EVANDALE

 

1/ Evandale is a lovely, historic town dating from the 1830s. It is just south of the Launceston Airport. It boasts many streets with restored 19th Century buildings. In Evandale the late 19th Century really comes to life. Evandale boast the old Penny Farthing bike race, the artistic Glover Prize, a large Sunday market, plus tourist oriented cafes and shops making it a must see for a visitor to northern Tasmania. Above is the beautiful St Andrews Anglican Church, which is an icon of lovely Evandale and dates from 1871.

2/ Opposite the Time Traveler Statue is this map of Evandale. It illustrates the major historic buildings. The approach road from Launceston Airport is on the left. The second last horizontal street is Russell Street, where many of the important buildings, cafes, shops and the market are located. The street at the top is Barclay Street, which hosts Morven Park. This gallery travels down Evandale Road to Russell Street then up to Barclay Street.

3/ The old water tower greets you, as you approach Evandale from its northern side on C416 Evandale Road. From the south of the water tower all of the buildings you will see were built in the 19th Century.

4/ The next eleven photos were taken on Evandale Road, as we approached Russell Street. This was one of a number of grand, old professional homes that we saw.

5/ This is house is the type built by the original squatters of Evandale in the 1830s. It had a stable to the left. It is probably one of the oldest. Beyond the house were vast fields. It was being rebuilt in 2018. There was an ambiance of deep antiquity about it.

6/ This grand professional home shows the impressive style of the 1890s.

7/ This is the historic, primary school of Evandale. It is now the visitor information centre. It is on the corner of Barclay Street on which is Morven Park.

8/ There were a number of lovely, historic houses being restored such as this large Victorian house.

9/ This Georgian style home now houses the Amnesia Antiques store.

10/ This is the other iconic church of Evandale. It is the St Andrews Uniting Church (There are two St Andrews churches.) and was built in a neo Greco-Roman style in 1869. In the late 19th Century this style was very popular in America, but less popular in Australasia. The church has many historic graves around it.

11/ Next to the St Andrews Church is its historic Sunday School. Here the children came each week to learn their religion.

12/ This view looks west from behind the St Andrews Church shown above. The many old graves give off a feeling of deep antiquity. In the fields just beyond this church are the remains of the old Evandale Railway Station.

13/ This lovely Grecian statue marks the grave of Pastor Russell. It is in front of the Church.

14/ This is "Solomon's Store". It is another icon of Evandale. Here you turn east down Russell Street to enter the heart of the historic town. Solomon was a major character of the old Evandale.

15/ These two quaint cottages, opposite Solomon's, mark the beginning of Russell Street

16/ This is the "Time Traveler" statue. It celebrates the penny farthing race held at Evandale every year. Next to this statue is the map shown above.

17/ The historic "Clarendon Arms Hotel" has recently been reorganized and is now offering an impressive cuisine. The annual penny farthing race starts from here.

18/ This is one of many restored Georgian homes in Russell Street.

19/ This large Georgian home in Russell Street is now a BB.

20/ This lovely building was probably once a church. It is now the municipal chambers.

21/ This little church was once the Wesleyan Chapel. It dates from 1836. It is now used for accommodation.

22/ This is the historic' general store of Evandale. There are a number of stores in Russell Street.

23/ Harry Murray was a local hero of the Evandale district. He fought in both world wars. His statue marks the war memorial of Evandale.

24/ John Glover was an English landscape artist. In his old age, he immigrated to Tasmania to join his sons. Here he was virtually the first landscape artist to appreciate the beauty of the Tasmanian landscape and he played a major role in establishing landscape painting in Tasmania. His statue stands outside the Evandale market.

25/ This is the historic Evandale scout hall in Falls Park. Every Sunday it hosts the Evandale market. From dozens of benches you can select from a wide variety of local foods, clothing, tools, plants, antiques and bric-a-brac. The Glover Prize exhibits are displayed in this hall.

26/ Early in the year these flags go up in Evandale to announce the coming Glover Prize. This event now attracts a large number of first class entrants. A number of artists and their crafts are located in Evandale.

27/ Not all the historic houses of Evandale are grand. There are also many quaint Georgian cottages.

28/ This is the view across a narrow part of Pioneer Park. The park has many grand old trees, plus a toilet, seats and BBQ facilities. Because of its great age and many European trees, this park has a great feeling of antiquity about it.

29/ This is the historic, tennis club room in Morven Park in Barclay Street. This park is located just beyond the historic school shown above. Morven Park includes a large oval behind which the model railway runs.

30/ This is the model railway. It has a number of different trains and runs whenever you see the billboards put out to advertise it on the main streets. It is very popular with children.

31/ A stroll around Evandale allows you to see a large variety of historic homes like this lovely home in Barclay Street.

32/ This interesting home in Barclay Street exhibits five chimneys. In the 19th Century you could measure a man's wealth by the number of chimneys in his house.

33/ Evandale has a number of buildings, which are popular subjects with photographic artists. This is a lovely, artistic interpretation of the Anglican Church by Steven Jurgeit.

 

1/ The Penny Farthing Race ended with a grand parade past the old buildings on Russell Street. Here we see a Scottish Bagpipe Band passing by.

2/ The parade included a large group of people decked out in exotic Victorian costumes.

3/ The vintage car owners also parade a number of exotic, old cars. Note the news camera and the rider on the left. The competitors finished their races at this point.

4/ Bands gave free entertainment in the Pioneer Park and many seats were provided for the listeners.

5/ Collectors of antique machinery exhibited their prizes like this early 1916 model motor bike.

6/ The classic car owners showed off their old favorites.

7/ I was most impressed by this classic American car. They were once known of as "Yank Tanks".

8/ The 19th Century steam prime movers also attracted a lot of attention. Engines like these played a vital role in opening up the Tasmanian wilderness.

8/ The Fair also included displays of old farm machinery like this 1950s era tractor.

10/ In the Pioneer Park a large number of stores sold a wide variety of exotic products.

11/ Riders gather for the races. Here you see a young female competitor riding high on her bike.

12/ The competitors came from Tasmania, Australasia and overseas. The riders were both and old and young and male and female. Here competitors anxiously await the starting gun.

13/ The penny farthings move very fast and the riders showed extreme determination to win.

14/ Here two riders are racing towards the finish line.

 

1/ Clarendon is a grand, estate south of Evandale. Some restoration work has been completed, but more needs to be done to the interior. It was the home of James Cox and it was completed in 1838. Cox was a magistrate, a member of Parliament and a major landowner. His Clarendon was modeled on the grand, Georgian style mansions of England. The estate once included a huge garden with hawthorn hedges. Peacocks and deer once roamed the grounds.

2/ Some authorities think that the style was influenced by American plantation homes of the same period. Grand parties for the leaders of Tasmanian colonial society were once held in these grounds.

3/ This side view shows you the vast dimensions of the design. It surprises me that four of the windows on this southern side were boarded up.

4/ The gardens at the rear of the grand house are being restored to their former glory.

5/ This view looks across the gardens to the workers cottages beyond the wall.

6/ The house servants quarters were attached to the main house, as these servants were expected to be on call 24/7. There were two other accommodation complexes for the dozens of other workers, who once toiled at Clarendon.

7/ The rear of the grand house is an enclosed quadrangle. This image shows another accommodation complex that faced out from this quadrangle. This would have been for field workers. The high walls and the enclosure pattern of the design suggests that this may have been a defensive feature.

8/ The coach house was very large and housed the coaches, plus the convicts who attended to them. These convicts lived on the other side of this building in tiny cottages at the base of this building. The size of this building alone attests to the ancient wealth of the Clarendon Estate.

9/ Some examples of horse drawn vehicles are on displayed in the coach house.

10/ The South Esk River fronts the Estate. The residents could easily row their boats down this river to Evandale and Launceston.

11/ This large building is the old stable. It would once have accommodated many horses.

12/ This is the stone barn. It is a survivor of one of the earliest buildings of the estate. This is shown by the strange, rammed earth style of the construction. Beyond are the cottages of two of the more important workers of the Estate.

13/ This is the old shearing shed. The sheep entered and left from rear openings.

14/ This is one of the Georgian era cottages. To the left is a more recent addition.

15/ This strange building was a toilet built for use by the guests during the many outdoor picnics held in the gardens.

16/ This strange little building was the gardener's cottage. He was important enough to deserve his own residence. It is one of the oldest buildings on the estate.

17/ This the tree lined, entrance alley. It is easy to imagine horse carriages coming down it to join a picnic for the Tasmanian nobility at Clarendon.

 

1/ Nile is an old settlement about 10 kilometres south of Evandale. It is further south of the Clarendon Estate and on the same road. It has this impressive Gothic revival style church. On the right of the fence is a large, old cemetery.

2/ There are a number of old houses in Nile. This one has the shape of an old tavern.

3/ This cenotaph commemorates the local servicemen of the two world wars. It is a reminder that Nile once had a much larger population.

4/ This is a classic, late 19th Century, gentry style home in a derelict condition.

5/ This is another derelict cottage. The size of the trees in its garden testifies to how long it has been abandoned. When you see houses like this, you can appreciate how much work has been done in nearby Evandale.

6/ South of Nile are gentle rolling plains with very fertile soil. This view looks over a lake westwards towards the Great Western Tier Mountains.

7/ Deddington is a locality about 10 kilometres south east of Nile. It has this lovely, historic church that dates back to 1840.

8/ The church has a number of graves visible including one of John Glover. He was the artist who played a major role in bringing professional painting to the colonial society of Vandiemensland. Evandale holds an arts festival in his honour. His forgotten grave is lying here in Deddington.

9/ This is the derelict, historic post office of Deddington. Its existence confirms that Deddington was once a settlement with a much larger population.

10/ This is Glover's old house new Nile. It was being restored into a BB in 2018. The new owners were going to a lot of trouble to make it authentic to the original home possessed by John Glover.

 

1/ Corra Lyn has spectacular cliffs like those seen at the Cataract Gorge. It is just south east of Launceston on C401 the road to Ben Lomond.

2/ The picnic ground at Corra Lyn has the large spaces needed to play games like cricket.

3/ Corra Lyn has a small beach. This makes it very popular with Launceston people on hot days.

4/ There is also a lovely, rapid flowing stream.