ST STEPHEN'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, WYNYARD

Our beautiful old Church, 90 years old this year, of which there is a movie here, a collection of photographs here, and the drawing shown above, is located in one of the most stunningly gorgeous islands in the world.

Tasmania, formerly the second penal colony of Australia, has the oldest Anglican Diocese in Australia and spawned the state of Victoria on the other side of the Bass Strait. The first people who settled in Tasmania from about 1804 onwards were a mix of free settlers and convicts. Their descendants, now up to 8th or 9th generation Tasmanians, are well represented in the population of Wynyard, now approaching 5000. Their ancestors settled in this area around the time the Van Diemen's Land Company set up its headquarters at Stanley, in the 1820s.

Anyone who loves the natural world finds Tasmania restful to the soul, and especially good for walking and fishing. And photography! These are just a few snaps taken around Tasmania – in the area close to Wynyard (a seaside town in the north west), as well as in the Wilderness, down the West Coast, across the Midlands, on the east coast and north east, and in Hobart itself.

Click a picture to see a larger view

While much of Tasmania is mountainous, Wynyard itself, being flat throughout, with beautiful firm beaches for walking, close to agricultural land (so like areas of southern England), is popular with retirees. Yet it is only a matter of minutes to drive to Table Cape, an extinct volcano, with breathtaking views inland and along the coast to Low Head in the north east. A further short drive along the Tollymore Road gives views west along the coast past Boat Harbour Beach, Sisters Beach and Rocky Cape to The Nut at Stanley.

All the way round are views of mountains – Black Bluff, the Dial Range, east to the Asbestos Range, and so forth. Cradle Mountain is a drivable day-trip out. And yet Wynyard is not crowded – there are only about 5000 residents, although the hinterland of Wynyard and Waratah has around 13,000 people all told, many out in the farms and bushland behind Wynyard.

Information about Wynyard can be found here.

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