Exerpt from "The Cyclopedia of Tasmania" Printed 1900.
Kindly supplied by Peter Clark.

The steamers that call at Port Cygnet proceed down the Channel to Port Esperance (which is only forty miles from Hobart) and Southport. Port Esperance is basin-shaped estuary on the western shore, its entrance being over a mile wide, and the basin being some three and a half miles from east to west, and two and a half miles from north to south, with from ten to thirty fathoms of water to within a short distance of the shore, there being fifteen feet at the jetty leading to the township - Dover. An island and two islets lie across the bay inside the entrance, towards the jetty. They are named Hope (its sixty-five acres of basaltic soil utilised as a neat farm), Faith and Charity. The bay is a charming place for boating and fishing, and there is a small fleet of locally owned yachts and pleasure boats. There is good sea fishing and boating either in the harbour or up the Narrows. There are pleasant walks in all directions, especially to Blubber Head, Glenburvie, Strathblane, and up the different tramways belonging to the timber mills. There is a giant tree here near Mr. Clennett's mill - "Big Ben" by name - which should be visited; it is hollow inside; circumference outside, 96 feet; inside, 66 feet; height, 260 feet. Adamson's Peak rises boldly at the back of the settlement to a height of 4017 feet. The Ida Bay caves, near Southport, can be visited from here, returning same night. The whole of the Huon district can be reached by the main road.

Exerpt from "The Cyclopedia of Tasmania" Printed 1900.
Kindly supplied by Peter Clark.

The township of Franklin was laid out by the wife of Sir John Franklin, the then Governor of the colony after whom it was named. The first to settle in the district was Thomas Walton who took up land afterwards named "Inlet Farm" in 1839. Other early residents were Messrs. H. Judd, Parsons, Kellaway, Clark, Hay, Thorp, Lloyd, Ballantyne and Geeves. At the turn of the 20th century, Franklin was the largest township in the Huon district, and one of the centres of the fruit industry, growing large quantities of apples, pears and other small fruits. Franklin is twenty eight miles south of Hobart, situated on the left bank of the Huon River. Franklin was the centre of the electoral districts of the Huon and Franklin for the Legislative Council and House of Assembly respectively, returning one member each. As of 1900 Hon. John Watchorn was the representative of the Council, and the Hon. B. S Bird, Treasurer, was the Assembly member. Originally there were two churches, a State school, post and telegraph office, stores and other traces of civilization. Communication with Hobart was maintained daily by coach and by steamer every other day.

Exerpt from "The Cyclopedia of Tasmania" Printed 1900.
Kindly supplied by Peter Clark.

The steamers running to Geeveston and South Franklin did not call at Port Cygnet, but proceeded up the estuary of the Huon to Hospital Bay on the southern shore. The Kermandie River, in which there was good trout fishing, falls into the head of the bay; and a mile and a half from its entrance are the tramway and jetty, with fifteen feet at low water, where the produce of the Messrs. Geeves' sawmills at Geeveston was shipped. The western headland is Shipwright's Point, and here a conveyance met the steamer to convey the tourist three miles over a good road to Geeveston, the centre of an important timber and fruitgrowing district. The township owes its name and origin to Mr W.M Geeves, a native of Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire, who, with his three sons, started in January 1850, to carve a home out of the primeval forest, and, six months later had established a little colony of thirty seven souls. Geeves died in 1863 but his three sons, Messrs John, Stephen and Osborne Geeves were still living by the turn of the century and their descendants ran into a second century. There was no hotel in Geeveston, by desire of a majority of the residents; but the extensive accommodation and well-kept table of "Hillcrest" left nothing to be desired by those in search of a rest and health resort; and Geeveston was coming into prominence as a popular resort, not only for visitors, but for denizens of the capital. An excellent specimen of the timber that led the Messrs Geeves to select this spot was preserved in a giant gum tree, some 250 feet in height and 38 feet in circumference, which bore a tablet of the date of the visit to Geeveston of Sir John and Lady Lefroy, at whose request it was spared from the ordinary fate of all "Big Timber".

From Geeveston there are many excursions that will give pleasure. The tramways into the timber forests, rich in ferns and undergrowth, run back for over three miles. The falls on the Kermandie River are only six miles distant, and can be made the occasion of a charming bush picnic. Excursions may be made from Geeveston to Flight's Bay, backed by the forest-clothed foothills, terraces and gorges of the table-topped Mount Tongataboo, rising to 1000 feet above sea-level; to Port Esperance, thirteen miles distant by land, and other points of interest. Geeveston is the terminus of the daily Huon coach to Hobart, which leaves at 8.30am, and arrives in Hobart at 3.45pm. The coach halts for lunch at Longley, eleven miles from Hobart. The clean and cosy wayside inn is situated in a valley close the North-West Bay River, which is stocked with brown trout. Fruit is plentiful, and to Longley is a popular driving excursion from Hobart.

Exerpt from "The Cyclopedia of Tasmania" Printed 1900.
Kindly supplied by Peter Clark.

Huonville is 23 miles from Hobart and was originally named "Victoria" but was changed as mail headed for Victoria, Melbourne was often sent to Victoria, Tasmania by mistake. An English writer at the turn of the century once wrote:

"Here at last we are fairly in apple land. Apples, apples everywhere, but not a drop of cider to drink. Down to the very margin of the river, spread the orchards, planted with wonderful accuracy, and bearing manifest signs of careful culture at all times of the year, and especially when in the autumn they are laden with fruit. On either side of the river rise lofty hills and mountains, partly cleared and covered with luxuriant orchards, above which tower the lofty giants of the Tasmanian forest.
The river here is wonderfully beautiful, bearing, if any comparison can be made between things so distinct as English and Tasmanian scenery, some resemblance to the Thames between Bray and Surley Hall. The trees and foliage are, of course, utterly different, but there is a sense of glorious and yet peaceful repose which does, I think, naturally suggest the comparison to one who has seen both. It must not, however, be thought that there are orchards all the way. Much of the land is still in its primitive condition, and most of the orchards are to be found in the neighbourhood of Huonville, Franklin, Geeveston, Port Esperance and Port Cygnet (on the left bank of the river in a bay near its mouth). But here and there, all along the road to the sea, wherever a settler has placed his homestead, there, too, will you find an orchard, cultivated with the same attention and care as in the larger centres of 'Apple Land'."

The Huon Bridge, which spans the river at Huonville, is a fine structure, and has proved an immense boon to the residents of the district, as well as to all visitors, and it adds much to the picturesqueness of the spot. The Picnic Hotel affords excellent accommodation for visitors, and there are also stores, a church, etc in the township.

Exerpt from "The Cyclopedia of Tasmania" Printed 1900.
Kindly supplied by Peter Clark.

Five miles from Huon Island the steamer left the broad estuary of the Huon to turn northward up a smaller estuary, at the head of which Port Cygnet is situated, fifty-five miles by water from Hobart, though only thirty-five miles by the land route. Entering the vehicle that meets every steamer, a half-mile drive brings the tourist to Harvey's Commercial Hotel. Hot and cold water baths, a well-kept table, large fruit garden, fruit and home-made jams ad lib., well stocked fish-coils, kept about three-quarters of a mile from the hotel, a good billiard table, vehicles for excursions through miles of orchards or to forest and fern-gully scenery, boats, nets, lines, and boatman at command, and a cheery host, who is a walking encyclopedia of information about the Huon district. Every desire is shown and facility afforded the visitor to gather information as to the scenery and resources of the district, and he will probably succumb to the temptation to prolong his stay, and will leave with the intention of returning on some future occasion. The departing guest has the choice of four steamers a week, or the daily coach overland to Hobart, met at Huonville by a conveyance from the hotel.