Historic Richmond
Richmond is a picturesque and historic town in the heart of the Coal River Valley wine region and tells the story of an early Australian colonial village. It is situated about 25 km north-east of Hobart, in the Coal River region, between the Midland Highway and Tasman Highway. Of course, Richmond is famous for the beautiful heritage listed arch bridge.
The Richmond area was explored within weeks of the establishment of the first European settlement at Risdon Cove in 1803. Lieutenant John Bowen and a small party crossed the hills from the Derwent Valley and entered the valley where the Coal River and Richmond are now located. Members of Bowen's party found small deposits of coal in the river and it was appropriately named.
Soon afterwards land was granted and settlers moved into the district. The success of wheat crops in the area was almost immediate and as early as 1815 a flour mill had been built to process the harvest. Until the 1830s the Coal River valley was known as the granary of Van Diemen's Land
It wasn't until 1824 that the settlement of Richmond was named by Lieutenant Governor William Sorell and a 36 ha site was set aside for the development of the town. By this time the bridge across the Coal River (one of the most photographed bridges in Australia) was already under construction.
For some years Richmond had been used as a crossing point for people travelling by land to the Tasman and Fleurieu Peninsulas. The need for a bridge across the Coal River was obvious as early as 1820 when the Royal Commissioner John Thomas Bigge recommended it. When the Coal river was in flood access to the East coast was greatly restricted. The bridge was completed in 1825. Major repairs were needed in 1828 and 1884.
It is the oldest bridge still in use in Australia and the oldest stone span bridge in Australia. In 2005, the bridge was recognised as an outstanding historic place and added to the Australian National Heritage List. The foundation stone was laid on 11 December 1823 and construction continued using convict labour until completion in 1825. The bridge was originally named Bigge's Bridge after Royal Commissioner, John Thomas Bigge, who recognised the need for the bridge in 1820. Although the designer is unknown, it may have been colonial architect David Lambe or Major Thomas Bell, the engineer in charge of public works.
In 1832, an employee of the Richmond Gaol was murdered at Richmond bridge. George Grover was employed as a gaoler whose duties including flogging the prisoners. He was unpopular due to his ferocity and was pushed off the edge of Richmond Bridge after drunkenly falling asleep. No one was convicted of his murder.
It is interesting to note that the oldest bridge on mainland Australia is Lennox Bridge which is five minutes from me at Blaxland. It is also a stone arch bridge and was designed by David Lennox a Scottish-Australian bridge builder and master stonemason. Lennox Bridge was opened in 1833.
Heather and I stayed three nights at Richmond in The Old Stables which is part of Ivy Cottage which was built c 1830. It had a nice colonial feel to it and a very pleasant place to stay. Richmond was a good place to base ourselves to visit other parts of Tasmania in this region. However, for me, I felt Richmond was a little contrived and over-commercialized. The following is an article written by a Sydney Morning Hera;d travel writer in 2008. I concur with his sentiment!
"There must have been a time when Richmond was one of the most charming places in Australia. Set in gently undulating country on the banks of the Coal River it has no fewer than 45 buildings listed on the National Estate and, in many ways, it is a town which has been held in time. Unfortunately its proximity to Hobart (which is only 27 km away) has ensured that it has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in Tasmania. This has meant that old Georgian stone houses, commercial buildings and hotels have been converted into gift shops, Devonshire tea places, restaurants, craft shops, and museums.
Perhaps the best symbol of the change is the fact that the local gaol sells plastic balls and chains. Given that the original convicts were forced to wear balls and chains which weighed up to 20 kg and which were sometimes welded onto their ankles for years, it is hard to see this commercialization as anything other than a disregard for the suffering of the people who, through their unwilling labours, made this tourist town possible.
Add to this the fact that most of the buildings in the town have been painted and scrubbed and you are left with the overpowering feeling that what you see at Richmond is not historic buildings but tea rooms and gift shops in the shells of old buildings. There is little doubt that people wanting to experience what these beautiful old villages were like in the early nineteenth century would be much better served by a visit to Ross or Oatlands.
In spite of the reservations about its over-commercialization, there is little doubt that Richmond is a remarkably well preserved Georgian township which offers a rare insight into the types of buildings which some of Australia's earliest settlers lived in, were incarcerated in, prayed in and drank in. The reason that so many of the buildings remain in good condition is largely a result of the construction of the Sorell Causeway. In 1872, when the causeway was completed, Richmond's role as a major staging post on the way from Hobart to Port Arthur disappeared. It was by-passed and mercifully the historic buildings remained largely intact."