Deddington, Tasmania

Deddington
Tasmania
Deddington
Coordinates 41°37′S 147°25′E / 41.617°S 147.417°E / -41.617; 147.417Coordinates: 41°37′S 147°25′E / 41.617°S 147.417°E / -41.617; 147.417
Postcode(s) 7212
Location
LGA(s) Northern Midlands
State electorate(s) Lyons
Federal Division(s) Lyons

Deddington is a town near Evandale in Tasmania, Australia. The town is situated on the Nile River and lies in the foothills of Ben Lomond.

History

The first inhabitants of the Deddington area were Tasmanian Aborigines (Palawa) and the land around Deddington was country belonging to the Ben Lomond Nation.[1] Aboriginal artifacts indicating land use (hunting) and seasonal camps have been found along the Nile River and Patterdale Creek. It is uncertain which clans had specific use of the area but the Plindermairhemener clan is referred to as occupying the western South Esk region.[2][3] The Palawa name for the Deddington locality, specifically the 'Nile River at Deddington,' was weetacenner (wee.tac.en.ner).[4] It is likely that the Deddington area was a hunting ground as well as part of the seasonal migratory route for both the Ben Lomond Nation clans and also clans from the North Midlands Nation who visited the Ben Lomond plateau in summer.[1][5] Settlers were granted land around the site of the current town in the second and third decades of the 1800s. James Cox was granted land at Nile, Anthony Cottrell to the North at Gordons Plains, and Massey was granted land to the south. It is likely that stockeepers and timber-cutters moved in advance of settlers to the fringes of the Ben Lomond escarpment and up the South Esk Valley. Stockeepers both negotiated with and came into conflict with the members of the Ben Lomond and North Midlands Nations as they migrated and hunted over the Deddington area. As settlement encroached further up the South Esk valley during the 1820s the area became contested ground and there are several records of members of the Ben Lomond and North Midlands Nations spearing workers in the Deddington region until late in the Black War.[6]

John Batman and Anthony Cottrell were both involved in Roving Parties, essentially bounty hunters contracted to 'conciliate' aboriginal tribespeople. John Batman, in particular, made numerous forays from his home at Kingston, near Deddington, following the aboriginal clans up the South Esk Valley to the South and East of Ben Lomond. John Batman describes in his letters of July 1830 how he had dispatched women of the Ben Lomond Nation along tracks around their 'usual haunts' around Stacks Bluff and to Pigeons Plains -the Nile Valley near Lilyburn Bridge, north of Deddington.[3]

By the 1840s the remnant peoples of the Ben Lomond nation had long been exiled to Flinders Island and there was sufficient settler population in the Deddington area for a chapel to be constructed above the Nile River. Local legend has it that the artist John Glover built the chapel but it is likely that the chapel was erected by the land donor and Rev. Russell from Evandale.[7] John Glover is buried in the cemetery.[8] Services for the emerging town and rural area were instituted from the 1860s when the town area was circumscribed. Deddington Post Office opened on 1 December 1862 and closed in 1970.[9] A school opened in Deddington in early 1865, at the chapel, at the urging of Rev. Russell and the first teacher employed at 50 pounds a year.[10][11] By mid 1866 land had been set aside for police barracks and a constable was permanently stationed in the town.[12] Perhaps coincidentally the Deddington Inn was licensed in December of the same year. In 1882 a correspondent to the launceston Examiner newspaper stated:
"Deddington contains one hotel and store combined, a brick building, a smithy, post-oflice, and about a dozen other buildings."[13]

By 1980 the town centre had declined with the post office, school and shop long closed. The Deddington Inn burnt down in 1980 and now the town, and rural area, is serviced by the nearby town of Evandale.[14]

Notable residents

The artist John Glover was granted land in the area at Patterdale creek. John Batman lived nearby at Kingston Farm on the Ben Lomond Rivulet

References

  1. 1 2 Ryan, Lyndall (2012). Tasmanian Aborigines : a history since 1803. Crows nest: Allen&Unwin. ISBN 9781742370682.
  2. ↑ Plomley, NJB (1976). A word-list of the Tasmanian aboriginal languages. launceston, Tas: Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. ISBN 0724601988.
  3. 1 2 Kee, Sue (1991). Aboriginal archaeological sites in North East Tasmania. Hobart: Dept. of Parks, Wildlife and Heritage. ISBN 0724617620.
  4. ↑ Plomley, Brian (1992). Tasmanian Aboriginal Place Names (Occasional paper 3 ed.). Hobart: QVMAG. p. 91.
  5. ↑ Plomley, Brian (1988). "1988 ELDERSHAW MEMORIAL LECTURE BEN LOMOND: HISTORY AND SCIENCE".
  6. ↑ [Trove.nla.gov "The Country Post - Ben Lomond"] Check |url= value (help) (No. 37). The Hobart town Courier. 15 Nov 1828. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  7. ↑ "The Nile Chapel". Deddington Online. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  8. ↑ "The Nile Chapel". Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  9. ↑ Premier Postal History. "Post Office List". Premier Postal Auctions. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  10. ↑ . The Launceston Examiner. 2 February 1865 http://trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 2 April 2015. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ↑ "The Mercury". 22 July 1865. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  12. ↑ . Launceston Examiner. 25 July 1866 http://trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 2 April 2015. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. ↑ 'Flaneur' (9 Dec 1882). [trove.nla.gov.au "From Launceston to Ben Nevis"] Check |url= value (help). Launceston Examiner. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  14. ↑ Deddington UK http://www.deddington.org.uk/tasmania/today. Retrieved 2 April 2015. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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