For pre purchase building inspections and registered builder in Tasmania.
lmgrant@iprimus.com.au or mobile 0407 865 866
I work statewide and specialise in remote areas such the trout fishing lakes wilderness and rural areas. I undertake consulting and management right though to design and build.
built episode 5
Oatlands Tasmania
Built with Mike Grant
Research/ script and production by Mike Grant Jan 2012.
Equipment.
Canon Eos 7d
EF L 17 - 40mm F4
EF L 300mm F4
Rode Video Pro compact shotgun
Zoom H2 Mini recorder.
Manfrotto 501 fluid head.
Camera Motion Control equipment all by self using Vantek RET 512 controllers and Ampflow E 150 motors.
Pan and Tilt Head ServoCity PT2100
Script.
hi folks welcome to another built. Today I'm looking at what could be the most intact Georgian town the british empire established anywhere in the world. I'm at Oatlands in the Australian state of Tasmania and I'm asking the question, is economic stagnation the best way to preserve old buildings.
In 1810 Lachlan Macquarie took up the position of Governor of New South Wales and only a year later was in Tasmania surveying the country. This is what he found - grassland and open forest that could be immediately populated with sheep.
By the 1830's Oatlands had been established on on the banks of Lake Dulverton and the ample supply of sandstone ensured that the town would be built out of it. In those early years the town received a large number of public facilities including a gaol, court house, churches etc
Whilst Oatlands is surrounded by some of the best fine merino country in Australia but it does not have a diverse production base. Thirty minutes up the road is Campbell Town the third of the towns recommended by Lachlan Macquaire. Its sits on the edge of some of the best broad acre river flat cropping country in Australia so the bulk of rural infrastructure was attracted there.
During the years from 1830 to 1876 Oatlands had been a main stop of the coaching route between Hobart and Launceston and it was during these years that many of the private sandstone buildings were built including a large number of inns and lodging houses. With the coming of the main train line this all stopped. The train line passed well to the east of Oatlands leaving the town quite and isolated. A branch line was built but not being on the main line meant a sluggish micro economy.
With the advent of the motor car Oatlands again become a stop for traffic between the north and south. But again the town was eventually bypassed and today the traffic races pass leaving the main street very quite.
So a combination of land that is predominatly sheep country the by passing of the railway and the bypassing of the road has resulted a slow economic history.
In the 1960's the town began to attract attention for its intact colonial Georgian architecture. Higher wages in the cities and an increase in leisure time meant middle class people were becoming more interested in their past. The 1970's saw a fascination with family histories and for the first time finding a convict in the family was something to be celebrated. The Scenery Preservation Board and later the National Trust took up the challenge to protect the built history.
With increased leisure time the tourism industry slowly become established. It was the tourist that offered a new opportunity for towns that progress had left behind. This occurred in most developed countries around the world.
In an irony it is the very lack of economic development that presents the opportunity for a new form of development.
But the new, lets call it restoration development was very as slow to happen. The fantastic operating flour mill Callington mill is the product of up to forty years of planing, reports, studies, conservation plans, funding applications, business plans, unrealized dreams, disappointment and only very recently realization.
Is economic decline the best method of preservation? have your say - make a comment. My next two posts are in production - one will look at what I believe is the most sustainable building material and the other will look at an ugly building. If you enjoyed these posting subscribe, click the thumbs up and tell a friend.
5 окт 2024
