In my last, rather rushed offering, I referred to the water wheel adjacent to the town weir and indicated that this drove a flour mill. With a bit more time on my hands this morning, my research proved that I was completely wrong....this wheel was part of the town's Electric Power Station, built in 1907.
With that off my chest, and the river ramble done and dusted, it is time to focus our attention on a few of the streets and buildings of Deloraine. And I have to say at this point that this was a town in which we should have spent more time, but time was against us by now. Our departure date was nigh, a mere week away, and we had to make it back to Devonport to catch up with old friends before finally heading back to the mainland.
Not only that, our stay here in Deloraine had to include a day visit to the nearby town of Westbury, one of the most attractive and charming villages we had seen during this trip. That will come later.
We actually included the first of our town walks as a detour from the river, as I mentioned in that blog, and if we had not already concluded that roads here go in all directions and to many places, this was certainly confirmed during this trot around town.
As this map shows, Deloraine lies between Devonport and Launceston. It is within close striking distance of the Great Western Tiers, the Cradle Mountain area and is not too far from the Great Lakes district.
Because of its location between Devonport and Launceston, Deloraine is a transport hub for trade and tourists between the two. Its commercial infrastructure, including shops, supermarkets and schools are used extensively by those living in the nearby town of Westbury, and the hamlets of Exton, Mole Creek and Meander.
Indeed, many tourists use Deloraine as the base from which to explore these areas. We actually did it the other way around, making our first sortie here from Mole Creek some weeks ago.
Roads in and round Deloraine seem to go every which way. The fact that the town spreads out up the quite steep slopes of the Meander River valley in both directions, tends to add to in initial sense of confusion, but it also makes for some great tourist sights.
I've included a couple of good old Google Earth maps to try to make some sense of what I am saying. In this you can see the Bass Highway running north of the town, the B54 on which we travelled to get here,
the road off to Mole Creek and, below the river, the Highland Lakes Road which takes folk up into the mountains of the great Western Tiers and beyond.
Closer to home, the red arrow shows our site in the caravan park, the yellow the location of the 'Train Park', whilst the pale green points to the Bush Inn.
Emu Bay Road, clearly depicted here in yellow, is the main street of Deloraine's CBD, whilst the road bridge over which we had travelled is hiding under the word Deloraine. So, for what all that is worth, let's get on with it.
Once we had crossed the river we initially wandered down to check out the town free camp, where business was brisk. We did marvel at the fact that, whilst this area may have provided sites free of charge, the surrounds here were not a patch on ours.
And, as usual in camps such as these, there is always one who can't read (or doesn't care). It makes one wonder if bribery may have been involved in the acquisition of their licence to drive!
From here we made our way out onto the Meander Valley Road, to take a good look at one of the town's more notable pubs which we had passed coming in, the Bush Inn.
This building dates back to 1848, and was one of two hostelries serving the folk of the village of Alveston, the settlement which was the forerunner to today's Deloraine.
Virtually opposite the hotel we found this group of original Georgian shops and cottages which formed part of Alveston village.
A little further east a couple of much grander homes,
of quite different styles, overlooked the road.
and then, for something completely different, this sign pointed to one of Deloraine's more quirky eating establishments,
the Cruizin In The 50's Diner.
We did not actually eat here, and for some reason did not poke our noses inside, so I've had to resort to the Internet for a few internal shots
of this remarkable place, one which is very similar in its theme to the FJ Holden Cafe in the far away outback Queensland town of Hughenden.
I'm a tad peeved we did not dine here, just for the experience, but as I have said before, we were now 'time poor' in the extreme.
Whilst on this side of the river, the huge spire of St Mark's Anglican Church was clearly visible (as it is from many parts of the town), so we took the time to walk up the hill from the Meander Valley Road to take a closer look. This is some place of worship!
Again, because we were hoofing around town at a fair clip, we did not venture through the doors of the wonderful building, which was completed in 1859 after three years of hard graft. Later additions have made this one of the more spectacular country churches in Tasmania.
This shot, from the church website, provides a more complete picture of not only the building itself,
but the beautiful setting in which it stands.
Thanks to the good work of Trevor Bunning I can also bring you these two shots of the interior which so clearly show that the most impressive exterior
is matched inside where even the ends of the pews are ornately carved.
As we retraced our footsteps back down the slope towards the river road bridge, we could see across the valley to the far side hill where the charm of Deloraine was on full show with a stately Georgian villa on the lower slope and above that the clipped hedges of its neighbour.
The Deloraine performing arts centre is one of the town's more modern buildings,
whilst at the bridge junction, this large, fortress like, red brick building housed the local boys and girls in blue.
Again we now found ourselves at the road bridge, and courtesy of my old friend 'Aussie Towns' I can include this shot of the impressive stone piers of this bridge which rose above the river bed in 1877, yet another example of the skill of the convict labour gang which was responsible for the construction.
Now we take a virtual leap across the river to find ourselves at the top end of Emu Bay Road, the main street through the Deloraine CBD. Before we wandered down this curved road, I tarried briefly to snap this lovely old building, the Ingleson Lodge, one of the many town B&B's.
At this top end of the street we also came across this old stone construction. I now have no idea what this building was originally designed for, but it is an impressive example of the type of building methods used in the town's infancy. There would be no huffing and puffing and blowing this house down!
Deloraine was named by the surveyor Thomas Scott, after Sir William Deloraine, a character in the a poem by Sir Walter Scott. This was very much a case of 'keeping it in the family'......the poet and surveyor were relatives!
Today the town is the centre of a thriving rural farming district. The surrounding fields produce onions, potatoes (of course), herbs, and poppies. On the industrial front, Gunns operate two sawmills, and the town is home to manufacturers of fertiliser, farm equipment, water tanks and, of all things, street signs. In nearby Westbury, Tasmanian Alkaloids run an opium processing factory.
As as we had already discovered rail played a significant part in the town's development. The Launceston to Deloraine line, was completed in 1871 to transport agricultural products. Initially built and run privately, the company responsible went bankrupt a year after the line was opened when the Tasmanian Government stepped in a took over. As we saw earlier, freight trains still thunder though Deloraine on a regular basis.
The other major payer in the local economy is tourism. This became more than evident as we strolled down Emu Bay Road, as did the emphasis here on 'arts and crafts' (the two are usually connected).
The Deloraine Creative Studios
where lovely glassware was on display in the front window, was but one example of many similar outlets along Emu Bay Road.
Here at the top end of the street the scenic value of height was again on display as from here we could look out over the car park of the local Woollies to the ramparts of the Great Western Tiers in the distance.
The roundabout at this main drag intersection provided another example of the slopes of Deloraine, with Panorama Court rising steeply to our left and West Church Street dropping off towards the river valley to our right.
This intersection is home to the widely known 'Frog Bakery and Cafe', also confusingly known as Hardy's Bakery (no idea why). Irrespective of the confusion of nomenclature the products to be found on the shelves here were first class.
This roundabout was a real visual vantage point. From here we could see the large Deloraine Ex-Servicemens Club (no, I haven't forgotten the apostrophe...merely copying the way in which the name is posted on the wall!)
and look our over the valley to this spectacular granite knob in the far distance.
From here, too, with a bit of focus fiddling, I was able to capture a shot of this charming Georgian farmhouse nestled in a manicured clearing with tall timber all around it,
and this, a town red brick Federation, all gables and chimneys. Both homes, whilst so different, were examples of the fact that this became, after some initial teething problems, a prosperous town.
After this brief photographic sojourn we pushed on down Emu Bay Road,
where the spire of St Mark's on the other side of the river rose majestically above the commercial clutter.
As we wandered past yet more 'arty' establishments,
where all sorts of items competed for tourist attention and their dollars,
Emu Bay Road dished up another artistic surprise, thirteen street scape sculptures. This was an initiative born in 2001 when the town decided that Emu Bay Road needed sprucing up. The then President of Arts Deloraine suggested that it become a 'sculpture town'. After all, Railton had its topiary, and that had done wonders for putting it on the tourist map.
The idea took off, and the rest as they say is history. The small sculptures which were created by local artists were initially carved from polystyrene and then sand-cast in aluminium.
We even found wall posters which explained the process, from concept drawings
to the casting.
All manner of folk are depicted, ostensibly representative of Deloraine's culture, creativity and industry. I've included but three.
'Jimmy the Guitar Man' was the 'demonstration' model. He took his place on the street in 2004 and the others followed,
including a local axeman of repute (there are plenty of these in Tassie!)
and an aboriginal girl. I did say that Deloraine was nothing of not 'arty'!
Towards the bottom end of Emu Bay Road, the street scape takes on a more historical tone,
but there was still no getting away from the galleries
including a local axeman of repute (there are plenty of these in Tassie!)
and an aboriginal girl. I did say that Deloraine was nothing of not 'arty'!
Towards the bottom end of Emu Bay Road, the street scape takes on a more historical tone,
but there was still no getting away from the galleries
and the craft shops.
Seppenfeldts store is a hanging gallery in its own right.....a gallery of draped clothes, wind chimes, and assorted odds and sods that is.
The building in this group which most interested me was the stately Empire Hotel, but we'll come back to this shortly.
Beyond this heritage listed pub Emu Bay Road intersects with West Barrack Street and Western Parade, an intersection marked by yet another flower covered roundabout.
The prince on this corner is undoubtedly the Deloraine Hotel, born here in 1848, a grand hotel which features elaborate lace ironwork on both verandahs. This is a real Deloraine landmark.
On the opposite corner over the other side of the railway line the town War Memorial stands surrounded by more of Deloraine's myriad of lovely trees.
From this point we could see further down Western Parade to the Apex Train Park with the railway line itself curving around to the right towards its dedicated river crossing.
Looking back the other way, up Emu Bay Road, we had another example of the way in which roads in Deloraine run in all directions and at odd angles to each other. That on the left of this shot parallels the river and would take us back to our caravan park.
But for the moment we had other ideas. The Empire Hotel had, for some reason, attracted us more than the other hostelries we had found here. We were not disappointed with what we found inside.
Wood features heavily here. The horseshoe shaped bar glowed with the colour of the beautiful
timbers from which it was made (I would love to claim this shot, but it came from the hotel website!),
and this intricately carved mirror hung above a charming half round table with on which rested a beautifully crafted backgammon set.
The small dining room next to the bar, with its large fireplace, another interestingly framed mirror and warm carpet and furnishing, carried the theme of charm and intimacy beyond the bar.
We did not dine here but a refreshing drink was certainly on our minds, and it was when mine host Mark Flannagan appeared and we began to chat that we had yet aonther of those 'encounters on the road'.
I won't bore you with the details other than to say that Mark, in a former life in Canberra, was heavily involved in environmental protection matters.
He was well acquainted with the manager of the DWLBC Investigation Section in which I had happily toiled for the last six years of my working life and indeed it transpired that we had both attended two national annual conferences without having met. But we had now, and I enjoyed my several pints of black beer all the more for it.
To date Deloraine had more than lived up to all we had read about it. We had also read much about the neigbouring town of Westbury through which we had passed whilst getting here.
We were about to pay a visit and see if it lived up to the hype.
