Westbury is a town in the central north of

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It lies 30 km west of Launceston on the Bass Highway, and at the had a population of 2,272. It is part of, and the headquarters of, the

Meander Valley Council Meander Valley Council is a Local government in Australia, local government body in northern Tasmania. It covers the western outskirts of Launceston, Tasmania, Launceston, and further westward along the Meander River, Tasmania, Meander River. ...

area. The town of Westbury uses its location, within 2 hours drive of most tourist attractions in north and north west Tasmania, and its heritage buildings and scenery to promote the concept of Westbury as a unique place for tourists to stay in Northern Tasmania. Westbury has a range of accommodation providers from high quality bed and breakfast style, colonial inn style and country hotel style. The St Patrick's Festival is a major annual cultural activity that celebrates the historical links with Westbury and its early Irish community. The Festival celebrates via song and dance as well as a street parade and other family activities On 30 September 2019 Westbury was named as the preferred location for the new Northern Tasmanian prison. The original site for the prison has since been abandoned and a new site further from Westbury is under investigation.

History

The site was first surveyed in 1823. The town was laid out in 1828 by the Van Diemen's Land Company. In the 1830s Westbury developed as a garrison village. A detachment of troops commanded by Lieutenant Ball were stationed in Westbury in 1832. They were barracked around a village green in the centre of the town. The village green is still in use today and is claimed by the local community to be the only traditional English style village green in Australia. Westbury Post Office opened on 21 June 1832. From early in the 19th century the village green has been the site for the Westbury St Patrick’s Festival celebrating the town’s Celtic links. Though Westbury is often described as a very "English village", the first European settlers were predominantly Irish; ex Irish convicts, retired soldiers and free settlers, many fleeing the

Great Irish Famine The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger ( ), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact o ...

in the 1840s. Gaelic was the local language in Westbury for many generations and a strong Irish brogue is reputed to have lasted throughout the 19th century. Military pensioners were each granted a block of land complete with a well and pear tree. By the mid-1800s Westbury had become the largest military community in Tasmania. The town had a population of some 3,000 and an extensive grid street plan was surveyed preparing Westbury to become the predominant town in the north of Tasmania and the gateway to the north-west, but Deloraine has filled that role instead. Westbury remains a small town servicing the local

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

industry. The Westbury Primary School services the local community; students finishing primary school travel to Launceston or Deloraine to attend secondary education. Westbury is named after

Westbury, Wiltshire Westbury is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. The town lies below the northwestern edge of Salisbury Plain, about south of Trowbridge and a similar distance north of Warminster. Westbury w ...

in England.

Climate

Westbury has a

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

( Köppen: Cfb), with very mild, slightly drier summers and rather cold, wetter winters. Average maxima vary from in February to in July while average minima fluctuate between in February and in July. Mean average annual

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

is moderate, spread between 131.1 precipitation days.

Demographics

According to the 2021 Census: * Westbury had a population of 2,272 in which males were counted at 1,118 (49.2%) and females counted at 1,156 (50.8%). * There were 72 (3.2%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and 2,120 (93.3%) non-Indigenous. * 1,150 (50.6%) people had English ancestry, 988 (43.5%) had Australian ancestry, 267 (11.8%) had Irish ancestry, 226 (9.9%) had Scottish ancestry and 77 (3.4%) had Aboriginal ancestry. As for religious affiliation, 98% of the population are Christians with the largest denominations being

Anglicanism Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

(42.5%),

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

(27.3%),

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

(16.4%) and

Presbyterianism Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

(6.7%).

Economy

Westbury's largest employer is Tasmanian Alkaloids, a company that specialises in the processing of poppies for pharmaceutical products. Other large employers are the Meander Valley Council, Tasmanian Aquaculture and the local primary school.

Local tourism attractions

* Pearn's Steam World, a collection of over 200 historic items * Westbury Maze and Tea Rooms * The White House * The Westbury Village Green * The Giant Cricket Stumps erected as a welcome gate to the cricket club

External links

Westbury Tasmania website

Tasmanian Government Tourism website

Westbury Primary School website

Westbury St Patrick's Festival website

References

{{authority control Localities of Meander Valley Council Towns in Tasmania