TASPort & river
Ross
A highway crossing left an extraordinary stone bridge.
1821Town named · Macquarie River crossing
WHAT STARTED IT
Ross developed where the Hobart–Launceston route crossed the Macquarie River. The named town of 1821 served road traffic, a military presence and the surrounding pastoral district, with coaching services and government activity supporting growth.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
The convict-built sandstone bridge opened in 1836. Its unusually elaborate carvings made a practical transport structure a lasting landmark. Wool growing remained important in the surrounding Midlands.
TURNING POINTS
1821Ross named as a town.
1836Sandstone bridge opens.
1848Female Factory begins operating.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A small heritage town whose stone buildings, bridge and wool-country setting make its nineteenth-century road-and-pastoral origins easy to see.