George Town and District Historical Society

12/06/2026

The NEXT MEETING of the George Town and District Historical Society is THIS COMING MONDAY 15 JUNE
Starting 7.30 pm at The Grove
Speaker: John Watts
Topic: "Goose Island in the Furneaux Island group"
Goose Island is an elongated island approx. 2.4 x 0.8 kms and 109 hectares in area, lying west of Flinders and Cape Barren Islands and it can only be accessed from the sea or by helicopter.
The island is a conservation area, and also an important bird area. The Historic Precinct on the southern part of the island includes the Light Station, remaining ruins and a small cemetery.
The Goose Island Lighthouse was built by convicts between 1841 and 1846 and it is the third oldest lighthouse in Australia, still in existence and it is still operating.
It is one of only five light towers built before 1850 in Tasmania.
Sometime ago, John and his wife Willemina spent almost a week on Goose Island, clearing Boxthorn from the landscape.
As luck would have it, the clean-up coincided with the regular maintenance of the Lighthouse and the volunteers were able to have a look through it.
John has prepared a PowerPoint presentation and will relate more of the island's fascinating history and of their interesting visit to Goose Island.
Everyone is welcome - there is no charge, but donations towards supper are appreciated. If you enjoy the night you may like to become a member!

07/06/2026

With Local Council elections in the news, it's interesting to look back at some early history of the George Town Council.
The first George Town representative Council was elected in December, 1907 with the first meeting held on 6 January, 1908. Before this, local affairs were managed by Road Trusts and Town Boards.
The newly formed municipality was divided into the three traditional Wards (Dalrymple, Lefroy, and Pipers River), with three councillors elected to represent each ward.
During the 1930s Depression the municipality was in dire straits financially and from 1935 to 1954 it was governed by an appointed Commission with one representative from each of the three Wards.
In 1935 the population was around 400, with only about half living in George Town.
But by the 1950s the first Aluminium smelter in Australia had been established at Bell Bay and the population had increased to around 2,000 with between 1,500 - 1,600 living in George Town.
So in August 1954 there were 24 contenders for the nine positions on a new representative Council and between 65-70% of the population cast a vote in the first election for 19 years!
Three councillors were elected from each Ward with the three former commissioners, E G Lambert polling the second highest number of votes for Dalrymple and B G Brown and Max Hammond topping the poll in Lefroy and Pipers River Wards respectively.
As part of broad Local Government reforms, George town abolished the three wards system and created a single open electorate with 9 councillors in 1994.
In 1997 the elected George Town Council was dismissed and put into administration under a single Administrator who ran the municipality until a new council was voted back into office in 2000.
In this year's October election there will only be seven councillors elected for the George Town Municipal area.
Older community members will recognise most names in the 1954 newspaper article below, and perhaps pick up the Mercury's error in the top vote in Dalrymple Ward - for Mr J S Woolcock, not Woolcott.

You are seeing this because the administrator of this website has set up Anubis to protect the server against the scourge of AI companies aggressively scraping websites. This can and does cause downtime for the websites, which makes their resources inaccessible for everyone.

14/05/2026

The NEXT MEETING of the George Town and District Historical Society will be held THIS COMING MONDAY 18 MAY, starting 7.30 pm at The Grove.

This Meeting is our "GTDHS SHOW & TELL ROADSHOW"
Several members have already agreed to bring along an article of historical interest and tell its story.
However, if anyone has something of interest, you are welcome to bring it along to the meeting and tell us about it.
It may be a book, picture, ornament, tool or instrument - anything at all!
OR if you have something interesting, but you're not sure what it is or what it's used for, bring it along, and someone else may be able to help you.
We'll fit in as many as time permits, so we ask that you try to keep your story fairly short to allow as many as possible to paricipate.

Although the evenings are getting a little cooler, The Grove is always comfortably warm and there's always a cuppa and nibbles to follow, so we hope for a good roll-up on Monday evening.

09/05/2026

The George Town and District Historical Society has lost a long-time and much valued member with the passing of Daryl Camino this week. Being a long term resident of the town with an great interest in its history, Daryl could often provide an answer when no-one else could.
His many years spent posting local photos and following up queries through the George Town Pictorial History page has been invaluable in recalling wonderful memories for many, and in promoting the interesting history of the town, not just to locals, but to many former residents and others far and wide.
Daryl will be sadly missed in so many circles and certainly in the activities of the Society. We extend our deepest sympathies to his wife Jane and to all his loved ones. Vale, Daryl, may you rest in peace.

16/04/2026

The NEXT MEETING for 2026 is THIS COMING MONDAY 20 April
Starting 7.30 pm at The Grove.
SPEAKER: Craig Dixon
TOPIC: "Re-interment of Matthew Flinders at Donington, England"
After Matthew Flinders’ body was found and identified during the excavations of London's Euston Station in 2019, his home town of Donington in Lincolnshire succeeded in having his remains brought home and re-interred in their St Mary’s Church of the Holy Rood where he was christened.
A website and Facebook Group called "Matthew Flinders Bring Him Home" was set up and had interaction from across the world.
[PHOTOS ARE FROM MFBHH page]
Flinders is well known all over Australia, but had been largely forgotten in his own country until this happened.

Craig Dixon, along with Margie and Vince Brophy, were among many Australians to attend the celebrations and Craig will share with us on Monday evening some of the most interesting aspects of this wonderful experience that he enjoyed.

Craig has a special interest in 'all things Matthew Flinders', having taken part in both the building and re-enactment sailings of Bern Cuthertson's replica "Norfolk" and he always tells a great story!

THE 18th MAY MEETING will be "Show and Tell" and any member who has an interesting item of history is invited to bring it along and tell its story, but you'll need to let us know as soon as possible - either at the meeting or by phone or email. Assistance can be given if you need to illustrate it with images on the screen.

Everyone is welcome to attend the monthly meetings and new members are especially encouraged.

10/03/2026

The NEXT MEETING of the George Town and District Historical Society Inc. is THIS COMING MONDAY 16 March.

This meeting will be held in the Bass & Flinders Maritime Museum in Elizabeth St (not The Grove), starting at 7.30 pm.

SPEAKER: Malcolm Riley (from Hobart)
TOPIC: "Lady Nelson Voyagers" - where she went, what she did and who sailed in her!
Mal Riley sailed on, and then skippered, the replica "Lady Nelson", based in Hobart, from 1999 to 2026.
He has written two books on the "Lady Nelson Voyagers", with a third volume due later this year.
His emphasis for this talk will be on Bass Strait and the River Tamar.
Mal believes the "Lady Nelson" is the most important vessel in Australia's history.
She certainly played a large part in northern VDL/Tasmania's early colonial history:
She was the first ship to sail through Bass Strait in 1800, following Bass and Flinders' circumnavigation of VDL;
She brought the first Europeans right up the Tamar to the Cataract and further up the North Esk in 1803;
And then she helped bring the first Europeans to settle at Outer Cove (George Town) and York Town in 1804 - and that was just the start!
See the flyer for more details of what to expect.

There will also be a chance to see the wonderful Model Boat Exhibition in the Bass & Flinders Maritime Museum if you haven't paid a visit yet.

Everyone is welcome to attend.

28/02/2026

13/02/2026

The NEXT MEETING of the George Town and District Historical Society is THIS COMING MONDAY, 16 February.
It will be held in the HILLWOOD MEMORIAL HALL (278 Hillwood Jetty Rd) starting at 7.30 pm in collaboration with the Hillwood Garden Club.
Hillwood also has an active history group that has developed a wonderful History Room in the Hall.
TOPIC: "Hillwood History & the History Room"
SPEAKER: Julie Airey is one of those involved and she will give an overview of events and people that shaped Hillwood.

Following that, attendees will be able to spend time in the History Room, viewing records and displays, asking questions, etc and the evening will conclude with a typical country supper.
Everyone is welcome to attend.
A warning to drive carefully and watch out for prolific wildlife on the roads at this very dry time of the year!

15/01/2026

The FIRST MEETING of the George Town and District Historical Society for 2026 is THIS COMING MONDAY 19th January at The Grove, starting at 7.30 pm.

SPEAKER: Jeff Jennings
TOPIC: "The North East Telegraph Line"
The Telegraph Line enabled 'modern communication' from Low Head to Lefroy, Bridport to the more remote parts of the North East in Boobyalla, Cape Portland and finally Swan Island in 1885. Jeff will show us a film with historic and modern day images, and speak of his efforts early last year to find traces of the old telegraph line.
Everyone welcome.

MEMBERSHIPS for 1 Nov 2025 - 31 Oct 2026 are due:
Annual membership remains at $15 per person or $25 for a couple; $5 for students.
Memberships can be paid by cash or EFTPOS to treasurer, Carol at a meeting or by direct deposit to the Society's bank account.

THE 36th Tamar Valley Folk Festival kicks off with this Friday with The Writers' Circle at the Yacht Club at 1.30 pm
"Two (local) writers and a Cup of Tea" features conversations with our own JEN THOMPSON around her book "Bone & Beauty: The Ribbon Boys' Rebellion"
and IAN SLOANE on his Crime/Thriller novels.
SEE more: https://tamarvalleyfolkfestival.com/
This festival must be one of the longest running in the state!