Ross Tas: what to see, where to stay and how to get around

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Ross began in the 1810s as a military post guarding a ford on the Macquarie River, on the road between Hobart and Launceston, and it has stayed a village of a few hundred people ever since. Almost everything worth seeing lies within a ten-minute walk: a convict bridge, a crossroads with a story on each corner, three churches and the site where convict women were held. Give it a slow morning or an evening on foot; the shops close early, so start with the bakery.

A short history of Ross Tas

Ross is a small village in central Tasmania, on the road between Hobart and Launceston. In 1821 Governor Lachlan Macquarie named it after an estate in Scotland, and it became a military post on the Macquarie River. In 1836 the stone bridge, built by convicts, was completed here, and the convict Daniel Herbert carved 186 reliefs of faces and symbols on its arches, for which he was granted a pardon. From 1847 to 1854 the village had a "Female Factory", a station for female convicts and their children. Today a few hundred people live in Ross, and most of its old stone houses stand as they were.

The ten best sights in Ross Tas

1
Ross Bridge
Walk under the arches on the riverbank to see the carvings close up
2
Ross Female Factory
A field, a cottage and signboards; free, and better than it sounds
3
Tasmanian Wool Centre
Museum and wool shop in one; also the village's visitor information
4
Ross Uniting Church
At the top of the elm-lined Church Street; the classic photo of Ross
5
St John's Anglican Church
A sandstone church at the north end of the village
6
Red Bridge
In Campbell Town, right under the highway; park and walk down to the river
7
Convict Brick Trail
Read the bricks in the Campbell Town footpath: name, crime, sentence
8
Woolmers Estate
Convict-built farm and a big rose garden; about fifty minutes north
9
Brickendon Estate
Still a working farm, next door to Woolmers; do both together
10
Callington Mill
In Oatlands, half an hour south; the sails turn when the miller is working

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What is an audio walk?

Tours in Ross Tas →

A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Ross Tas:

Free walking tours in Ross Tas

The bridge and the four corners

Ross Bridge · Finished in 1836, the bridge carries 186 carved stones along its arches: faces, animals and symbols cut by the convict masons James Colbeck and Daniel Herbert. Their work on it earned both men pardons.
Tasmanian Wool Centre · The Midlands around Ross are merino country, and the fine wool grown here has long been sold to the best mills in Italy and Japan. The centre's museum explains the trade, and the shop sells it as jumpers and blankets.
Man O' Ross Hotel · The crossroads in the middle of Ross is known as the Four Corners: Temptation is this hotel, Salvation the Catholic church, Recreation the town hall and Damnation the old jail.
Ross Uniting Church · The church stands at the top of Church Street, at the end of an avenue of English elms. Planted by settlers who wanted the colony to look like home, elms like these now line many old Tasmanian village streets.
St John's Anglican Church · Ross was laid out as a small Georgian town, and its churches were built of the same local sandstone as the bridge. St John's, at the quiet north end, shows how much of the village is still 19th-century stone.
Ross Female Factory · From the late 1840s to 1854 convict women were held here, many with babies, and hired out as servants to the farms around. Only the overseer's cottage still stands; the cells and the nursery are traced by archaeology in the grass.

North to the convict farms

The Midland Highway north of Ross runs through sheep country that convicts helped build, brick by brick and fence by fence. In Campbell Town they made the bricks of the bridge; near Longford they worked as assigned labour on the farms of free settlers, and two of those farms are now on the UNESCO list. This route is a full day by car out and back, about an hour each way to Longford. The estates have café meals, but check opening days in winter.

Red Bridge · Convicts built the bridge over the Elizabeth River in 1838 from bricks they made themselves, well over a million of them. It still carries the Midland Highway and is often called the oldest brick arch bridge in Australia still in use.
Convict Brick Trail · Each brick set into the footpath carries the name of a convict sent to Van Diemen's Land, with the crime and the sentence. Many were transported for small thefts — a handkerchief, a sheep, a loaf.
The Grange · In 1874 a team of American astronomers set up their instruments in the grounds of this house to watch the transit of Venus across the Sun, at the invitation of its owner, the doctor and amateur astronomer William Valentine.
Harold Gatty Memorial · Harold Gatty was born in Campbell Town in 1903 and became one of the great air navigators. In 1931 he and the pilot Wiley Post flew around the world in eight days and fifteen hours, a record at the time.
Woolmers Estate · Thomas Archer, a free settler, founded Woolmers in the 1810s, and for generations the family ran it with assigned convicts who lived and worked on the farm. The house, cottages and farm buildings survive almost untouched.
Brickendon Estate · Brickendon was founded by William Archer, Thomas's brother, and is still farmed by his descendants. With Woolmers it forms one of the eleven Australian Convict Sites, chosen to show how most convicts actually served: as farm labour, not behind walls.

South down the old coach road

Before the highway, the road from Hobart to Launceston was a coach road through small stone towns, and the stretch south of Ross keeps that feeling best. It passes one of the grand Midlands houses, a Georgian town with a working windmill, and the river valley where early settlers gave the land names from the Bible. Half a day by car, about forty minutes each way, an easy add-on to the drive from Hobart.

Mona Vale · This private mansion, built in the 1860s for the Kermode family, is said to be a calendar house: 365 windows, 52 rooms, 12 chimneys and 7 entrances. It is a private estate, so look from the road and respect the gates.
Oatlands · Oatlands is often said to have the largest collection of Georgian sandstone buildings of any town in Australia, most of them along the main street. Many were built by convict and ex-convict masons in the 1830s and 1840s.
Callington Mill · The windmill was built in 1837 and stood idle for most of the 20th century. It was restored and began grinding flour again in 2010.
Lake Dulverton · The shallow lake on the edge of Oatlands is a conservation area, and a path runs along its shore below the town. Waterbirds gather here in the dry Midlands, where open water is scarce.
Jericho Probation Station · The story goes that an early soldier, carrying only a Bible and the Arabian Nights, named the places along this road. Whoever did it, the valley has a Jordan River, a Jericho, a Bagdad and a Lake Tiberias, and the convict station was named after its town.
Ross Village Green · Back in Ross, the green runs down to the Macquarie River, named after Lachlan Macquarie, the governor of New South Wales who named the village itself when he passed in 1821.

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Getting to Ross Tas and getting around

Launceston Airport · About fifty minutes by car up the Midland Highway
Campbell Town · Coaches between Hobart and Launceston stop here, ten minutes north of Ross

Cheap eats in Ross Tas

Ross eats like a village on the main road: two bakeries famous across Tasmania, one pub, and little else after dark. The bakeries are the reason many drivers stop, for scallop pies, curried scallop being a Tasmanian speciality, and for the vanilla slice. For anything more, Campbell Town is ten minutes north and Oatlands half an hour south. Come to the bakery early on weekends, before the coaches.

Ross Village Bakery · Pies, vanilla slice and bread from the wood oven, about A$6-15
Bakery 31 and Convict Coffee · The second bakery-café on the main street, about A$6-15
Man O' Ross Hotel · Counter meals in the village pub, mains about A$25-35
Red Bridge Cafe · By the bridge in Campbell Town; coffee and lunch about A$10-22
Callington Mill café · Next to the windmill in Oatlands; buy a bag of the mill's flour
Evandale Sunday Markets · Sunday morning stalls and food vans; a coffee and a bite about A$10-15

Museums in Ross Tas

Tasmanian Wool Centre · The history of Ross and of merino wool; give it forty minutes
Ross Female Factory · Free, with the story told on boards and in the cottage
Campbell Town Museum · Small local museum in the visitor centre
Woolmers Estate · Guided house tours and the convict farm buildings
Brickendon Estate · Self-guided walk through the farm village

Nature and day trips near Ross Tas

Lake Leake · Highland lake for trout fishing and quiet; a licence is needed to fish
Lake Dulverton · A shoreline walk and birds below Oatlands
Ross Village Green · River bank and old trees by the bridge
Woolmers Estate · The National Rose Garden, at its best in late spring and summer

Things to do in Ross Tas with kids

Ross Village Bakery · Ghibli fans: the bakery leans into the Kiki story
Ross Bridge · Hunt for the carved faces under the arches
Convict Brick Trail · Read what each convict did to be sent here
Callington Mill · Watch the sails and the grinding stones at work
Ross Village Green · Space to run and a river to look at after the bakery

Holy places in Ross Tas

Ross Uniting Church · On the hill at the end of the elms; open most days
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church · Salvation, on the Four Corners
St John's Anglican Church · Sandstone church on the north side of the village
Christ Church, Longford · A colonial church on the convict-farms day

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Frequently asked questions about Ross Tas

What is there to see in Ross Tas?

The top sights in Ross Tas are Ross Bridge, Ross Female Factory and Tasmanian Wool Centre. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.

How many days do you need in Ross Tas?

Three to four days are enough to see the best of Ross Tas without rushing, including at least one walking tour.

Is there a free walking tour in Ross Tas?

Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Ross Tas, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The bridge and the four corners.

How do you get to Ross Tas and get around?

The main ways are Launceston Airport and Campbell Town. Full details are in the transport section on this page.

Where to stay in Ross Tas, and for how much?

sleepntrip shows only rooms in Ross Tas that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.

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