Pontville is a rural locality in the local government areas (LGA) of

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and

Southern Midlands Southern Midlands is a local government body in Tasmania, covering the southern region of the Tasmanian central midlands. Southern Midlands is classified as a rural local government area and has a population of 6,118, the major localities of ...

in the

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

and

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

LGA regions of

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. The locality is about north-west of the town of

. The

2016 census Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film dir ...

has a population of 623 for the state suburb of Pontville. It is a small rural community north of

, in the south-east of Tasmania.

History

Pontville was sited by Governor Lachlan Macquarie, in 1821, and was an early garrison town, where convicts built the bridge over the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...

. During World Wars I and II the area had a major army camp. There is an old sandstone bridge in Pontville that lies on the Jordan River. The bridge is part of the Midland Highway. A railway line connected the town with Hobart from 1891 until 1947. Additional excursion trains operated from Hobart, bringing riflemen to the nearby range. Pontville was gazetted as a locality in 1970. ''Brighton'' Post Office opened on 1 June 1832, was renamed ''Pontville'' in 1895, and closed in 1973.

Geography

The

flows through from south-west to south.

Road infrastructure

The Midland Highway (National Route 1) passes through from south to north-west. Route C195 (Brighton Road) starts at an intersection with Route 1 and runs south until it exits.

Immigration detention centre

The Federal Government announced in April 2011 that it would spend $15 million on converting the army rifle range to an

asylum-seeker An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum (i.e., international protection) in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who has been forcibly displaced and m ...

detention centre, housing 400 people, mainly single adult men. Although the 'Pontville Immigration Detention Centre' was also used to house under-age males. In February 2012 it was announced by the

Department of Immigration and Citizenship The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) was an Australian government department that existed between January 2007 and September 2013, that was preceded by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and was s ...

that the centre would be closed, which it did in September 2013.

References

{{authority control Towns in Tasmania Localities of Brighton Council (Tasmania) Localities of Southern Midlands Council