Discover Campbell Town

Campbell Town brings together an impressive brick arch bridge, memorial sites and a museum about the history of the Midlands. At the same time, it lies on the Heritage Highway between Launceston and Hobart and is a popular rest stop along this route. You can treat Campbell Town as a stopover or give its historic sites more of your attention.

The bridge and traces of convict history

Red Bridge was completed in 1838. Convicts built it using more than 1.5 million handmade bricks. It is Australia’s oldest surviving brick arch bridge. Its construction and history make it a distinctive part of Campbell Town’s historic character.

The Convict Brick Trail also explores the stories of individual convicts. It runs along the main street; bricks set into the pavement share information about individual people. The Campbell Town Chainsaw Sculptures offer a different perspective, depicting various features of the town. Those interested in cultural history will find a range of subjects, from the stories of individual convicts to depictions of Campbell Town.

History in the museum and historic buildings

The Campbell Town Museum is located in the town hall and presents the local history of the Midlands. Topics and items on display include photographs, uniforms and musical instruments. The museum also features the band music of the Campbell Town Brass Band, founded in 1844. Its exhibits span personal and musical traces of the past as well as the history of the Midlands region.

The Church is a heritage-listed sandstone building dating from 1857. Coach parties and other groups can visit the church by prior arrangement. The Grange is also part of the town’s architectural history: convict architect James Blackburn designed the building in the late 1840s. Foxhunters Return is a 19th-century inn built in 1834. These buildings represent different chapters in the town’s architectural history; the dates given refer to each individual building.

Special memorial sites and an unusual bookshop

The Transit of Venus Sundial commemorates the observation of the transit of Venus, which took place from Campbell Town on 8 June 2004. The Harold Gatty Memorial honours Harold Gatty for his record-breaking 1931 flight with Wiley Post. Both sites commemorate different events and people.

The Book Cellar is located in convict cellars beneath an inn dating from the 1830s. It combines a traditional bookshop with a coffee bar. You can browse a selection of new and second-hand books in the historic cellar rooms. The venue adds a contemporary bookshop to the town’s architectural and local history, without requiring another museum visit.

Make Campbell Town part of your trip

The Elizabeth River provides another geographic reference point: Campbell Town lies on its banks. Together with its location on the Heritage Highway, this makes it relevant both to travellers on the route between Launceston and Hobart and to people interested in the history of the Midlands. What role Campbell Town plays in your trip depends on whether you give greater weight to its character as a rest stop or to its historic attractions.

When choosing a holiday apartment or holiday house in Campbell Town, this trip-planning approach is a helpful starting point: consider whether the town itself should be a focus of your trip or whether you see it as a stopover on the Heritage Highway. If you are especially interested in bridge construction, convict history and local culture, you can take these subjects into account when deciding where to stay. The historic sites and museum offer a range of ways to explore them, without assuming any one particular way of visiting.

You can also make the choice of shared interests more concrete when travelling with family: the Convict Brick Trail tells the stories of individual people, the museum presents the history and music of the Midlands, and Red Bridge showcases brick construction.

More places to discover: Beaconsfield, Rowella, Westbury, Westerway, Carrick, St Marys, Falmouth, Castle Forbes Bay.

For the broader trip overview: Tasmania.