Tasmania For Everyone: Kettering

Kettering

Kettering and Woodbridge nestle on the coast on D’Entrecasteaux Channel opposite Bruny Island - two tiny settlements across the narrow channel from the island’s low lying hills. Kettering is the launching point to Bruny Island, but is charming in its own right with a sheltered harbour full of yachts and fishing vessels. With its Marina and its regular ferry service to Bruny Island, Kettering is an important tourist mooring and departure point.

The Marine Studies Centre at nearby Woodbridge was specifically designed to cater for school children interested in marine biology.

The area was first explored by Frenchman Bruni D’Entrecasteaux in 1792 and was settled in the early 1800s by timber cutters, whalers and sealers. At that time the area was a violent outpost where the local Aborigines were persecuted and maltreated by the sealers and whalers.

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Where is it?

37 km south of Hobart on the Channel Highway.

Things To See And Do

Oyster Cove

Oyster Cove, just north of Kettering in Oyster Cove, is where the last Tasmanian Aboriginal settlement was established in 1847. Aborigines from all over Van Diemen’s Land had been rounded up some years earlier and isolated on Flinders Island. In 1847 the remnants, now only 44 people, were taken to a reserve at Oyster Cove. By 1855 there were only 16 people left and by 1869 only Truganini remained. She died in 1876 but it was not until 1976 that her ashes were thrown to the winds on the D’Entrecasteaux Channel.Today the area is noted for its orchards (apples, cherries, pears) and Kettering has become an important service centre for the local farmers.

Snug

Snug (7 km south) is a small coastal town located on the Channel Highway. A carbide factory operated at Snug from 1917. The carbide was used in the manufacture of acetylene gas. The factory was converted to a silicon smelter in 1979, but was closed in 1991. During the 1967 Tasmanian bushfires the town of Snug was devastated, two-thirds of the town’s houses were destroyed, along with two churches and half the school. Snug is home to the Channel Folk Museum. Snug Falls is nearby.

Surrounding Area

Bruny Island

Across the D'Entrecasteaux Channel a short drive south of Hobart, Bruny Island is effectively two quite different islands connected by a narrow neck of sand. With its wild seascapes and sweeping surf beaches, rich maritime history, abundant birdlife and wildlife, tall forests and historic lighthouse, Bruny is an island paradise in Australia's deep south.

Peppermint Bay

Peppermint Bay is home to Peppermint Bay Cruises, which operates cruises of the River Derwent and D’Entrecasteaux Channel on its luxuty catamaran. Cruises include general sightseeing, wildlife adventure around the shores of Bruny Island, or are available for charter.

Huon Valley

Travellers wanting a short cut across to the Huon Valley can take picturesque mountain road behind Woodbridge and Kettering. It passes through the Woodbridge Hill area, a 400 ha park characterised by rainforest vegetation and the presence of the rare Bell Everlasting. Woodbridge Hill, which rises 580 m above sea level, is part of the mountain range which runs between the D’Entrecasteaux Channel and the Huon River.