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Ross: The most famous Convict built village of Australia |
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Latest News 20/8/2008 Ross Has been awarded Tasmania's Tidiest town and won the Australia's Top Heritage and cultural award for 2007-2008 Naturally by staying in one of the cottages the visitor will have the ideal opportunity to soak up the atmosphere of the Ross historic village. A most popular pastime for visitors to this English style village is simply strolling the elm tree lined streets absorbing its atmosphere and history. Soak up the serenity of a close friendly community, delight in the wonderful variety of convict built sandstone homes in which they live. Never heard of Ross? It has been included in the federal government's list of significant places of Australia as the "Most significant convict village in Australia". During 2005 it was rated as one of the top ten most wanted to visit places in Australia! You still wonder why you haven't heard much about the village? We are only a small intimate historic village of just over 300 people. Real estate is hard to find here. The businesses are all owned by small operators, no national chain-owned businesses here. We don't have the massive budgets of other parts of Tasmania. We (the village) rely on our strong reputation of authentic history, quality service, peace and tranquillity, word of mouth is our best form of promotion. The village can't afford other forms of glamorous promotion. Many people change their itineraries during their stay in Tasmania to visit Ross. They hear from other tourists while they are travelling as to how lovely Ross is. Trouble is, their accommodation is sometimes pre booked elsewhere. Good thing is, we get them staying with us when they return to Tasmania. Our advice to the reader, book with us BEFORE you visit Tasmania, you know then that you have your home in this superb village. This is our unofficial list of attractions and businesses in the village. It is our own description and not sponsored by anyone. Its aim is to give the potential guest staying with us and idea of what they can expect in the village. We don't guarantee any businesses' opening hours or products will always match what we have stated here. We have put this page together as a response from requests from guests to get a brief list of what is in the village. Hope it is helpful Eating out in Ross Ross is a famous place for day tripping from all over the state. By late afternoon the day visitors have reluctantly moved on. There is a wide choice of places to eat through the day. In the evenings, there is still a good choice, but not all outlets stay open. Once settling in to your cottage you may decide you don't want to leave. Guests staying in the cottages often decide to buy something from one of the takeaway or bakeries and reheat in the oven or microwave. Some outlets provide a reheat-able takeaway. Ross Wood fired bakery For 300 population, we have two thriving bakeries. Located opposite our Ross B&B Accommodation, it makes convenient choice for day snacks, real coffee. The bakery is eat in or take away. We recommend the breads, a wide choice usually available. and for some parts of the year gourmet pizzas cooked in the wood fired oven. The later is usually available Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Licensed Old Ross General Store and Bakery Also a great bakery, Jimmy and his staff make a mean scallop pie. A wide range of other pies and pasties are also available. Like the wood fired bakery, they provide eat in or take away and has alfresco or inside dining. A section of the store also carries a range of groceries and convenience store lines. Man O Ross Hotel Country Hotel counter meals are available for mid day and evenings. Ross newsagency and Takeaway The business name explains all. They also have a small range of grocery lines. This is the place to go to for the fish and chips, BBQ chickens etc. They don't usually close till early evening, so you could get something to take back at the cottage. Ross tearooms For the traditional coffee/tearooms, this business also has an art gallery Shopping and attractions Tasmanian Wool Centre A quality shop combines with a wool and local history museum. Click here to see their site The Scottish shop Located across the road from the B&B, popular place for lovers of Scottish and quality goods The Lolly shop and ice creamery Also located opposite the B&B, nice Antique shops A large collection of antiques, collectables and gifts shared among three Antique shops Ross Female factory Once the site for female convicts, now visitors can view the last remaining building to experience a powerful display of its history. Open daily, admission free Click here for more information Our Ross Bridge This is undoubtedly our most famous icon. In fact one of the most famous icons of Tasmania. So what is all the fuss? Click here for more about Ross Bridgehere Ross Post office This very attractive stone building offers more than a place to post your mail. Its worth a visit. Accommodation in Ross Ross B&B Accommodation and the Colonial Cottages of Ross are the best places to stay if you wish to be centrally located in the village and enjoy the comfortable historic accommodation. Click here for our main page Our Convict History Tasmania was a draw card for early European settlement for several reasons. Access to the southern waters for seals and whales was one. Excellent farming districts for stock and grain to feed the rest of the colony added to the appeal to settle. The third reason, the island was ideal to send convicts to. The size allowed security of the convicts to be more manageable. A road was needed between the North and South of the state. White man had discovered the original aboriginal inhabitants had already carved trade routes throughout the state. One such trade route was between the Launceston district in the North and the "Hobart Town" district in the South. This trade route is now called the "Heritage Highway". The best source of labour to construct the road was convicts. The cheapest convicts to use needed less supervision, so low security convicts were used. Places like Ross were set up at river crossings along the route. The convicts could build and maintain the road and river crossing (in our case the famous convict built bridge). The convicts also had to build the accommodation for themselves and the officers in the village. As sandstone was more readily available than other building materials, a lasting legacy of convict built sandstone buildings now provide the visitor with an amazing experience. These early European settlers aimed at recreating a familiar environment to them. It is no mistake that the village is English in style complete with English Elms, cottage gardens and quaint Georgian style cottages. The famous Ross convict bridge with all its carvings holds visitors spellbound. It is one of the most recognised tourism icons of Tasmania. Click here for more about the Ross Bridge 12
Church Street Click here for more about Ross Bridge
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