Kingston (Tasmania)

Kingston is a town of 10,000, just twelve kilometers south of Hobart and Australia's gateway to the Antarctic, or at least, kind of. It is part of the Greater Hobart region, and seat of the Kingborough local government area, and a popular gateway for travelers intending to head down to the D'Entrecasteaux Channel region or Bruny Island, the most visited offshore island in Tasmania.

Kingston is the sixth largest settlement in Tasmania behind Ulverstone.

Understand
Kingston was once called Brown's River, after botanist Robert Brown, and the town was settled by colonists evacuated from Norfolk Island in 1808 (cf Norfolk Island's capital, Kingston). It was officially named a town in 1851. The town remained a relatively small community until the 1970s, when it boomed. As a result, the high street is unusually modern for a Tasmanian town and it features several modern shopping centers. Kingston was a significant location of Dutch immigration after World War II, and it retains strong ties to the Dutch community, including a Dutch Reform church and two Dutch private schools.

Kingston encompasses the satellite suburbs of Blackmans Bay, Huntingfield and Kingston Beach, which have a more laid back atmosphere than the town center.


 * Council website

Get in
Kingston is one of the few places in Tasmania to be well connected, including a freeway-grade road from Hobart. Travellers coming from Hobart will need to use the Southern Outlet (A6), which is a rather unusually short freeway starting from South Hobart.

If you are coming from the Huon & Far South region, the primary road that connects the two is the A6 Huon Highway. The Channel Highway (B68) connects places like Bruny Island and the Channel, and further on, to the Far South via Woodbridge Hill Road, which acts as the only connection in inclement weather, which may temporarily close the Huon Highway in winter.

There is no direct road connection from Southwest – you will need to go around via Hobart.

Get around
Although the Kingston Bypass was intended as a bypass, the 3.5 km two-lane freeway connects the Southern Outlet to the Channel Highway/Algona Road roundabout and dumps you off right next to the Australian Antarctic Division (presumably where you would be going to). This freeway can become congested, but the Tasmanian government has proposed to widen the freeway to four lanes. The non-freeway alternative, the Channel Highway, may be in some cases faster. The Tasmanian government trying to disincentivise using the surface road, so it may very well be that in the future, the Channel Highway may look as if it were a seemingly local road.

Otherwise, the town's other local roads should get you to where you're intending to go to. If you're in Kingston central, it's easier to simply walk – trying to maneuver your car around with somewhat limited parking is not ideal. Bus services run from Kingston central to Blackmans Bay and Huntingfield.

Go next
Kingston is along the way to Bruny Island. Nowhere else can you find white wallabies; in addition, the island's mountainous south and The Neck is home to many penguins (yes, tiny adorable blue fairy penguins), and shearwaters that migrate for summer from the Arctic.