As I wrote earlier, it was impossible this morning to find a place to worship, but this was not the case for all our fellow campers. The campsite was full of followers of other gods: Holden and Ford. Their worship was up the road at Symmons Plains where the V8s meet. Their incense would be the smell of petrol and burnt rubber. The followers, dressed up in their finery of jackets and caps heralding their faith, and with flags flying, left the camp ground with evangelical zeal and sallied north.
We on the other hand went south and discovered two amazing treasures. In Colebrook, formerly Jerusalem, the RC church was designed by Sir Augustus Pugin. It is a simple gothic building of sandstone, oak and pine. Pugin who designed many of Britain’s important buildings in the C19th in the neo gothic style had time to design a number of churches in NSW and Tasmania. It seems that the Bishop in the new colonies was a mate of his.
In another, even smaller town, Buckland, the Anglican Church has a beautiful stained glass window that reputedly comes from Battle Abbey near Hastings in the UK. The provenance is quite strong.
These are just two examples of numerous treasures in small Tasmanian towns. I have mentioned the Ross bridge, but there are also amazing convict built bridges in Campbell Town and Richmond. There are Georgian sandstone houses, small settler dwellings and buildings such as barracks and government offices converted to other uses. Towns such as Oatlands, Ross and Richmond have main streets that hearken back to the colonial era.
For anyone who likes history and scenery it is hard to bypass Tasmania.
The RC church in Colebrook (top)
The stained glass window in the John the Baptist Anglican Church, Buckland
Travels from Ur 