Richmond Gaol

Richmond Arms

Old Hobart Town, a unique multi award winning model village depicting life in Hobart as it was in the 1820’s More >>

Located 26km north of Hobart, the old world village of Richmond is rich in history and heritage and contains the oldest bridge and St Johns, the earliest Roman Catholic church in Australia, as well as a perfectly preserved colonial gaol. Established in 1825 to house the gangs of convicts used as labour in the area and prisoners in transit, the Gaol has been restored and is now a major tourist attraction. It is older by five years than the buildings at Port Arthur.

The Coal River was named in 1803 by an exploratory party sent out from Lieut. Bowen's original settlement on Risdon Cove that found coal along the river's banks. Land in the area had been granted to military officers, free settlers and government officials some time before Lieut. Gov. William Sorrell had the township laid out in February 1824, and calling it Richmond. It was on a strategic route from Hobart to Port Arthur and the east coast and soon became the third largest town in Tasmania, and an important military post and convict station.
Richmond became an important centre for the military, and traces of the Barracks foundations may still be located in what is now the car park for Richmond's goal.
Within just over a decade the region was a rich agricultural centre for wheat, oats and barley (with attendant mills); and ships were plying the Coal River on the regular Richmond to Hobart run. From the mid 1820's a burst of building activities in the township required large numbers of convict labourers, and so a local place of imprisonment was needed for those who committed offences while assigned to the building of these public works, hence the building of the gaol. The surrounding rural properties belonged to gentleman farmers, including Carrington, that was owned by successive Lieut. Governors from 1813 to 1836, and these properties had large numbers of assigned Convicts working as slave labourers, whose home base became the gaol.
The building of the Sorrell Casuseway in 1872 not only provided a more direct route to Port Arthur, the main road bypassed Richmond, sealing the town's fate as a rural community that would grow no further.

Millhouse
Built as a steam mill on the Coal River by convicts in 1853 by George Burn, the millhouse (right) was later used as a butter factory and now a guest house. Four bricks thick at the base and with massive hand-cut eucalypt beams in the ceilings, the three-storey Georgian building is National Trust-rated building. It features hand-hewn eucalypt beams, wide-planked Tasmanian oak floors and convict bricks. It was converted into a heritage home and studio by the famous Australian painter John Eldershaw. Millhouse is one today a guest-house.

Mrs. Currie's House
A classic Georgian house, set in the heart of historic Richmond. The rear section, originally called The Prince of Wales, a public house owned by John McGowan, was built in the 1820's and is one of the oldest rammed earth inhabited dwellings in Australia. The double storey Georgian style house was added in the 1860's and over 80 years was the home of Mrs. Currie.

Richmond Bridge
Richmond's centerpiece is the magnificent bridge, Richmond Bridge, built between 1823 and 1825. It is the oldest bridge in Australia still in use. Situated in Richmond, Tasmania, roughly 25kms from the state capital, Hobart, the Richmond Bridge spans the Coal River in the heart of a region known for its boutique wineries, history, and beauty. The bridge was built by convict labour and like much of Tasmanian convict history, is shrouded in tales of hardship, tragedy, an restless spirits. It is said that the Richmond Bridge is haunted by the ghost of the vicious flagellator, George Grover, who was beaten to death by convict workers and thrown into the river from the bridge in March 1832.
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Bridge Cottages
Quaint, dignified and classified by the National Trust, Bridge Cottages were built around 1823, before the Richmond Bridge, to accommodate the sergeant in charge of building the bridge and the arms store - hence the names The Sergeants Quarters and The Armoury. The buildings are now restored and decorated in character and used for visitor accommodation.

St John's Roman Catholic Church
The oldest Roman Catholic church in Australia, the nave of the Gothic Revival stone church was built in 1836, and the remainder built in 1859, all to a design by ex-convict architect, Frederick Thomas. The copper sheeted spire was added in the 1900s. The square tower has an unusual square projecting stairwell tower.

Municipal Buildings, Court House, Watch House and Hall
These stone buildings were erected after the completion of the original section of the Gaol in 1825-26. They are considered to be the work of Colonial Architect David Lambe.

Richmond Arms
One of the youngest buildings in the town, this hotel was built in 1888 as a replacement for the Lennox Arms that burnt down in 1886. Richmond Arms is a two-storey Victorian structure with rusticated quoins and reveals, and an iron hipped roof. The hotel has a two storey verandah with twin timber columns, iron brackets, frieze and balustrade.

Old Store and Granary Group
A group of Georgian buildings, consisting of a granary, store and residence, were built around 1832 by James Buscombe. The Granary is a three-storey stone building with iron gabled roof, 12-pane windows and the original horse-operated hoist. The two storey store and residence are also built of stone, but stuccoed.

Richmond Gaol
The original section of the Richmond Goal was commenced in 1825, probably to a design by Colonial Architect David Lambe.  The keystone over the entrance marks the date when the building was commenced.  The Cookhouse, Solitary Cells and Women's room were added in 1835 and the stone wall was built in 1840. Unhappily, the gaol building itself was not as substantial as first thought, because parts of it actually blew down during a heavy gale in 1827. The first Gaoler was W. J. Speed, an ex-schoolmaster from Clarence Plains, who apparently had one or two personal problems. He was appointed on 1st February 1826, he was removed from office in 1830, when at the age of seventy years he was charged with keeping rations for himself.  Governor Arthur latter learned that he had abandoned his wife and twelve children, keeping her locked in a lunatic asylum is Sydney.  
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