Mystery Landmarks of Launceston | September 2023 | The Examiner - video Dailymotion

The Examiner

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

Transcript

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.

05:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Mystery Landmarks of Launceston | September 2023 | The Examiner

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