Prologue to Mary Street, Cygnet Early survey maps of Port Cygnet show a road extending from a jetty situated across from Burton’s Reserve and extending north. This road is as old as the town itself. One such map, dated 3 October 1848, was drawn up soon after the convict probation station at Port Cygnet was abandoned. It shows that land was cultivated on the western side of Agnes Rivulet and around where the rivulet branches into two streams. The rest of the land was uncultivated bush. By the mid-‐‑1850s, there were between twenty and thirty houses in the district. A map from this period shows where two hotels were situated: the Bush Inn in modern-‐‑day Charlton St. and the Port Cygnet Hotel next to the main road near the site of the future Town Hall. For an unknown reason, the main road on this map carries the name Frances St. No maps or plans exist showing where buildings such as shops and schools were situated in the township during the second half of the nineteenth century. The earliest surviving photograph of the main road, dating from the late nineteenth century, is reproduced on the cover. It gives a glimpse of buildings extending from the Catholic schoolhouse northwards. This image reveals that land on the eastern side of the main road had been cleared of bush. However, no constructions are visible on that side of the road north of the schoolhouse. Most building occurred on the western side of the main road. We can clearly see the schoolhouse, built in 1885, the old Methodist church built in 1879, the Catholic church opened in 1867 and the presbytery built in 1882. Small, square weatherboard houses with verandas line the road. A paling fence has been erected either side of the main road, which appears as a dirt track bordered by rudimentary footpaths. One surviving building from the period this photograph was taken is the Commercial Hotel built in 1884. Built the same year, the Huon Hotel was out of range on the eastern side of the main road. The decade from 1910 until 1920 saw an unprecedented development in erecting buildings near the main road in the town. Just prior to the beginning of this period, a panoramic photograph was taken of the centre of Port Cygnet extending from Charlton St. to the Huon Hotel. This photographic triptych, published in the Weekly Courier on 26 August 1909, reveals that three buildings near St. James church already existed: the old Post Office built in 1889, Balfour House built in 1907 and the Cygnet branch of the Commercial Bank of Tasmania completed in 1909. Robert Harvey’s commercial stores, built in the months following the fire of February 1909, can be seen north of the Commercial Hotel and the fruit factory opposite, dating from the same time. South of the hotel, it is possible to see a building right next to the hotel and a hall built in 1888 on the corner with Charlton St. The 1909 photograph proves that the houses near the future Health Centre were already there by that date. In the decade following the year when this panoramic scene was captured, new buildings, mostly of brick, were erected alongside the main road. According to the Land and Titles Office, 1910 is the year of construction for most of these buildings. It is an educated guess in the absence of documentary proof. The exact year of construction is known in some cases. For example, the Red Velvet Lounge building has the year 1912 on the pediment. The courthouse in front of the Town Hall was opened in January 1912. Newspaper reports show that the Town Hall was built in 1914 and the Port Hole in 1916. Soon after 1909, the Newsagency and the Southern Swan, formerly the Green Inn, were erected. The Imperial Hotel at the top end of the township was finished and open for trade in 1910. The name Mary St. was given to the main road in 1915 following the suggestion of Matthew Fitzpatrick. It honours Queen Mary, the consort of King George V. The name of the main road is thus a hundred years old.
This history of life on the main road of Cygnet is indebted to newspaper accounts. It concentrates on the first half of the twentieth century, specifically until 1954. The reason for this cut-‐‑off date is due to the digitisation of newspapers, which ends that year as far as the Mercury is concerned. Information on Cygnet can be found in a regional newspaper, the Huon Times (1910-‐‑1933) and its continuation, The Huon & Derwent Times (1933-‐‑1942). The Illustrated Tasmanian Mail (1921-‐‑1935) contains numerous illustrations linked to Cygnet for that fourteen-‐‑year period. For the twenty-‐‑ year period between 1943 and 1963, no regional newspaper for the Huon was published. After 1964, brief articles on Cygnet can be occasionally found in the Huon News or The Huon Valley News as it was renamed in 1993. For the period from 1955 until the present, oral testimony is the major source of information. Numerous inhabitants or former inhabitants of Cygnet have passed on their memories extending as far back as the 1930s. One oral testimony has been consulted in book form, Recollections of a Centenarian (2008) by Aileen O’Rourke. Some buildings near Mary St. have been omitted from this history: the Carmel Hall, the Convent, St. James church and the presbytery. The reason is that these sites have already been examined or will be examined in other volumes in the series. One building, now demolished, has been included even though it was situated on Cradoc Rd. and not Mary St. This shop and bakery at the north of the town was so near the main road that it could not be ignored. The first part of this book examines buildings on the eastern side of Mary St. from the intersection with Charlton St. as far north as the R.S.L. building. The second half looks at buildings on the western side of the street from Charles St. to the Bed & Breakfast, Cygnet’s Secret Garden. Buildings covered include those still standing as well as those that have been demolished or simply burnt down, on purpose or by accident. Fires have threatened the township on multiple occasions, notably the summers of 1854 and 1898. The town was spared at the time of the 1967 bush fires. However, much material of historic value in outlying districts was destroyed. Despite all the fires, manmade or otherwise, and trips to the tip by residents, this book brings together surviving photographic evidence of life in Mary St. over the last hundred years. Photographs of people who lived, worked, or spent their leisure time on the main road of Cygnet have been collected and illustrate these pages. Capturing the lives of these people has been the driving force behind this history of a Tasmanian country town.
