Ringarooma: A`happy hunting ground'

By On the Road with Alison Andrews
Updated October 31 2012 - 1:34pm, first published March 11 2009 - 12:24pm
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RINGAROOMA has been a service town on the Ringarooma River for the rich surrounding farming district for more than 150 years. It has been the major dairying district in the North-East with its own butter factory before it merged with United Milk, on the North-West Coast, in the early 1990s. The region is noted for its butter and cheese production as well as timber milling. Places to visit include spectacular Ralph Falls, the forest reserves on Mount Victoria, the mountain that dominates the horizon in the Ringarooma valley, and the ghost town of Alberton, a few kilometres down the road. Ringarooma, according to the Tasmanian Government Gazette, is an Aboriginal word for happy hunting ground. The town is situated 10km off the Tasman Highway, 21km south-east of Scottsdale. The population has hovered around the 260 mark for about the past decade. The Ringarooma valley was first explored by government surveyor James Scott during his 1855 expedition. Original speculative land selections fell through and much of the land was bought up by the Scott family. Legerwood, now a hamlet a few kilometres down the road and an extension of the lucrative dairying district, was originally the largest in the Ringarooma estate.

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