Hadspen is a town on the South Esk River in the north of Tasmania, Australia, south west of Launceston. Hadspen has few commercial establishments and is primarily a residential suburb of nearby Launceston. Most of the town's buildings are residential, and relatively recent. The town's population of just over 2000 has grown rapidly from only a few hundred in the 1960s, and there are development plans that call for its doubling.
Settlement began in the early 19th century as a cluster of houses on the Launceston side of the river, near a frequently-flooded ford. Over time various bridges were built, largely on the same site, across the river. Though it had been settled for some time, Hadspen was officially declared in 1866. Hadspen was originally on the main road from Launceston to Devonport, but the town's centre was bypassed in the late 20th century. There have been schools, both secular and religious, in its history, though none now remain.
The town has heritage-listed properties and few others from colonial times. The town's historic centrepiece is Entally House, built in 1819 as a wealthy settler's colonial estate. It was the former family home of Thomas Reibey, Premier of Tasmania from 1876 to 1877. The Red Feather Inn was built in the 1840s and is currently used for accommodation and also has an on-site restaurant. The Tasmanian Walking Company use the inn as their northern walker base. A gaol from the same time reflects Tasmania's convict past. The Uniting Church building dates back over 150 years, originally as a Wesleyan chapel, and the Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd is known for taking over ninety years to complete.
Geography Hadspen lies approximately above sea level, Southwest of Launceston, Tasmania. It is on the southern side of the South Esk River, near the confluence of the South Esk and Meander Rivers. The town is set in a rural landscape; Surrounding countryside contains valleys, river flood plains, remnant uncleared bush and undulating pastures.TRMPA, p.1 The majority of the town lies between the South Esk, and a low section of land east of the town called Beams Hollow, which is named after Thomas Beams, owner of a lot through which the road from Launceston first ran.
History As of 1831, there was a settlement named Hadspen near a ford of the South Esk River. A road was proposed from Launceston, crossing the river at this ford near Thomas Haydock Reibey's property of Entally. The name may have been given by surveyor George Frankland after Hadspen house and garden, an estate in Somerset, England. By the 1840s Hadspen was a small cluster of houses near "Reibey's ford", and the river crossing was now on the main road from Launceston. Hadspen Post Office opened on 1 November 1849, though the town was not declared in the government gazette until January 1866. A bridge was constructed in the early 1840s replacing the often impassable ford, and during the next century the bridge was often repaired and sometimes replaced.
In early years there were two Hotels: Cricket Club Hotel near the river, which was partly destroyed by flood in the 1870s and subsequently demolished, and Hadspen Hotel, a convict-built sandstone structure.Kelly, p.1 By 1881 both had closed and there were no hotels in the town. An application to re-licence a building opposite the Wesleyan church was unsuccessful. The Hadspen Hotel was a private home in the early 20th century and remains as part of the town's heritage. None of these hotels are open in the 21st century, the Rutherglen complex on the town's west is the only licensed premises. There was a brewery in the town for a time, though it has long closed.Kelly, p.3 The postal service from Hadspen originally was handled by a licensee operating from a shop, and subsequently from one of hotels. By 1966 the post office was in a separate building on the site of the former blacksmith's shop.Kelly, p.4
There was an early reference to churches in 1844 when the Examiner noted that Bishop Nixon "laid the foundation stone of a new church at Hadspen, Reibey's ford" though it is not stated which church. This church is likely to have been a small wooden one that was the first used by the Church of England. The then Reverend Thomas Reibey had a small stone chapel built at Entally in 1850. Though it was intended for the employees of the estate it was used by some in the town. From the 1870s Reibey himself conducted some of the services in this chapel. The Uniting Church building in Hadspen's main street is a small, weatherboard colonial church. There was a Wesleyan chapel in the town by at least 1852 as well as another small church.Dowling, p.367 In July 1874 the current Uniting church building was completed as a Wesleyan Chapel, that by 1924 was part of the Methodist church. The grounds the church is on were owned by the Wesleyans as early as 1865.
Schools In 1845, local members of the Church of England, as part of a petition calling for funding, stated that they had established a new school. By 1848, there was also a Wesleyan Sunday School with 20 students. By 1867, there was a secular state school in the town, though funding was inconstant and the school was closed for at least the next two years. This school never grew large; as of 1903 it had an average attendance of 20 students.
The school was still operating in 1937, though a public request had been made for regular transport to take children to the Hagley District School, in consequence of the Hadspen school's impending closure. Children from the town began attending the Hagley school in March 1938. By the middle of the same year a tender was approved by the Minister of Education for regular school transport. The transport was also for students from nearby Carrick, whose school closed in the 1930s.Stevenson, pp.26–27. The school building was finally removed; a tender in 1944 called for it to be removed and re-erected at Falmouth. Schools have also been run in other town buildings, including a hall near the Anglican church, that was used for worship before the church's completion, in what is now the Uniting Church and also in another building that later became a private home. In the 21st century there are no schools remaining in Hadspen.
Demographics Hadspen was a small town for most of its early life; its population in 1966 was 311.Census of Population and Housing, 30 June 1966, Commonwealth of Australia It grew quickly from the 1970s to the 1990s after subdivisions were developed in South Esk Drive and Roebourne Avenue. Over this period the population doubled. In the , 29% of the town's population was under 14—one of the highest proportions in Tasmania—and future forecast growth means that the town is expected to require a primary school. The population grew from 1,334 in 1991, to 1,848 in 2001, 1,926 in 2006, and 2,063 in the last census results in 2011. Within the town's current footprint its population is expected to reach 2,155 by 2016.Meander Valley Council, pp.10–11 The Meander Valley Council, in a March 2011 development plan, forecast Hadspen's population doubling over the subsequent two decades.
The town's population is almost entirely Australian-born; over 90% as of 2011 compared to the average for all Australia of less than 69%. In almost all (96.9%) of homes only English is spoken, again a contrast to the Australian average of 76.8%. Median income is slightly higher than the country's average and the unemployment rate is slightly lower.
Transport Hadspen was an important stop on the coach route from Launceston to Deloraine from at least the 1840s. The coach service declined from when rail transport started in Tasmania in the late 1860s. The State Government began operating a school bus from town, to Hagley, in the 1930s. Meander Valley Highway, formerly known as Bass Highway, passes through the edge of the town bypassing the old main street. Bass Highway, which connects Launceston, Burnie and Devonport, branches off from this east of the town at Travellers Rest and passes south of Hadspen.
In the 21st century the town has three bus services: Redline Coaches runs a daily school bus service that passes through Hadspen to many of the Schools in and around Launceston; Westbus, another private company, takes students to Hagley Farm School and onwards to Westbury Primary School; Metro Tasmania's public bus service connects Hadspen and the Rutherglen Holiday Village to the centre of Launceston.
Sport Cricket has been played in Hadspen, at Entally and grounds nearer the town's centre, since at least the 1860s.Results of cricket played by clubs based in Hadspen, and some matches by a Hadspen Ladies Cricket team were reported in many editions of the Examiner and Cornwall Chronicle newspapers from at least 1863. The cricket oval at Entally was one of the first in Australia and was hosting matches before Melbourne's foundation. During his side's 1874 tour of Australia the great English cricketer W. G. Grace played on the ground.Kelly, p.5 Aside from cricket Entally's grounds were often open for picnics and grand annual events.von Stieglitz (1968), p.39 The Hadspen Chieftains cricket club was formed in the 1987–88 season and plays as part of the Northern Tasmania Cricket Association. They won the association's A grade premiership in the 1991–92 and 1993–94 seasons, and the Charltons Cup Premiership—a combined competition with the North East Cricket Association—in the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons.
Entally house has been associated with horse racing though the activities of Thomas Riebey. For a while there was horse racing at Entally Park itself, and ninety horses were raced from Entally's stable. Two of these won wide acclaim: Stockwell was second in the Melbourne Cup and won the Carrick plate in 1881; Malua, stated by the Sydney Bulletin to be the "greatest horse of all time", won the Melbourne cup in 1884, though this was after his time at Entally.von Stieglitz (1968), pp. 41–42
Heritage properties Hadspen has buildings that are largely intact from colonial times,Meander Valley Council, p.68 some of which date from the early parts of the 19th century. The Red Feather inn, an adjacent convict-era gaol and four cottages form a cluster of heritage buildings in the midst of the town. The gaol is a sandstone structure that was used to overnight convicts.Dyer, p.6 The inn, gaol and watchmans's cottage, St Andrew's church and Entally House are all listed on the Tasmanian Heritage Register, a recognition of their "historic cultural heritage significance to the whole of Tasmania".
Entally House
Entally House is a heritage listed property on the western bank of the South Esk River. It, and the buildings of Rutherglen Holiday Village, are the only part of the town on this side. Entally is set on of grounds,von Stieglitz (1968), p.7 and contains a large colonial house, stables, a chapel, other outbuildings and several hectares of vineyards. The buildings are filled with indicative furniture and art of their time, including carriages and coaches in the coach house.NPWS, pp. 8–18