Stanley, Tasmania
Encyclopedia
Stanley is a town on the north-west coast of Tasmania
, Australia
. Travelling west, Stanley is the second-last major township on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Smithton
being the larger township in the Circular Head
municipality. According to the 2006 census
, Stanley had a population of 458.
In 1825 the Van Diemen's Land Company
was granted land in north-western Van Diemen's Land, including the Stanley area. Employees of the company from England settled in the area in October 1826.
It was named after Lord Stanley
, the British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
in the 1830s and 1840s, who later had three terms of office as British Prime Minister.
A port opened in 1827 and the first school opened in 1841. The Post Office opened on July 1, 1845 but was known as Circular Head until 1882.
In 1880 the first coach service between Stanley and Burnie
was established.
In 1936 a submarine telephone cable
from Apollo Bay
to Stanley provided the first telephone to Tasmania
from the mainland.
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Today Stanley is a tourist destination and the main fishing port on the north-west coast of Tasmania.
The most distinctive landmark in Stanley is The Nut, an old volcanic plug
discovered by the explorers Bass
and Flinders
in 1798, who officially named it Circular Head. It has steep sides and rises to 143 metres with a flat top. It is possible to walk to the top of The Nut via a steep track or via a chairlift.
Tourists regularly travel to Highfield (a farming region on the north west of the township) to view the picturesque northern beaches with The Nut in the background.
The port on the southern side of The Nut is also a regularly used fishing spot.
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Travelling west, Stanley is the second-last major township on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Smithton
Smithton, Tasmania
Smithton is a town in the far north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. It lies on the Bass Highway, 85 km north-west of Burnie. At the 2006 census, Smithton had a population of 3,361. Smithton is the administrative centre of the Circular Head Council...
being the larger township in the Circular Head
Circular Head
The Circular Head Council is a Local Government Area of Tasmania. It covers the far north-west corner of the state mainland.The major centres of the municipality are Smithton, on the north coast; Stanley, east of Smithton; and Marrawah on the west coast...
municipality. According to the 2006 census
Census in Australia
The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...
, Stanley had a population of 458.
History
Van Diemen's Land Company
The Van Diemen's Land Company was created in 1824, received a Royal Charter in 1825, and was granted 250,000 acres in northwest Tasmania in 1826...
was granted land in north-western Van Diemen's Land, including the Stanley area. Employees of the company from England settled in the area in October 1826.
It was named after Lord Stanley
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, KG, PC was an English statesman, three times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and to date the longest serving leader of the Conservative Party. He was known before 1834 as Edward Stanley, and from 1834 to 1851 as Lord Stanley...
, the British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
The Secretary of State for War and the Colonies was a British cabinet level position responsible for the army and the British colonies . The Department was created in 1801...
in the 1830s and 1840s, who later had three terms of office as British Prime Minister.
A port opened in 1827 and the first school opened in 1841. The Post Office opened on July 1, 1845 but was known as Circular Head until 1882.
In 1880 the first coach service between Stanley and Burnie
Burnie, Tasmania
- Sport :Australian rules football is popular in Burnie. The city's team is the Burnie Dockers Football Club in the Tasmanian State League.Rugby union is also played in Burnie. The local club is the Burnie Rugby Union Club. They are the current Tasmanian Rugby Union Statewide Division Two Premiers...
was established.
In 1936 a submarine telephone cable
Submarine communications cable
A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean....
from Apollo Bay
Apollo Bay, Victoria
Apollo Bay is a coastal town in southwestern Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the eastern side of Cape Otway, along the edge of the Barham River and on the Great Ocean Road, in the Colac Otway Shire. The town has a population of 1380....
to Stanley provided the first telephone to Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
from the mainland.
The town today
The most distinctive landmark in Stanley is The Nut, an old volcanic plug
Volcanic plug
A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic landform created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When forming, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of pressure if volatile-charged magma is trapped beneath it, and this can sometimes lead to an...
discovered by the explorers Bass
George Bass
George Bass was a British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia.-Early years:He was born on 30 January 1771 at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, the son of a tenant farmer, George Bass, and a local beauty named Sarah Nee Newman. His father died in 1777 when Bass was 6...
and Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
in 1798, who officially named it Circular Head. It has steep sides and rises to 143 metres with a flat top. It is possible to walk to the top of The Nut via a steep track or via a chairlift.
Tourists regularly travel to Highfield (a farming region on the north west of the township) to view the picturesque northern beaches with The Nut in the background.
The port on the southern side of The Nut is also a regularly used fishing spot.
Notable people born or raised in Stanley
- Joseph LyonsJoseph LyonsJoseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...
- The tenth Prime Minister of AustraliaPrime Minister of AustraliaThe Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
. - Jim Willis - Australian botanist.
- Bill MollisonBill MollisonBruce Charles 'Bill' Mollison is a researcher, author, scientist, teacher and naturalist. He is considered to be the 'father of permaculture', an integrated system of design, co-developed with David Holmgren, that encompasses not only agriculture, horticulture, architecture and ecology, but also...
- Founder of the PermaculturePermaculturePermaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that is modeled on the relationships found in nature. It is based on the ecology of how things interrelate rather than on the strictly biological concerns that form the foundation of modern agriculture...
movement.
Climate
External links
- http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=1&ti=1,1&Search%5FArg=stanley%20tasmania&Search%5FCode=FT%2A&SL=None&CNT=25&PID=10229&SEQ=20070713181152&SID=1Early map of Stanley at National Library of AustraliaNational Library of AustraliaThe National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
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