History

Brighton's history recorded for first time

FOR the first time a book has been written on Brighton and the surrounding area's history.

Dr Alison Alexander was approached by Brighton Council to write Brighton and Surrounds: a History of Bagdad, Bridgewater, Brighton, Broadmarsh, Dromedary, Elderslie, Mangalore, Old Beach, Pontville and Tea Tree.

The book was launched by the Hon. Lara Giddings at Pontville on 5th December 2006.

Using the Archives Office of Tasmania, the State Library, the Brighton Historical Society and personal interviews to source information, Dr Alexander said the book covered just about everything in the area's history. "Council activities, education, religion, sport, disasters, transport and external things such as war are all aspects covered in the book," Dr Alexander said. "Brighton was essentially a farming district up until the 1960s when the main road was widened and straightened and vastly improved transport to the area. "This led to a huge increase in population; it nearly doubled, as people could now commute to Hobart. "Between 1820 and 1950 Brighton had a population of 2,000 and it has grown to 14,000 today."

Highlights of Dr Alexander's research into the history of Brighton were the aerodrome and the army camps. "In 1931, the first airline service started in Tasmania and used a paddock in Brighton to land," Dr Alexander said. "Run by Charles Kingsford Smith, the airline also stopped at Launceston on the way to Melbourne with the whole trip taking a day. "The service lasted almost a year before it went broke. "The site of the aerodrome was then used as an army camp and had many uses, including the housing of migrants, especially Poles after the war."

It took Dr Alexander 18 months to write Brighton and Surrounds and she found it particularly interesting because one of her ancestors had a farm at Brighton. A freelance historian, Dr Alexander has used her qualifications and experience in Tasmania's history to write 20 commissioned histories of Tasmanian institutions.

Brighton and Surrounds is available from the Brighton Council Offices, 1 Tivoli Road, Gagebrook. (Ph: 6268 7000) The book is priced at $69.00 (Inc GST). The book is also available from booksellers in Hobart and the Brighton Post Office.

The Brighton Council area is very rich historically with what we now know as Pontville being first penetrated by early Royal Marine patrols soon after the arrival of Governor David Collins at Sullivans Cove on 21st February 1804.

In 1821, Governor Lachlan Macquarie visited the island. In the course of a tour of the country, he selected sites for five townships, one of which was Brighton, being so called in honour of the favourite place of residence of King George IV.

As early as 1822, twelve months after Macquarie's visit, Brighton was being spoken of as the future capital of Tasmania. Although considered again in 1824 and 1825 the proposal was dropped and in 1826 became a Mlitary Post on the main Launceston to Hobart road.

The Council itself held its first meeting on 19th November 1863. Some one hundred and thirty years later saw significant changes as a result of the number of Councils in Tasmania being reduced from forty six to twenty nine. With this "amalgamation" of Councils saw the "loss" of sixty one per cent of rural land comprised mainly of Broadmarsh, north of Pontville to Bagdad and parts of Tea Tree to the Southern Midlands Council.

The Municipal area of the Brighton Council altered significantly as a result of the "modernisation" process in 1993. Located approximately 25 kilometres north-east of Hobart, the municipality is bordered by the municipalities of Derwent Valley, Southern Midlands and the City of Clarence and is traversed by the Midland Highway, the major corridor linking the north and the south of Tasmania. This highway links with the East Derwent Highway which extends south towards Clarence or over the Bowen Bridge into the Cities of Glenorchy and Hobart..

The larger residential areas within the municipal boundaries are Brighton, Old Beach, Bridgewater, Gagebrook and the historic precinct of Pontville. Tea Tree remains the only predominantly rural area.

Prior to the early 1970's, Brighton was principally a rural municipality, but with the establishment of public housing estates in Bridgewater and Gagebook together with private development and a building boom in the Old Beach and Brighton township areas in the late 1980's and early 1990's, the municipality is now considered to be a small urban Council.

In recent years, commercial development has taken place in Bridgewater and Brighton township and it is hoped this trend will continue.

Brighton Council continues to set new standards of achievement in local government in Tasmania and has shown what can be achived by the local community and Council working together.