AUS-Tasmania-L Archives

From: "Beverly Lee" <>
Subject: Birth of Somerset Tasmania
Date: Sat, 5 Jun 1999 22:20:54 +1000

Hello List
I have been off the list for several months owing to a sudden family
crisis.
I would like firstly to thank the people who sent me certificates. As we
have
recently moved house I have not fully unpacked to get your address. It was
most kind of you both to take the trouble for me. Many, many thanks to you
both. If I can help you at any time please just ask.
Bev

I found the following most interesting and would like to share it with you
all.

SOMERSET TASMANIA
The Birth of a Town
 In 1860 an English engraver and his family boarded a ship for Australia to
begin a new life on the North West Coast of Van Diemen's Land. In the years
to follow, Thomas Wragg and his wife Emily and 10 children would lay the
foundations for what is now the township of Somerset.Wragg - who was also a
draughtsman and artist - was the son of an English solicitor and born and
educated in London.
The wraggs came to Australia on the "Great Britain", the biggest passenger
ship afloat in its day and first settled at Elliott.
About 1862, the family bought the first blocks of land on the west side of
the Cam estuary.
Wraggs had no aspirations to become a farmer. Instead, he built the first
house, school, store, post office and church in the settlement of Cam
which, by 1864, was officially called Somerset.
When he arrived at Cam, the country-side was covered with dense forest,
except for a few small clearings. He built his home - called "Alpha House"
(presumably as it was the first house in the town) - on the corner of what
is now Simpson St. and the Esplanade. The home also became the first shop
and post office and Thomas Wragg was the first post master general.
The first post mark issued from the post office in the early 1860s is
thought almost certainly to be from an unauthorised hand-stamp. The
Somerset Post office was officially approvedon November 2, 1864, but there
is substantial evidence that Wragg had his own stamp and was operating for
some time before then.
Nearby, Wragg built  the split-paling St barnabus Church of England, not
far from where the Cam Chalet-Motor Lodge is now. The church - the only
place of worship in the district for more than 20 years - was consecrated
by Bishop Francis Russell Nixon in 1862 on his last visit to the North
-West. Wragg acted as a reader and Sunday school teacher.
His wife Emily ran a small private school in a room of the church from
about 1862 till she gained sponsorship and received a salary from the Board
of Education in 1865.
By about 1870, Somerset comprised a cluster of cottages, a shop and a wharf
on the western bank of the river, acouple of homes and a licensed ferry
house on the Eastern shore. The main area of what is now Somerset was still
heavily forested. Many sailing ships were built on both sides of the Cam.
Today, there are still the remains of slipways and piles of the old wharf,
which Wragg owned. On the Cam's Eastern bank a township to be called port
Maldon - after the Essex (England) village - was planned by the V.D.L. Co.
However it did not eventuate.
The Tas. Meats complex at Camdale now covers a portion of what would have
been the "select" seaside blocks of Port Maldon.
By 1877, the combined population of the area was 150, although most people
lived in Somerset which now had two hotels - the Somerset and the ferry
House Inn - as well as sawmills and other industries.
The Cam was also the western boundary of the Van Deimen's Land Company's
20,235 ha Emu Bay grant. The Cam was  named after the English Cam River by
Henry Hellyer. Unless sealers beat him to it, Hellyer was probably the
first white man to sail into the river in May 1827.
Somerset was surveyed by Peter L Lette in 1856, but it was not known for
certain by whom or after it was named. It could have been named after
Somerset in England but it is reasonable to assume that Thomas Wragg may
have named it after the Duke of Somerset, the First Lord of the british
Admiralty (1859-66)
By the turn of the century, Somerset had become a thriving township.
Unfortunately, Thomas Wragg - the founder - was not around for much longer
to see any further developments. On June 16 1901 he accidently drowned in
the Cam River. "The Advocate" reported the event in great detail.

Extract from: The Weekender, Saturday January 26 1985.

There is a lot more information and several photos also.
If anyone is interested I will gladly photocopy and post to you.
No payment required.
Regards Bev

                                                                    

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• Birth of Somerset Tasmania by "Beverly Lee" <>