Home > Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston is a small city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, population of approximately 98000, located at the juncture of the North Esk , South Esk , and Tamar rivers. Like many Australian cities and towns, it was named after a town in the United Kingdom - in this case, Launceston, Cornwall. (Note, however, that while the English Launceston is pronounced "Lawnson" or "Lawnston", the Australian one is pronounced "Lon-cess-ton.")1 History
Europeans originally settling near the mouth of the Tamar in 1804; however they moved to the present site of Launceston in 1805. As such, it is Australia's third oldest city (after Sydney and the state capital, Hobart), and has a lot of historical buildings and sights.
Launceston was once the home of John Batman (see History of Melbourne). From Launceston, Batman planned and designed the city of Melbourne, and in 1834 he sailed across Bass Strait to settle there - specifically, at Port Phillip, Victoria.
Note: The spelling of John Batman's name is Bateman in some literature.
2 Geography and landmarks
Launceston serves as the commercial hub for the north of the state, and like many parts of Tasmania, is a major tourist centre. Major points of attraction:
- The Cataract GorgeCanyons The Cataract Gorge Reserve is one of Launceston and northern Tasmania's premier tourist attractions. The First Basin on the southern side features a swimming pool, and an open area surrounded by bushland. The shady northern side named the Cliff Gr, a natural wonder of Tasmania and located only five minutes walk from the city
- The City Park, which includes an enclosure for Japanese MacaqueThe Japanese Macaque Macaca fuscata , also known as the Snow Monkey is a terrestrial monkey native to northern Japan. They are said to be the most northern-living non- human primate. The Japanese Macaque has gray- brown fur, a pink face and hands, and a s monkeyFor the TV show Monkey see Monkey (TV series Cynomolgus Monkey at Batu Caves, Malaysia A monkey is any member of two of the three groupings of simian primates. These two groupings are the New World and Old World monkeys. Because of their similarity to mons, a gift from the sister-city of Ikeda, JapanJapan (, Nippon/Nihon literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated on a chain of islands east of the Asian continent on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are, from north to south, Hokkaido , Honsh
- The Tamar Valley , which is home to some of Australia's best vineyardA vineyard is a place where grapes are grown for making wine, raisins, or table grapes. Vineyards are often on hillsides and on soil that would be marginal for other plantings. Some of the best wines come from extremely stony soil on quite steep hills, cos
- The Boags Brewery - which produces one of Australia's premium beers.
Launceston is the home of York ParkYork Park (also known as Aurora Stadium is the major Australian Rules Football ground located in the city of Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. It was originally the home of the North Launceston Football Club. In 2000 it was re-developed as part of the bid, the state's only first-class sports ground equipped with lights for evening games. As a result, two of the Melbourne teams, Hawthorn and St Kilda, have agreed to play a small number of AFL ( Australian football) games there each year.
3 Transportation
Launceston is the hub of five of the states major highways:
The city is also served by Launceston Airport ( IATA code LST), just south-east of the city.
