Bruni D'Entrecasteaux Monument at Gordon near Middleton

Middleton
Small village on the D'Entrecasteaux Channel
Middleton (located 50 km south of Hobart) and Gordon, which lies 4 km further south, are two tiny settlements on the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. Both villages are surrounded by orchards where apples, pears, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, black and red currants, gooseberries and blackberries are grown. In season the district is notable for its roadside stalls where the fresh produce is sold to passers by.

Both villages only hint at the prosperity the area enjoyed during the nineteenth century when timber cutting dominated the local economy.

First European contact with the area is recalled at Gordon where a large granite monument celebrates the explorations of Bruni D'Entrecasteaux. The inscription on the monument reads: 'To commemorate the visits to Tasmania in 1792-93 of Rear Admiral Bruni D'Entrecasteaux whose expedition discovered the Derwent River, Bruni Island, D'Entrecasteaux Channel, Port Cygnet, Port Esperance, Huon River and other inlets.'

After the settlement at Hobart Town in 1804 the area was explored but the only people to move in were itinerant whalers, sealers and timber cutters. They were mostly brutish men who lived simple, hard lives and treated the local Aborigines appallingly.

Permanent European settlement occurred between the 1850s and 1870s when it was still possible to buy land for only two shillings an acre. At this time there were large numbers of timber cutters in the district cutting down stringy bark, Tasmanian oak and swamp gums and dragging them to the local mills for processing.

In a book titled Pioneer Shipping, published in the 1850s, there is an interesting anecdote which illuminates the scale of the local timber industry around this time. 'Largest Length of Timber in the World - In 1852 a piece of timber 148 ft long 22 inches broad and 6 inches thick was pit sawn at Middleton, where John Watson had his slipway, for the Great Exhibition in London.

'This was loaded on the 'Emigrant' (Capt Kemp) and stretching out a good 14 ft behind the poop, was hailed by London newspapers as the 'Largest Plank in the World'.'

Things to see:  

Historic Accommodation
The Middleton-Gordon district was devastated in the February 1967 bushfires which killed 62 people, destroyed over 1400 buildings and burnt out large areas of the South West. Among the buildings destroyed was the old Middleton Hotel. One building which managed to escape the fires was Holly Tree Farm, a 1920s wooden residence overlooking the D'Entrecasteaux Channel which is now part of Tasmania's Country Accommodation circuit. It was originally built by one of the district's pioneering orchardists.