The Examiner reporters Rob Shaw, Hamish Geale and Josh Partridge uncover the purpose of some of Launceston's more obscure landmarks. Video by Rod Thompson
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00:00 Hello everyone, Alonceston has some real mysteries.
00:07 You know, there are plenty of kind of things around that you see every day, but you actually
00:11 might stop to go, what is that actually for?
00:14 And so I'm joined today by Trash Partridge and Rob Shaw and I thought we'd play a quick
00:22 game of what are we looking at here?
00:25 So first up we have got this spectacular kind of grandstand style thing in Royal Park.
00:35 Rob Shaw, what are we looking at here?
00:38 Well I think as Don McLean says, you drive a Chevy to get to it.
00:44 It is Alonceston's favourite levee.
00:45 And it goes a long way round doesn't it?
00:49 It's not just that far, it goes all the way round to protect the CBD from flooding.
00:54 I actually think it was better for the use that I used it for in college and that was
00:57 just sitting there doing absolutely nothing in my study breaks.
01:00 That is what it's used at a fair bit for during the school year, but I like my use of it a
01:07 bit better than the flood levee I think.
01:08 It is most patronised by Alonceston College students.
01:12 Is there a way that it could be actually repurposed to, you know, if you're going to turn it around
01:19 it could be an excellent grandstand for rugby.
01:22 Do you think they moved the grandstand from Invermay Park, didn't they?
01:27 When they redeveloped York Park they moved the grandstand, I think it was Cameron Tyson's
01:32 stand and they moved that to Invermay Park.
01:34 But really this is quite an out to be reused for some sort of sporting event.
01:38 That would be excellent.
01:41 What are we looking at here?
01:42 Now this is a bit of a tricky one, so as you're coming back on the, I'm going to say, southern
01:50 outlet into, I don't know what highway that is, but it goes past Franklin Street and you've
01:56 got like Maitland up the top and it's kind of at the start of Bathurst.
02:00 You've got this crazy kind of like fenced off kind of paddock in the city.
02:04 Now what actually is that?
02:06 You go Rob, I've got no idea what it is.
02:10 Ham, I'm only here because you mentioned you want to go down the pub in work time and drink
02:14 beer and have a conversation.
02:16 I'll throw the question back at you now because you've done your homework on this.
02:20 So tell us exactly what it is because we all drive past it and look at it and it's got
02:24 a wonderful bit of graffinography to it.
02:26 It's got that sort of mural on the side of it.
02:28 And I know that a few years ago when there were open buildings around Launceston for
02:32 a day, this was one of the most popular places.
02:35 Everyone wanted to go there.
02:36 So what exactly is it?
02:37 Well, I've done a bit of research.
02:39 I always thought it was just kind of like an unused, you know, kind of green space.
02:43 It could have been an excellent, you know, kind of playground spot.
02:46 You could go in there and play a bit of footy or something because it's always lush.
02:50 But no, it is, I guess, quite similar to the first one.
02:55 It's like a flood basin.
02:58 So if there's too much rain and the stormwater kind of thing in kind of Margaret Street can't
03:05 take it all, it's got to go somewhere so that things don't go into the tamar, which should
03:10 be in the tamar.
03:12 Such a technical definition of what it is.
03:15 I like to use a really technical language to really.
03:19 Yeah.
03:20 Yeah.
03:21 So that's number two.
03:22 Any, any comments on that part, man?
03:23 No, as you said, it just looks like it should be used for like a dog park or a place where
03:27 you can go and keep the footy.
03:28 But obviously it's got a pretty technical use as you just perfectly described it.
03:33 Last one.
03:34 What are we looking at here?
03:38 Rob Shaw.
03:39 I understand that you know a fair bit about what this thing is.
03:43 I'm going to send messages for these as a character if you're up.
03:46 So explain where we are.
03:47 Right.
03:48 So we're at the top of Cumberland Mill Hill up near the hall.
03:53 And we're kind of looking at this big kind of rocket ship kind of missile with some string
03:59 on the side, 18 metres tall.
04:02 What is it Rob Shaw?
04:04 Well, if it is what I think you're talking about, I think it's part of the old Semaphore
04:09 station.
04:10 Correct.
04:11 So there used to be a Semaphore system between Longseston and Georgetown.
04:15 I think Georgetown used to be the capital of the state.
04:17 And it meant you could get a message very quickly.
04:20 The next one I believe is Mount Direction.
04:22 And from Mount Direction you can then see Mount George, which overlooks Georgetown.
04:26 So you could get a message from Georgetown to Longseston in double click time, which
04:30 is how I still send messages.
04:32 I don't use mobile phones.
04:34 I prefer to use Semaphore on them.
04:36 It's less complicated with the thumbs.
04:38 But I know that there's a similar system in Hobart, between Hobart and Port Arthur.
04:44 So when a convict escaped from Port Arthur, I understand that they could get a message
04:48 to Hobart within 15 minutes just by using the Semaphore stations on each of the hills.
04:53 So I think that's it.
04:55 You think that's what it's for.
04:56 Now, obviously the excellent kind of things about sending out text messages is that you
05:01 can have like emojis.
05:03 You know, how do you kind of, how do you get across a feeling?
05:10 I don't know.
05:11 I haven't never actually really sent Semaphore.
05:14 I know it's all done with flags and the position of the flags, which make letters.
05:18 So it's a bit like Morse code, a visual Morse code.
05:21 But yeah, I've never really thought about a Semaphore emoji.
05:25 Yeah, well, I think it's probably something that has to be looked into.
05:30 That's all we've got time for today.
05:32 If you have any other, I guess, like landmarks that you don't know what they're for, we would
05:37 love to hear about them.
05:39 So please stay in touch and we'll sign off with the usual.
05:44 Thanks very much.
05:45 Thanks for inviting me.
05:46 Cheers.
05:47 Cheers.
05:48 My pleasure.
05:49 Great.
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