Austin's Cottage

Bridgewater (including Granton and Austins Ferry)
Once an important causeway, now a commuter suburb of Hobart
Located only 19 km north of Hobart, Bridgewater is located on the main north-south crossing of the Derwent River. As such it has been an important market town and is, today, a developing commuter suburb.

Originally known as Green Point it is likely that Bridgewater was named as a simple description of the causeway which was built across the shallow section of the river. Construction commenced in 1829. By any measure the Causeway was a remarkable achievement. 1.3 km long, it was built by a workforce of 200 convicts who had been condemned to secondary punishment. These convicts, using nothing but wheelbarrows, shovels and picks and sheer muscle power, shifted 2 million tonnes of soil, stones and clay. It is said that the punishment for not doing a full day's work was to be sentenced to solitary confinement in a cell which was only 2 m high and 50 cm square.

Upon completion of the causeway, a ferry or punt operated across the deep section of the river. The first bridge at this point across the Derwent was opened in 1849 and the town, which had been laid out on the southern side of the river, was moved (down to the last surveying detail) to the northern bank. It is still possible to see the original town plan near the Old Watch House. The settlement on the southern side of the river was originally known as South Bridgewater but is now known as Granton.

The present bridge across the Derwent was started in 1939, interrupted by the war, and completed in 1946. It lifts up to allow large vessels to pass. The original bridge was a turntable which swivelled to allow passing traffic through.

Things to see:  

The Old Watch House
The Old Watch House, now a service centre at the southern end of the causeway, was built by convicts in 1838. Behind the building is the quarry which was used to provide the fill for the causeway. The building contains the notorious solitary cell which was used to punish convicts building the causeway.

Black Snake Inn
Nearby is the Black Snake Inn (ask at the Watch House for directions) which was built by the convicts who were constructing the causeway. It was opened in 1833 and operated until 1860.

Hestercombe Chapel
About 5 km back towards Hobart on the old Hobart Road is the suburb of Austins Ferry, within the municipality of Glenorchy. At Austins Ferry is Hestercombe Chapel which was built in 1833 by the Hobart merchant, Henry Hopkins. It is the oldest Congregational Church in Australia. This tiny, isolated building has a fireplace (an indication of how cold it gets in winter) and a tiny organ. It is easy to miss as it is grey and unimpressive. There is a simple asceticism to the building.

Austin's Cottage
Also at Austins Ferry (in James Austin Park) is a small and simple cottage, built by James Austin in 1809 on his release from custody. As such it is one of the oldest buildings in Australia. Austin had been transported to Port Phillip in HMS Calcutta in 1803 and then transported to Van Diemen's Land in 1804. His crime was the theft of beehives valued at thirty shillings. He named the cottage Baltonsborough Cottage after the village of his birth in Somerset, England. In 1816 James Austin and his cousin James Earl established the first trans-Derwent ferry service which remained the main transport route from Hobart Town to Launceston until completion of the Bridgewater causeway.

	Hotels
	Derwent Tavern Midland Hwy Bridgewater TAS 7030 Telephone: (03) 6263 7243
	Restaurants
	Bridgewater Pizza "Cove Hill Fair" Cove Hill Rd Bridgewater TAS 7030 Telephone: (03) 6263 5655
	Derwent Tavern Midland Hwy Bridgewater TAS 7030 Telephone: (03) 6263 7243