Festival & Events

Launceston, Tasmania?s second-largest city, is situated at the confluence of the North and South Esk Rivers, where the Tamar River begins its journey to Bass Strait. Often described as the State?s northern capital, it?s a city of graceful streets adorned by elegant Victorian and Edwardian facades and surrounded by beautiful countryside. Rich wheat and wool merchants once built their mansions and villas where visitors now enjoy bed and breakfast. On Sunday afternoons they and their families would walk the short distance to the tree rhododendrons, fern glades and spacious lawns of the Victorian park at Cataract Gorge. Today at the Gorge, peacocks still mew here, bands still come and play in the bandstand, and thrill-seekers abseil the steep rock faces. Back in the city proper, visit the Waverley Woollen Mills, established in 1874 and still weaving fabrics from fine Tasmanian merino wool. Admire the skill and subtlety of some of Tasmania?s best wood craftspeople in the Wood Design Collection at the Design Centre of Tasmania, or visit the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, which holds a fine collection of colonial art at its Inveresk site holds a fine collection of colonial art and incorporates the Launceston Railway Workshops, while the Royal Park site features a Chinese temple

and a planetarium.