Solomon Blay “The Hangman” Solomon Blay was found guilty in England in 1837 for the crime of counterfeiting coins at the age of 20. After serving time in hard labour he applied for the most hated position in the colony, the job of hangman. The Colony’s Executioner Blay served in the role for 50 years,…

The Heritage Highway stretches from Hobart to Launceston, but the coolest and most significant places along it are Kempton, Oatlands, Ross and Campbell Town. The township of Oatlands was established in 1821. Oatlands is located on a turnoff from the Midlands Highway, some 85 kilometres north of Hobart. Governor Lachlan Macquarie named Oatlands because the…

The gaols in Britain were over crowded. Transportation to the new colony was the sentence of choice for the magistrates. For convicts sent to the end of the world their punishment was seen as a death sentence. The life of a convict was certainly tough in early days of penal settlement of Van Diemen’s Land.…