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Stanley

Situated in the remote north west of the state, Stanley is an historic town at the base of The Nut.

The town was established in 1826 as a company town for the Van Diemen's Land Company, the original European leaseholder, which once owned 140,000 ha in the area. Although the company sold most of its land in 1851, it still operates the nearby Woolnorth property, home of a wind farm. The Highfield property, which overlooks Stanley, was the headquarters of the company and is still largely intact and open for public inspection.

Originally known as Circular Head, which is still the name for the area, the town was officially gazetted as Stanley in 1842. The town was once a thriving port, service and administrative centre until services were moved to nearby Smithton in the early 1900s. Stanley is the birthplace of Joseph Lyons, Australia's only Tasmanian-born Prime Minister, whose cottage is open for public inspection.

Stanley is one of my favourite places in Tasmania, although it's always windy and I can't get ABC Classic FM! The caravan park is situated on the beach.