It could be considered crass commercialism, but sadly without it I doubt that we who wander in and out as day trippers or short term visitors would have the pleasure of seeing the beautiful buildings of towns such as Richmond restored and maintained as they are.
I am referring to the fact that the vast majority of the original buildings, in the main street in particular, but also elsewhere throughout the town, are now home to cafes, restaurants, and shops selling all kinds of goods, most of which are aimed squarely at the tourist market (as you will shortly see).
Once I had done a little research, I found that my initial thoughts were reflected in the text of the (excellent) 'Aussie Towns' website (my photos added as examples) and I quote:
Once I had done a little research, I found that my initial thoughts were reflected in the text of the (excellent) 'Aussie Towns' website (my photos added as examples) and I quote:
"Known as Tasmania's most significant historic town, Richmond is set
in gently undulating country on the banks of the Coal River. It has no
fewer than 45 buildings dating back to Georgian times and listed on the
National Estate.
Although it is important historically, in recent times Richmond's proximity to Hobart [just under 30 kms] has ensured that it has become a hugely popular tourist attraction which has resulted in stone houses, commercial buildings and hotels being converted into galleries, gift shops, cafes serving Devonshire teas, restaurants, craft shops, and museums.
Although it is important historically, in recent times Richmond's proximity to Hobart [just under 30 kms] has ensured that it has become a hugely popular tourist attraction which has resulted in stone houses, commercial buildings and hotels being converted into galleries, gift shops, cafes serving Devonshire teas, restaurants, craft shops, and museums.
Many of the buildings in the town have been painted and scrubbed so
that the visitor, rather than seeing something old and weathered, is
left with the impression that this is a village struggling to find a
place between the 1820s and 2013."
And of course, the question remains, why is it that Richmond has become, as 'Aussie Towns' so aptly describes, 'a town held in aspic'. Why has this town with Australia's oldest working bridge and the oldest Catholic Church in the country been so preserved?
To understand this we have to delve back in time, to 1803 in fact, when the first British settlement was established at Risdon Cove (near what is now Hobart). Within a few weeks, one Lieutenant John Bowen led an exploration party north-east to discover the river and the valley in which Richmond now stands. He also discovered a small deposit of coal which gave the river and the district its name.
More importantly he found fertile land. Early settlers, granted land in the Coal River Valley, were soon growing wheat crops so successfully that in 1815 a mill was established to deal with the harvest. The area soon became known as 'the granary of Van Diemen's Land".
By 1830, consistent with Governor Arthur's insistence that the colony should be administered through a series of 'police districts', a convict gaol and military outpost had also been established so that very early in the piece the Richmond area was well populated and flourishing, and that of course meant houses and businesses. In fact, by now the town itself was the third largest in the fledgling colony.
By 1830, consistent with Governor Arthur's insistence that the colony should be administered through a series of 'police districts', a convict gaol and military outpost had also been established so that very early in the piece the Richmond area was well populated and flourishing, and that of course meant houses and businesses. In fact, by now the town itself was the third largest in the fledgling colony.
But there was a bit more to it than that......a matter of local topography. The penal settlement at Port Arthur, which was established in the early 1830's, was initially only accessible by land from Hobart on a road which passed through Richmond. The convict, military and supply movements through the town were significant.
And now we need a map...thanks again 'Google Earth'. Here we can see that the major highway out of Hobart which leads on to the A9 down through Copping, Dunalley and beyond (to Port Arthur) traverses Sorell and does so via a causeway between Cambridge and Sorell. But this water crossing was not constructed until 1872.
So, for forty years or more, all road transport between Hobart and Port Arthur necessarily went north through Richmond before turning south-east to Sorell and thence on down the Forestier and Tasman peninsulas.
To facilitate an easy crossing of the Coal River the now famous Richmond Bridge was completed in 1825 (much more of this later), but once the causeway was built Richmond's importance as an overnight stop-over point disappeared and the Georgian buildings remained untouched.
Probably more significantly, as the road traffic through the town came to a virtual standstill, the military moved on, and the use of the gaol all but ceased with the end of convict transportation in the mid 1850's, there was but limited impetuous for further commercial development.
Unlike towns such a Campbell Town, for example, where the old buildings now rub shoulders with many much newer structures, this has not taken place in Richmond to anywhere near the same extent. And over the ensuing years it dawned on the locals that with a bit of effort these 'accidents of history' could well be used to their economic advantage.
Add to all this the fact that the town is less than 30 kms from central Hobart and one has a recipe for a tourist Mecca. They flock to Richmond in their thousands....is it any wonder that the vast majority of buildings in the main part of town now house business which are designed to relieve the day trippers and others from their hard earned cash.
And finally, the town's name, and again let me turn to 'Aussie Towns':
Probably more significantly, as the road traffic through the town came to a virtual standstill, the military moved on, and the use of the gaol all but ceased with the end of convict transportation in the mid 1850's, there was but limited impetuous for further commercial development.
Unlike towns such a Campbell Town, for example, where the old buildings now rub shoulders with many much newer structures, this has not taken place in Richmond to anywhere near the same extent. And over the ensuing years it dawned on the locals that with a bit of effort these 'accidents of history' could well be used to their economic advantage.
Add to all this the fact that the town is less than 30 kms from central Hobart and one has a recipe for a tourist Mecca. They flock to Richmond in their thousands....is it any wonder that the vast majority of buildings in the main part of town now house business which are designed to relieve the day trippers and others from their hard earned cash.
And finally, the town's name, and again let me turn to 'Aussie Towns':
"Richmond is
one of the few town names in Australia which exists in New South Wales,
Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania. It is almost certainly borrowed from
Richmond in the English county of Surrey which, in turn, is a corruption
of the French "riche monde" meaning "fortified castle" or "strong
hill". The settlement was named by Van Diemen's Land Lieutenant Governor
William Sorell in 1824 when a 90 acre (36 ha) site was allocated for
the development of a military staging post and convict station."
So there you have it and after all this background it is high time we had a look at what the blurb loudly proclaims is 'Australia's Finest Georgian Village', now home to about 1,000 permanent souls, a population which is boosted daily by many hundreds of us transients.
We decided to get in early and plonked the Cruiser in Bridge Street. From here we could look back along the road out to our caravan park and see at first hand what would prove to be but one of the many of the town's 'painted and scrubbed' old buildings.
Now I think one could reasonably argue that buildings don't come much bluer than this one, so it may come as no surprise to discover that I was completely nonplussed by the shingle hanging over the front door. This folks is 'Red Brier Cottage', circa 1839......go figure!
Almost directly opposite this cottage of confusingly conflicting colours, the mellow sandstone walls of the old Star and Garter Hotel have been left as they were, or so I initially thought.
Having spotted the ornate script of the pub's name on this white washed end wall, I suspect that the sandstone facade now on view to all who pass may well be the result of some serious scrubbing in the not too distant past.
Looking further north-east along Bridge Street to the grand buildings on the corner of Henry Street, it was clear that a mixture of painted or original stone walls was the order of the day.
Now I know I used a similar photo (looking south-east down Henry Street) in the introduction, but it bears repeating as a classic example of 'commerical Richmond'. Here the rather grand Ashmore Cafe and coffee shop on the corner almost overwhelms the small grey wooden building next to it (home of 'Richmond Jams') and the gaudy pink building beyond that.
We did make a quick detour at this point. Liz was on a mission.....what could she find down here?
Well, not a lot as it transpired. She emerged from this trove of tourist trinkets with nothing in her hand but her sunnies. That was a relief!
Whilst in Henry Street we did walk on a short distance past the classically clipped little front hedges of this B&B. I had spotted the larger building beyond this point and was on a mission of my own.
Like so many of Richmond's old classic Georgian buildings, this is now a private home, but a spot of sleuthing uncovered some history.
'Ale, porter &' is all that now remains of what was clearly an original narrow timber hoarding. There could only be one reason for this. A closer look behind the tall front pines confirmed my suspicions......this was the original Richmond Hotel.
With that small mystery solved, it was back to Bridge Street, where the large building opposite Ashmore displayed a decorative 'bob each way', part painted, part original. I doubt that Xmas decorations and the other nick knacks which now occupy the internal spaces of what must have been a magnificent home, are being sold from any grander premises.
The much more modest ochre coloured building on the other side of the road displayed a sign which proclaimed it to be the town's Woodcraft Shop. Never a truer word spoken (or displayed).
Bowls, platters, salt and pepper shakers, bottle openers, maps of Tassie, model yachts, penguins, boomerangs......what a clutter (and this photos only shows some of it!)
So there you have it and after all this background it is high time we had a look at what the blurb loudly proclaims is 'Australia's Finest Georgian Village', now home to about 1,000 permanent souls, a population which is boosted daily by many hundreds of us transients.
We decided to get in early and plonked the Cruiser in Bridge Street. From here we could look back along the road out to our caravan park and see at first hand what would prove to be but one of the many of the town's 'painted and scrubbed' old buildings.
Now I think one could reasonably argue that buildings don't come much bluer than this one, so it may come as no surprise to discover that I was completely nonplussed by the shingle hanging over the front door. This folks is 'Red Brier Cottage', circa 1839......go figure!
Almost directly opposite this cottage of confusingly conflicting colours, the mellow sandstone walls of the old Star and Garter Hotel have been left as they were, or so I initially thought.
Having spotted the ornate script of the pub's name on this white washed end wall, I suspect that the sandstone facade now on view to all who pass may well be the result of some serious scrubbing in the not too distant past.
Looking further north-east along Bridge Street to the grand buildings on the corner of Henry Street, it was clear that a mixture of painted or original stone walls was the order of the day.
Now I know I used a similar photo (looking south-east down Henry Street) in the introduction, but it bears repeating as a classic example of 'commerical Richmond'. Here the rather grand Ashmore Cafe and coffee shop on the corner almost overwhelms the small grey wooden building next to it (home of 'Richmond Jams') and the gaudy pink building beyond that.
We did make a quick detour at this point. Liz was on a mission.....what could she find down here?
Well, not a lot as it transpired. She emerged from this trove of tourist trinkets with nothing in her hand but her sunnies. That was a relief!
Whilst in Henry Street we did walk on a short distance past the classically clipped little front hedges of this B&B. I had spotted the larger building beyond this point and was on a mission of my own.
Like so many of Richmond's old classic Georgian buildings, this is now a private home, but a spot of sleuthing uncovered some history.
'Ale, porter &' is all that now remains of what was clearly an original narrow timber hoarding. There could only be one reason for this. A closer look behind the tall front pines confirmed my suspicions......this was the original Richmond Hotel.
With that small mystery solved, it was back to Bridge Street, where the large building opposite Ashmore displayed a decorative 'bob each way', part painted, part original. I doubt that Xmas decorations and the other nick knacks which now occupy the internal spaces of what must have been a magnificent home, are being sold from any grander premises.
The much more modest ochre coloured building on the other side of the road displayed a sign which proclaimed it to be the town's Woodcraft Shop. Never a truer word spoken (or displayed).
Bowls, platters, salt and pepper shakers, bottle openers, maps of Tassie, model yachts, penguins, boomerangs......what a clutter (and this photos only shows some of it!)
Just beyond the wood shop the sandwich boards on the footpath at the entrance to this lane invite passers-by to wander yonder through the hedgerows to the venue of one of Richmond's 'non-heritage' tourist attractions....'Old Hobart Town'.
'Discover Tasmania' describes this attraction thus:
"Old Hobart Town is Australia's only and Tasmania's original historical model village which accurately replicates in miniature the life and history of Hobart in 1820.
Situated in the main street of Richmond (Tasmania's finest Georgian village), this attraction has been built from original plans (over three years) and set out in streets. As visitors walk the streets of old Hobart, the informative signage really captures interest and makes for a unique and fascinating tour."
This photo, also from the same site, will give you some idea of what is on offer here.
There is no doubt that the project, conceived and constructed by Andrew and John Quick, is a masterpiece of craftsmanship and labour and is unique to the Apple Isle. The village includes over 60 buildings and 500 individually crafted figurines set along pathways which replicate the layout of Hobart in its infancy.
I am sure it has its own appeal for many who visit, but not for us. We had wandered the streets of the real Hobart over many days, seen the lion's share of the buildings of historical significance and absorbed a deal of the development history of this city.
We decided that the time and $30 entrance fee spent here could be put to better use.....at a pub, for example, one such as the magnificent Richmond Arms just across the road.
Despite the early hour, we did sneak in for a quick look where we found that the bar
and dining areas (this is but one small section) were what we would have expected in a hostelry such as this, but as I said, the hour was early and a refreshing beverage was not yet foremost in our minds (not quite!).
So we snuck out again, noting with some admiration as we did, this impressive display of pamphlets detailing various forthcoming events in the pub, such as the Valentine's Day Dinner, the Sunday Roast specials and so on. All very classy!
Yes, a classy operation indeed, but not entirely devoid of a hotelier's potentially cynical and realistic view of the world and some of those who inhabit it!
With firm plans to return and make more of this grand pub, we marched on down Bridge Street, still heading in the direction of the town's most famous attraction, its bridge. We'll get there soon.....in the next missive hopefully (or the one after that ???). We were quickly learning that there really is a lot to see in Richmond and that the promotional bumph which bangs the drum about all that there is on offer here has more merit than most.
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