Forth, Tasmania
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| Forth Tasmania |
|
| Population: | 349 |
| Postcode: | 7310 |
| Location: |
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| LGA: | Central Coast Council |
| State District: | Braddon |
| Federal Division: | Braddon |
Forth is a small village located in northwest Tasmania on the Forth River, 11 kilometres (7 mi) west of Devonport and 110 kilometres (68 mi) northwest of Launceston via the Bass Highway. At the 2001 census, Forth had a population of 368.[1] Previously known as Hamilton-on-Forth, the village predates the larger settlement of Devonport.[2]
[edit] History
James Fenton, a young man of Irish descent came to the Forth estuary in 1839 in search of arable land. Assisted by his hired male companion, he erected the first European edifice in the district, and in 1840 returned to take up permanent settlement. He was soon to be followed by Andrew Risby, wife and young family and a handful of other settlers seeking a new life.[3]
Fenton expended large sums of money attempting to drain the esturine swamplands which he hoped would produce ideal cropping fields. This venture failed and he resorted to moving further inland to the rich, although heavily timbered soils of the sloping ground to the west. Fenton is attributed to introducing the practice of ring-barking the large eucalyptus trees to allow light to penetrate the forest floor where the first domestic crops were grown. The district produced fine crops of potatoes in those early years.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). Forth (L) (Urban Centre/Locality). 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved on 2008-04-29.
- ^ Forth, The Sydney Morning Herald, February 8, 2004.
- ^ a b F. C. Green, Fenton, James (1820 - 1901), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 4, Melbourne University Press, 1972, pp 162-163.
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