Beauty Point, Tasmania

Beauty Point, Tasmania was established as a deep-water port, initially to serve the nearby Beaconsfield gold mine which is still there but little gold is taken these days.  Later it became a key export centre for exporting Apples.

Today, Beauty point is a small riverside town known for its port, which hosts the Australian National Institue for Maritime Studies.

Seahorses are a star attraction in Beauty Point with the world's first seahorse aquarium, Seahorse World, dedicated to breeding and protecting these fascinating creatures.

At Platypus House you can view live platypuses and echidnas.  These two creatures are unique and cannot be seen anywhere else in the world.  They are egg laying mammals actively feeding and playing during a guided tourn.  You can learn and about the biology of both mammals and how they live.

A Platypus

Sea Horses.

 

Beauty Point has red dots around it in the north.  That river is the Tamar River which goes into Launceston where I live.  On the right side of the Tamar River is Low Head the mouth of the river and Bass Strait is just to the west on the map.

Oatlands, Tasmania

There is a lot of history in Oatlands, Tasmania, Australia and the town with Australia's largest collection of sandstone Georgian buildings.  There are 150 of them, mostly convict built, including 87 along the main street.

Oatlands is named after the English town in Surrey.

The most prominent building in the town is Callington Mill, Australia's third oldest windmill (1837) and the centrepiece of the Callington Mill Distillery.

Oatlands developed around a military precinct in the late 1820's and it's impressive courthouse was the only Supreme Court in regional Tasmania, which meant it could deliver death sentences. Eighteen convicts were executed inside the town's large gaol, and the walls and archway are still standing.

Callington Mill the second photo taken the other day, the top one taken a few years ago.

The house (was the hospital many years ago) where I was born, in the right hand back corner was the room according to my late mother.

Below are some of the houses and centre's related to the council these days.

Interesting how the homes are built next to the footpath, out the front door onto it.

The Police Station above, the Chemist shop below.

On the map Oatlands is above Hobart with the red marking around the area.