Tasmanian Bush Heritage
In the 1990s I was fortunate to spend a couple of days with Sheffield’s Reg Bramich at some of his old highland haunts. Reg, who grew up at Narrawa near Wilmot, lived a way of life that is long gone. He helped form and metal part of the Cradle Mountain Road, trapped rabbits and snared … Read moreRecollections of bush life: Reg Bramich
It seems like we’ve known about Gads Hill forever. But it was just a place to drive past on the way to more interesting spots. It never captured our imaginations enough to be a destination. For Ian Gads Hill goes back more than 50 years to when he listened to his father and mates tell … Read moreBringing Gads Hill Old Station Back to Life
In the period 1915–22 a veteran Field stockrider William Bonney (1857–1935)1 was the resident stockman at Old Gads Hill Station.2 Molly Pedley, née Field, recalled a trip to his hut. With typical bush hospitality, Bonney boiled the billy—but shocked his visitors by stirring the tea with his false teeth.3 While that story suggests the habits … Read moreOld Station, Gads Hill no.3: The Bonneys and the Shaws
The most famous Gads Hill stockman was Harry Stanley (1820–98), a tiny (162-cm tall), illiterate, former Sussex basket weaver transported for horse stealing as a 21-year-old in 1841—although his version of events was that he simply held a rope, which happened to have two horses at the end of it.1 He served two years in … Read moreOld Station, no.2: Harry and Mary Stanley, a Gads Hill double act
In April 1842 a new settler named Frederick Wilbraham Ford, his future father-in-law Thomas King and four convict servants drove 75 cattle overland from Longford to King’s new property at Table Cape.1 This was an adventure. There were unbridged rivers to ford, including the smooth-stoned Mersey, along the Van Diemen’s Land Company (VDL Co) Track through … Read moreOld Station, Gads Hill, no.1: Field brothers’ highland base
North East Tasmania West Coast Gads Hill – Liena All photos Peter Brown copyright
This blog is brought to you by guest writer Paula McCulloch. In August 1946 three snarers got snowed in at their camp somewhere near Lake Ina in the Western Lakes on the Central Plateau. A party searching for them battled five-feet-deep snow before escorting them out to Derwent Bridge. The snarers had survived fairly well … Read moreThe Search for a Snarers’ Hut north of Lake Catherine
In January 2016 Simon Cubit published a blog about the hunt for Parsons Hut. In March, and another two blogs later, the hut site had been found. It was a very rewarding search and seemed to be over quickly. The story behind the blogs is that it was much longer and much more difficult that … Read moreThe Search for Parsons Hut Revisited
The Pelion Plains are wonderful place to visit in good weather. Following the Arm River Track, the old Mole Creek Track, the crown of Mount Pelion East is your first glimpse of the majestic and distinctive mountains that surround these remote plains. At Lake Ayr you get an oblique look at Mount Oakleigh. A few … Read morePelion Plains Sleuthing
Ronald Smith (1881–1969) never prospected with his famous father, James ‘Philosopher’ Smith, but took to the Tasmanian highlands like they were in his DNA. During the years 1903–14 he made more than a dozen hikes into the Forth River high country. Some of the places he visited would have been lost to history if not … Read moreIn the footsteps of ‘Philosopher’ Smith: revisiting the hut site at the Copper Creek Mine, Lea River, Tasmania.