Launceston, Tasmania
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Launceston City Council, Coat of Arms |
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Launceston City Council, Tasmania |
Launceston is a small city in the north of the state of
Tasmania,
Australia, population approximately 98,000, located at the juncture of the
North Esk,
South Esk, and
Tamar rivers. It is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital
Hobart and the eighteenth largest in
Australia. Like many Australian cities and towns, it was named after a town in the
United Kingdom—in this case,
Launceston, Cornwall. (Note, however, that while the English Launceston is
pronounced or , the Australian one is pronounced .)
Europeans originally settled at the mouth of the
Tamar River at
George Town in 1804 but moved to the present site of Launceston in
1805. As such, it is Australia's third oldest city (after
Sydney and Hobart) and has many historical buildings and sights.
Launceston was once the home of
John Batman (see
History of Melbourne). From Launceston, Batman planned and designed the city of
Melbourne, and in 1834 he sailed with
John Pascoe Fawkner across
Bass Strait to settle at
Port Phillip,
Victoria. (Note: The spelling of John Batman's surname is
Bateman in some literature.)
The city is governed by the
Launceston City Council, led by a
mayor and eleven other aldermen. The current mayor is
Ivan Dean, who was sworn in on 31 October 2005. The city's logo features the
Thylacine, an indigenous animal once bountiful in the Launceston district but hunted to extinction.
The immediate past mayor,
Janie Dickenson, was, at the time of her election, the youngest female mayor in Australia. She was first elected mayor in February 2002 at the age of 27.
Launceston serves as the commercial hub for the north of the state and, like many parts of Tasmania, is a major tourist centre. Some points of attraction are:
* The
Cataract Gorge, a natural wonder of Tasmania and only five minutes walk from the city
* The City Park, which includes an enclosure for
Japanese Macaque monkeys, a gift from the sister-city of
Ikeda,
Japan* The
Tamar River and
tributaries* The
Tamar Valley, which is home to some of Australia's best
vineyards
* The
Boags Brewery, which produces one of Australia's premium beers.
*
Aurora Stadium |
Ornate fountain in Albert Square |
The city is home to a large collection of magnificently preserved
Victorian architecture.
The
Launceston General Hospital is one of 3 major public hospitals in the state. The
Launceston Remand Centre serves as the area's detention facility.
Launceston is the hub for the state's medical retrieval service. The
Royal Flying Doctor Service is serviced by the state's ambulance service, and doctors from the Launceston General Hospital.
The
University of Tasmania has a large campus close to the city, at Newnham. The
Australian Maritime College is located on the grounds.
Launceston has a public bus service operated by the Tasmanian government owned company
Metro Tasmania.
Buses operate on regular time tables and take commuters between city suburbs. Services run from most stops per half hour, Monday to Friday and with fewer services on weekends. However many buses remain only partly filled and the number of commuters, with the exception of school children, is quite low.
Launceston is the hub of five of the state's major highways:
*The
Midlands Highway, the primary route to
Hobart*The
Bass Highway, the primary route to
Devonport and
Burnie*The
Tasman Highway, the alternate scenic route to Hobart via
Scottsdale and the
east coast.
*The
West Tamar Highway and
East Tamar Highway, on either side of the Tamar River.
The city is served by
Launceston Airport (
IATA code LST), just south-east of the city. There are direct flights to and from
Melbourne,
Sydney and
Brisbane.
The Tamar river is used for tourist cruises.
Although there is no passenger rail system in Tasmania, the main freight rail route links Launceston with Hobart.
Like many of the larger cities in Australia, Launceston operated a
tramway system between 1911 and 1952, which consisted of 29 trams and was first planned in 1909 after observations of efficiently working systems in Melbourne and Adelaide. It was ripped up to make way for cars and buses and a single tramway museum is all that remains.
Launceston Firsts
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Launceston Conservatory in the City Gardens |
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Ornate cast iron fountain in the City Gardens |
Launceston was the home of several firsts:
* first use of
anaesthetic in Southern Hemisphere
* first Australian city to have underground
sewers* first Australian city to be lit by
hydro-electricity (see
Duck Reach Power Station)
* longest single span chairlift in the world at the
Cataract Gorge* first telephone call in Australia
* first laminated tennis racket
* first use of two way radios in taxis
* first shopping mall in Australia
* first breeding of seahorses in captivity, in the world
* youngest female elected mayor in Australia
Launceston was recently the home of the
Gone South music festival.
Inveresk Precinct
This precinct, near Royal Park, hosts the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (the largest museum and art gallery in Australia located outside a capital city),
Chinese Temple,
Railway Workshops and a
Planetarium.
Sport
Launceston is the home of
Aurora Stadium (a.k.a.
York Park), which is the state's only first-class sports ground equipped with lights for evening games. It hosts several first class Australian rules events, including the
Northern Tasmanian Football League and
Victorian Football League team, the
Tasmanian Devils Football Club. The Melbourne team
Hawthorn (and previously
St Kilda) have played a small number of
AFL (
Australian football) games there each year.
There is heated (but friendly) rivalry between residents of Launceston and the southern capital
Hobart. The
AFL games mentioned above are an example â€" Hobart residents are disappointed about missing out â€" while Hobart hosts all international cricket games played in the state at the
Bellerive Oval.
*
David Boon (cricket player)
*
Ricky Ponting (cricket player)
*
Peter Sculthorpe (composer)
*
Marcos Ambrose (racing car driver)
*
Launceston City Council
