Tasmania’s Forgotten Towns: A Road Trip into the Past
Tasmania’s Forgotten Towns: A Road Trip into the Past
Tasmania is filled with charming towns, heritage buildings, and quiet corners of history that many visitors never hear about. While popular destinations like Hobart, Launceston, and Freycinet get most of the spotlight, the island’s forgotten towns offer a slower, deeper kind of adventure—one filled with colonial ruins, abandoned mining settlements, and preserved glimpses of life from another time.
With a hire car and a flexible itinerary, you can set out on a road trip that connects these off-the-beaten-path gems. This is Tasmania for the curious traveller—where the journey is as fascinating as the destination.
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Why Explore Tasmania’s Forgotten Towns?
Unlike other road trip destinations packed with crowds and tour buses, these towns invite you to slow down. Many were once thriving hubs for industry, farming, or convict life. Today, they’re windows into Tasmania’s past—often with incredible architecture, bushland surrounds, and stories carved into stone.
Exploring them by car means you can hop from town to town, detour to heritage sites, or stop wherever the view (or the ghost town) calls.
Road Trip Route Overview
Start in Hobart, travel north through the Midlands, then veer east or west depending on how much time you have. Many of these towns are within a 1–3 hour drive from major cities, making them perfect for weekend escapes or longer loops.
Must-Visit Forgotten Towns in Tasmania
1. Ross
Distance from Hobart: ~1.5 hours
This beautifully preserved convict-era town feels like a living museum. Walk the cobbled streets, visit the Ross Bridge (built by convicts in 1836), and stop at the famous Ross Bakery. It’s quiet, historic, and still feels like the 19th century in the best way.
Don’t miss: The Female Factory, one of the original convict women’s prisons in Tasmania.
2. Oatlands
Distance from Hobart: ~1.25 hours
Oatlands boasts the largest collection of sandstone Georgian buildings in Australia. It’s a great town to walk through, photograph, and soak up old-world atmosphere. It once sat on the main route between Hobart and Launceston—now it’s a peaceful detour.
Highlights: Callington Mill, original convict-era cottages, and quirky antique stores.
3. Queenstown
Distance from Hobart: ~4.5 hours (or part of a west coast loop)
Queenstown is raw, weathered, and wrapped in history. Once a booming mining town, its moonscape hills and gritty character make it a unique stop on a west coast road trip.
Don’t miss: The West Coast Wilderness Railway, historic pubs, and eerie mining relics on the outskirts.
4. Mathinna
Distance from Launceston: ~2 hours
This tiny, near-forgotten town was once a bustling gold mining hub in the 1800s. Today, it’s mostly quiet bushland and ruins—but that’s the charm. A true ghost-town feel, surrounded by forest.
Fun fact: It’s named after a young Aboriginal girl taken in by Governor Sir John Franklin and his wife—her story adds a haunting depth to the area’s past.
5. Weldborough
Distance from Launceston: ~2 hours northeast
This old tin mining town has mostly vanished, but the pub remains—and it’s legendary. Surrounded by lush rainforest and ferns, Weldborough is a peaceful place to pause, hike nearby trails, or learn about the tin mining history that shaped the area.
Combine with: A drive through the Blue Tier Forest Reserve for scenery and short walks.
6. Derby
Distance from Launceston: ~1.5 hours
While Derby has reinvented itself as a mountain biking hotspot, its roots are still visible in the old buildings and museums. Once one of the richest tin mining towns in the country, it collapsed after a dam disaster in 1929.
Good for: A mix of history, recreation, and great coffee.
7. Gormanston and Linda
Distance from Queenstown: ~15 minutes
These two near-abandoned settlements were once part of Tasmania’s west coast mining boom. Today, they sit mostly empty—crumbled buildings, wide skies, and an eerie sense of the past frozen in time.
Best experienced: As part of a Queenstown-to-Lake Burbury drive.
8. Liffey
Distance from Launceston: ~1 hour
Known mostly for its nearby falls, Liffey was once a small farming and forestry town. It’s the kind of place you might pass without noticing—but if you stop, you’ll find charm in the old bridges, cottages, and quiet nature that surrounds it.
Tips for Exploring Historic Towns by Car
Fuel up before remote legs—some of these towns don’t have petrol stations.
Check for local museum hours—many are volunteer-run and open limited days.
Respect abandoned sites—if a building looks unsafe, admire from a distance.
Support local—grab coffee, pie, or souvenirs from small-town cafes and markets.
Download offline maps—mobile reception can be patchy.
Take the Road Less Travelled with YesDrive
Tasmania’s forgotten towns offer something that guidebooks and big tours rarely do: space, silence, and stories. With a hire car from YesDrive, you have the freedom to explore them on your own terms. Whether it’s for the weekend or a longer heritage loop, we’ll help you get there—comfortably and confidently.
Book your car hire with YesDrive and discover the towns time left behind, one scenic drive at a time.
