From the resonant chiming of the Town Clock to the braying of black swans on the Tamar, Launceston's racket tells a story.
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With an attentive ear, local author Paul A.C. Richards AM, a member of the LGH Historical Committee, has assembled a unique history of the city.
Through the lens of sound, Launceston and its Environs: A Sound History examines how the city came to be and how it grew into the one we know today.
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"When we turn up the volume of history, we are no longer detached witnesses: we find ourselves fully immersed in the extraordinary sensory world of our ancestors," Mr Richards writes at the book's outset.
"Instead of looking back at them through a telescope ... we are, for a moment at least, right there with them."
A collection of essays written by Mr Richards and other notable historians, the book is the third in a trilogy which began with The Fabric of Launceston and The Kaleidoscope of Launceston, written with Tom Dunning and Barbara Valentine.
"The whole concept of [this book] was based on the idea of using onomatopoeias for historic stories of things through the sounds that you heard," Mr Richards said
"It's a different way of presenting history."
The book begins with the Lady Nelson's voyage from Sydney to Launceston in 1804, where, upon arrival, a surveying party explored the Tamar Estuary.
The whole concept of [this book] was based on the idea of using onomatopoeias for historic stories of things through the sounds that you heard.
- Paul A.C. Richards AM
William Collins, a member of the surveying party, provided the first recorded description of Cataract Gorge, writing of a "large fall of water" and the swans, ducks and "other kinds of wildfowl" that populated the area.
"Then we go into the convict era and it was the sound of the treadmills," Mr Richards said.
"And also the sounds of the sawyer and the felling of timber to build Launceston."
Mr Richards weaves a history of Launceston using the threads of industry, transport, music and more.
Convicts splitting rocks with sledgehammers, the rattle of trams and trolley buses and even the din of The Examiner going to print: all of these sounds are fodder for Mr Richards to craft a detailed picture of the city.
While a date has not been set for its release, Launceston and its Environs: A Sound History is expected to be available to purchase for $45 from the Clifford Craig Foundation, on level 5 of the Launceston General Hospital, in March.
Rob Inglis
Rob Inglis is a reporter with The Examiner, covering state and federal politics. He is based in Hobart.
Rob Inglis is a reporter with The Examiner, covering state and federal politics. He is based in Hobart.
