Oatlands - With 87 original sandstone buildings along the main street

Oatlands 

https://www.willyweather.com.au/tas/southern/oatlands.html

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Oatlands has the largest collection of sandstone buildings in a village setting in Australia, with 87 original sandstone buildings along the town’s main street.

The town sits around 84 km north of Hobart and 115 km south of Launceston, about 1 km off the Midland Highway (you can see the windmill from the highway) and has the largest collection of sandstone buildings in a village setting in Australia, with 87 original sandstone buildings along the town’s main street.

 

Some of the more significant buildings include:

 

The Oatlands gaol (1835), the Commissariat’s store and watch house (1830s) and officers’ quarters (1830s). 

 

The Oatlands Court House, built by convict labour in 1829, is the oldest supreme courthouse in rural Australia and the oldest building in Oatlands and was originally constructed as a combined chapel and police office and was purchased by the National Trust in 1977

 

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Lake Dulverton Camp ground
On the Esplanade in Oatlands, off the main st (High St)

This camp ground is accessible to motorcycles, recreational vehicles, camper trailers, and caravans, and dog-friendly. Camping in tents is allowed. Showers in the red brick structure. See the infoboard by the lake.

There is a tap for refilling with town water, gas barbecues, picnic tables and good, clean amenities.

 

 

Oatlands Historical Society History room
107 High Street, Oatlands
Open: Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday ~ 10am to 4pm
Tuesday ~ 10-30am and Friday ~ Open when possible.

 

Doctor/Medical Centre
Oatlands Surgery, 13 Church Street, Oatlands, Ph. (03) 6254 5030

 

Toilet Facilities

Oatlands BP, 52 High Street - Open daylight hours

Council Chambers, Stutzer Street - Open 24 hours

T he foreshore of Lake Dulverton, on the Esplanade.

 

Oatlands Veterinary Clinic
39 High St, Oatlands - ph. (03) 6254 0006

One of Tasmania's oldest settlements, Oatlands was initially a military base for the control and management of convicts, because of its central location between Hobart and Launceston.

The town was named after an English town in the county of Surrey by Governor Macquarie in 1821.

Convicts were assigned to nearby farms and properties and also worked on public buildings, roads and bridges.

 

Hangman Solomon Blay

Much of the Black War (early settlers against local aborigines) took place in the surrounding districts, and Oatlands was also the home of the ex-convict Solomon Blay, Tasmania's most feared hangman.

 

Hangings were carried out at Richmond, Launceston, Hobart and Oatlands and Solomon was forced to walk when his services were required, as no stage coach would pick him up. Apparently, his wages were so low that he could not afford a horse.

 

A description of Oatlands c 1852
drawn from The History of Tasmania - Volume II (of 2) by John West.

Oatlands [is] a considerable town in the parish of Oatlands and county of Monmouth, 51 miles (82 km) from Hobart, and 70 miles from Launceston. 

 

It contains an episcopal (St. Matthew's) and Roman Catholic Church, a Wesleyan chapel, several schools, a gaol, police and post offices, a military station, several inns, and other large buildings. 

 

It has a resident police magistrate, and courts of request and quarter sessions are held in the town. The supreme court sits twice in a year. 

 

The population of the town and police district is 1,873, and the number of houses 279.  

• Callington Mill
  Mill Lane, Oatlands
  The Callington Mill complex consists of a number of buildings, including:
  The windmill: Built c 1837, is 21.4 metres high (including the cap and fantail) and was constructed of local stone with the walls, at its base, almost 1 metre thick.
  The Mill-owner's house: Built c 1837 and extended in around 1848 and 1910, houses the information centre and cafe.
  The Stables were built c 1837 with a loft above and a cart-house at the rear.
  The Miller's Cottage: Built c 1860 and housed the millers.
  The Granary: Until 1846 this building was used for grain storage and subsequently housed a steam-mill, installed to overcome the vagaries of the wind.
  The Mill Well was installed to provide the steam-mill with water.

• 1 High Street
  Now a private residence, this building was originally known as the Waldour Castle inn and during the 1850s it included a ballroom and skittle alley.
   
• The Manse
  12 High Street
  This classic Georgian style Manse, of freestone construction, was built in 1860 by George Wilson for his daughter and her husband, The Reverend Lachlan MacKinnon Campbell.
  Much of the interior woodwork is magnificent cedar.
   
• The Uniting Church
  30 High Street
  Formerly the Campbell Free Church, it was opened in 1856 and had to be rebuilt with the current spire after the original 27.5 metre steeple fell during a storm, destroying much of the church.
   
• Holroyd House
  40 High Street
  Surrounded by an historic garden, Holroyd House was built in the early 1840s for John Whitford, a police magistrate.
  Prior to becoming a private residence again the building was a grammar school, the home and surgery of a doctor and a restaurant.
   
• Commandant's House
  67 High Street
  The residence of the Military Commandant was built in 1832 and its original Georgian style has had later Federation additions made.
   
• The Commissariat's Store
  79 High Street
  Built in 1832, the commissariat's Store was a military food store.
   
• Lake Frederick Inn
  99 - 103 High Street
  Built by a former convict stonemason, George Aitcheson, in 1833, this complex shows the elements of a coaching inn, minus the twelve-stall stable block.
  Number 99 was the inn, with 101 and 103 the cottages for the licensee and yard manager.
   
• Original Railway Station
  34 Wellington Street
  Operating from May 1885 until June 1949, the railway station served the 7km spur line from Oatlands to Parattah, where it joined the north - south main line.
   
• The Gaoler's Residence
  Mason Street
  This two-story, classically Georgian sandstone building housed the gaolor and his family and also contained administrative spaces.

You can access a beautifully produced guide (in PDF) by the Southern Midlands Council HERE.

 

 

Anglican Cemetery
Containing the grave of Thomas Ansley, police magistrate, (1777–1851) and others, this cemetery sits adjacent to St Peters Anglican Church in William Street. 

Old General Cemetery
The oldest cemetery in Oatlands, the Old General Cemetery, is located on the corner of Chatham and Stanley streets and its records date back to 1827.
Along with many convicts, soldiers and early settlers, the cemetery holds the remains of successful businessman and coachman, Samual Page.

 

Wesleyan Cemetery
Opposite the old railway station, in Wellington Street, sits the remains of the old Wesleyan Chapel, demolished in the 1960s and a number of sandstone tombs.

 

Presbyterian Cemetery
Containing graves and family plots dating back to the 1850s, this cemetery is located on Chatham Street along Prattah main road.

 

Catholic Church Cemetery
The Catholic Church Cemetery is set on Lake Dulverton's foreshore, behind the Old General Cemetery in Chatham Street.

 

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