We have been to Gladstone some years ago.
Son left home here at 8.30am and arrived back home at 2.35pm, so it took a fair while to travel in and around that area and back home.
The lake is called Blue Lake due to the minerals it has in it.

Anzac Day 2018

A special day today, it's called ANZAC DAY

Australia and New Zealand Army Corps.

Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and suffering of all those who have served." Observed on 25 April each year, Anzac Day was originally to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli against the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
Anzac Day is also observed in the Cook Islands, Niue, Pitcairn Islands, and Tonga, and previously also as a national holiday in Papua New Guinea and Samoa.
Wikipedia

Schouten Island, Tasmania Australia

The holiday over in 2017 so what will I blog about now! 
Often we travel to various places in Tasmania, sometimes in the caravan other times in the car for the day - so surly I would have photos to share of this magic Island called Tasmania, Australia my home Island.

Great Oyster Bay at Swansea on the East Coast of Tasmania.

That island is Schouten Island, the highest point Mt. Story is 400m high (1,300 ft).
In 1642 whilst surveying the area Abel Tasman (Dutch explorer) named it Schouten Island after Joost Schouten, a member of the Council of the Dutch East India Company.

Station Pier, Victoria.

Plenty of time as we arrived in the Melbourne area passing the Footscray Hockey Centre and the highway to Station Pier, Port Melbourne.

Bass Strait.

Ready and waiting to drive along the pier to board the Spirit of Tasmania to home the next morning.

Bendigo, Victoria

On our way home I wanted to call into Bendigo Woollen Mills to buy some yarn for crocheting - I did :) and had a lovely time.
Bendigo is a city in Victoria and was a gold rush city in 1850's. The city has some beautiful buildings but hard to find a park to take photos.  However the Catholic Church is a Cathedral up on a big hill and I've put some photos of the inside of the Cathedral taken a few years ago.

Echuca, Victoria

 I was saying in my last post how photos of the Murray River at Echuca were hard to acquire, but several years ago things were different in Echuca so hence these two photos from back then.

The first is the Murray River, the second a bit of bush behind the Caravan Park we stayed in - remember we went for a walk.

Echuca, Victoria

Echuca is in the State of Victoria.  It's across the Murray River from the town of Moama, in NSW.
Paddle steamers depart near the Port of Echuca Discovery Centre, which ias exhibits on the 19th-century river trade, plus part of the original Echuca Wharf.

It's a busy place and hard to find a park but finally we did only being able to take a few photos.
The second photo is the only one I could get of the Murray River at Echuca.

Echuca was founded by one of the most enterprising characters of the early colonial days, an ex-convict named Henry Hopwood.  In 1850 he bought a small punt which operated across the Murray river near the Campaspe junction.  The relatively small settlement known as 'Hopwood's Ferry" became Echuca as the town grew.
Wikipedia.

Jerilderie, NSW and the Black Swan also Deniliquin, NSW

Jerilderie is a country town of just over 1,000 people, it's an irrigated farming centre, and the area produces a quarter of all tomatoes grown in Australia.  Rice is grown, wheat, canola, mung, soybeans, onions, liquorice, grapes - sheep and cattle farms.

The windmill below is a steel framed one with fan which turns to the wind between a bearing at the bottom and a swivel at the top, all supported by guy-wires.  The fully restored windmill, there are only two known working examples in the world, are unique because their fan is contained and spins within the fully pivoting frame. Produced by the Steel Wings Company in North Sydney between 1907 and 1911 with only six models ever erected.
Jerilderie windmill stands 17 meters (56 ft) high with a 9-metre (30 ft) fan.
Some of the text taken from Wikipedia.

Some photos below taken of the lake and another area in Jerilderie as we drove through the town - of course stopping to take photos.

Below Waring Gardens in Deniliquin, NSW taken from the bridge.

You can see where Jerilderie NSW is on the map, below is Farm-ily's blog as the farm is in the State of Victoria. Finely, Tocumwal, to the left and south is Echuca, Victoria where we were headed in winter 2017 -  getting closer to home.

Wellington, NSW, around town.

A few photos in Wellington, NSW.  Some businesses are closed as in gone by the wayside, others are doing alright.  Coles is the local Supermarket.
The Pub on the corner and the Railway Station is the long building.
The last 3 photos - the Catholic School and Church.

Cameron Park, Wellington NSW

Cameron Park in the centre of Wellington for us was a great place to have a picnic which we did.
There were plenty of locals there around lunch time but were gone when I took these photos.

The War Memorial with all the names of the people in the district that were killed during the Wars.

Wellington, NSW

Mentioned Wellington NSW a few post back.  Whilst there in Winter 2017 I decided to have my hair cut short!  Found a hairdresser who had time to do it same day as I decided to have it cut short - the lady did a beautiful job. Haven't got a photo.  Have had the bob cut for several years it was time for a change.

Wellington was established in 1823 and was an agricultural station.  Squatters started settling along the Macquarie River and in 1832 a Church Missionary was established in the settlement to teach Christianity to the Aboriginal people of the area.   It took till 1885 for Wellington to be proclaimed a town.
Wellington is the second oldest NSW (New South Wales) settlement west of the Blue Mountains.
The town benefited by the development of the gold mining industry in the district from the 1850's.
These days the area of Wellington is the centre of rich agricultural land. While alfalfa and vegetables are grown on lands on the river, wheat, wool, lambs and beef cattle are grown on surrounding pastures.

Also not far from Wellington is the Macquarie Correctional Centre which opened in 2008.  A Probation and Parole Office was also opened in the centre of town.  Maximum security inmates are adjacent to the Correctional Centre.

Wellington is 354km north-west of Sydney.

The Prison was some distance from the road - and the photos are a bit far away but you get the idea.