The South of Tasmania

7 January 1988 and 23-26 November 2024

Following the Huon River from Huonville to the small township of Franklin, the road, passing Dover on the bay of Port Esperance, reaches Southport, the southernmost gazetted township in Australia. Not far from there is Hastings Caves, a complex of caves and natural hot springs. The road ends at Cockle Creek, the farthest point south one can drive in Australia, and a walk along the beach brings you to Fishers Point, the southernmost point in Australia. Returning to Huonville and heading east, the D'Entrecasteaux Channel can be crossed to Bruny Island, the birthplace of Truganini, one of the last full-blooded Tasmanian Aboriginal women, who died in 1876; a lookout point overlooking the island is named after her. Bruny Island offers spectacular views along its rugged coast.

The Huon River in Franklin, a small township in the south-east of Tasmania, between Huonville and Geeveston.

The Last of the River Steamers, moored in Franklin: SS Cartela was built in Battery Point by Purdon and Featherstone and launched in 1912.

View of the bay of Port Esperance in Dover, the southernmost town of its size in Australia, located on the western shores towards the Southern end of the d'Entrecasteaux Channel.

View of the Deephole Bay in Southport, the southernmost gazetted township in Australia.

Kingfish Beach Road in Southport, the southernmost gazetted township in Australia.

The Southport Hotel & Caravan Park, the “Last Stop in Tassie”.

The old railway station in Ida Bay, on the road from Southport to Cockle Creek.

Pigsties Bay, Recherche, 6 kilometres north of Cockle Creek.

View of Recherche Bay from Adams Point, on the Fishers Point Track, Cockle Creek, the farthest point south one can drive in Australia.

View of Recherche Bay from Adams Point, looking northeast, on the Fishers Point Track, Cockle Creek.

An impressive bronze sculpture of a southern right whale, located at Adams Point on Recherche Bay, Cockle Creek.

View of Recherche Bay from the Fishers Point Track, Cockle Creek.

The ruins of Fishers Point Pilots Station at the end of the Fishers Point Track, on Pancake Bay, near Cockle Creek.

View northwest from Fishers Point across Pancake Bay, at the southernmost point in Australia.

View south from Fishers Point on Pancake Bay, at the southernmost point in Australia.

The Cygnet Hotel along the Channel Highway in Cygnet, a quaint town between the d'Entrecasteaux Channel and the Huon River.

St James' Catholic Church and St James Catholic College in Cygnet, in the Huon Valley, south of Huonville.

View to Huon Island in the Huon River and the d'Entrecasteaux Channel at Verona Sands.

View from Lennon Road, leading to the ferry terminal, looking north across Barnes Bay, on North Bruny Island.

View to the mainland (Tinderbox Beach) from Dennis Point, on the north point of Bruny Island.

Bales of hay, on a farm along Bruny Island Main Road, on North Bruny Island.

View from Truganini Lookout on The Neck, to South Bruny Island.

View to the southwest point of South Bruny Island from the lookout in Mount Mangana Forest Reserve.

View to Fluted Cape and Penguin Island on South Bruny's east coast, from Adventure Bay.

View of Fluted Cape on South Bruny's east coast, from the Grass Point Track, Adventure Bay.

Coal Point, on Adventure Bay, the site of coal mining operations from 1876 to c.1891.

Cape Bruny Lighthouse at 114 metres tall, on the south-western edge of the cape on South Bruny Island. It is the second oldest extant lighthouse tower in Australia, as well as having the longest (158 years) history of being continuously manned. It was first lit in March 1838 and was eventually decommissioned on 6 August 1996. The project was commissioned by Governor George Arthur in 1835 after a series of shipwrecks south of Bruny Island and construction began in April 1836. The lighthouse was built by convict labour using locally quarried dolerite over two years. In the foreground the ruins of the light-keeper's house.

View of Jetty Beach, on the north coast of the Labillardiere Peninsula in the southwest of South Bruny Island.

Boulders on Lighthouse Jetty Beach, along the Labillardiere Peninsula Circuit in the southwest of South Bruny Island.

View from the Lighthouse Road to Lighthouse Bay, and Cape Bruny Lighthouse, on South Bruny Island.

View from below Cape Bruny Lighthouse, looking northwest to Courts Bay, in the far south of South Bruny Island.

View of Cloudy Bay, on the south coast of South Bruny Island.