Meander is a rural locality and town in the local government area of Meander Valley in the Launceston region of Tasmania. The locality is about south-west of the town of Westbury. The 2016 census recorded a population of 328 for the state suburb of Meander.
In 2011 it had a population of 415, forty percent of whom worked directly in agriculture, many in the dominant industries of grazing of sheep and cattle, and the dairy industry. The surrounding land has been modified by the original Indigenous inhabitants, who turned forest into grassland, and the later settlers, who have created extensive channels for irrigation and drainage. The town is south of the town of Deloraine, Tasmania and is bisected by the Meander River. It sits between Quamby Bluff and Mother Cummings Peak of the Great Western Tiers mountain range.
Meander's surrounds had been inhabited for thousands of years by the Pallittorre, part of the Northern Tribe of Aboriginal Tasmanians. European immigrants began moving into the area in the 1820s and they came into often violent conflict with the Pallittorre. The Pallittorre were removed from the land by a combination of deliberate government policy, disease and the conflicts with the new settlers. Land grants were first made to the European settlers from 1828, firstly of large areas but later for areas of under . The town of Meander was first gazetted in 1901, though never built as intended, then finally gazetted in another location in 1907. Industry in the town has included sawmilling, dairy, a cheese factory, and an abattoir.
Meander Primary school, built c.1910–11, contains buildings relocated from closed schools formerly in surrounding areas. It, and the adjacent St Saviour's Anglican church, have been classed a "historic precinct" by the National Trust. The town has had a Methodist church—later part of the Uniting Church in Australia—and a Baptist church, but only the Anglican church remains in use. The town has a single store, with a post office agency, and a community hall. Timberworld, a timber and prefabricated home supplier, was formerly run by Kim Booth, leader of the Tasmanian Greens political party. The town has had cricket, basketball, badminton, sheep dog and Australian rules football clubs. Two of the football club's players went on to play in the Victorian Football League, a cricket chairman was awarded an Order of Australia medal for his services to the area, and the town featured in the early life of noted Australian country music singer Jean Stafford.
Traditional custodians The original inhabitants of the Meander area were the Pallittorre, who were part of the Northern Tribe of Aboriginal Tasmanians. There are caves south of Meander, in the Great Western Tiers, with deposits showing Aboriginal habitation, though these have not been dated. The deposits were either left by the Pallittorre, or their neighbours the Luggermairrernerpairre who were part of the Big River tribe. The Pallittorre probably inhabited the area for thousands of years; aborigines are believed to have lived in Tasmania for more than 30,000 years.Breen p.1 The Northern Tribe had three other bands, based near Emu Bay, Hampshire Hills and Port Sorell.Breen, p.2 The Pallittorre's numbers have been estimated from as low as 50–60 to as high as 600. They maintained cleared grassy plains by regular careful burning, and used this method also to control undergrowth in the forests. This land management technique enabled easier hunting and food gathering.Breen, p.3 European colonists noted, after the Pallittorre had been eliminated from the area, how the forests rapidly reclaimed the formerly cleared land. They ranged across the land on a seasonal basis, at least as far as Mole Creek, and lived in villages of bark huts at times.Breen, p.4 They mined ochre in the Gog Range, trading this with other aborigines, across Tasmania.Breen, p.5 The Pallitorre congregated in areas in the Meander area, such as Jackeys Marsh - the name 'jackey' being a colloquial term for Aboriginal people.
From c.1824 the movement of European colonists and their farming practices onto Pallittorre lands brought the two groups into often violent conflict.Breen, pp.6–7 The conflict increased over time. In retaliation for acts by Europeans, killings of settlers by aborigines in 1827 appear to have been part of a coordinated effort to drive the settlers away. The conflict and violence was from both Europeans and aborigines, though more the former than latter. European disease, deliberate killings, forced exile to the islands of Bass Strait, and the driving of the natives from their land and food sources reduced their population. This reduction was such that during an 1834 visit George Augustus Robinson, Protector of Aborigines, could find only one woman in the area. There are only records of two colonists killed by the Pallittorre. The number of Pallittorre killed is not recorded; Shayne Breen—Lecturer in Aboriginal Studies at the University of Tasmania—has estimated more than one hundred.Breen, pp.8–18 The removal of the Pallittorre from their land, a pattern echoed across Tasmania, was largely intentional. Deliberate policy, promulgated by Governor Arthur, was to remove the native population from the land and grant it to European settlers.Berne, p.20
European settlement The Meander area was first settled by Europeans in 1822, prior to land grants being made. The first land grant in the Meander area was to Robert Garrett, Assistant Colonial Surgeon, in 1828, of near Quamby Bluff. From the 1830s grants were made over much land in the valley, primarily for grazing.Berne, p.21 Most grants were large (thousands of acres). Government acts enabled and encouraged smaller landholdings, particularly the Waste Lands Act of 1858. This enabled crown land areas of less than to be sold; by 1878 there were 16 holdings of less than .Berne, p.27
The smaller grants led to a growing population. In 1900 a township near the present town was surveyed and reserved for its construction. This first town was gazetted in 1901 but never developed, remaining only a plan. The town was first called Cheshunt Town after the nearby Cheshunt Estate, but the area had been known informally as Meander from c.1888. The present town was planned and laid out a short distance away, then gazetted in 1907.Berne, p.28 Meander was gazetted as a locality in 1968.
Geography The Meander River flows through from west to east via Lake Huntsman, forms part of the eastern boundary, flows through from north-east to north-west, and then forms part of the western boundary.
Road infrastructure Highland Lakes Road (Route A5) briefly touches the northern boundary. Route C167 (Meander Road / Main Road / Huntsman Road) enters from the north and runs through to Huntsman Lake in the south-east, where it ends, with the road continuing with no route number to Meander Falls. Route C166 (Cheshunt Road) starts at an intersection with C167 and runs west, including a small section on the boundary, until it exits.
Current town The area around the town is primarily used for agriculture, mostly grazing of sheep, cattle and the associated dairy industry.Berne, p.26 Opium poppies have been grown, for pharmaceutical production, since the 1970s.Boxhall, p.138 Early land modification is evident in an irrigation system, consisting of of land with artificial irrigation and drainage channels. These were made in the late 1840s, diverting water from the Meander River and returning excess further downstream, and are still used.Berne, p.22 Meander sits astride the Meander River, near the Great Western Tiers, between the mountains Quamby Bluff and Mother Cummings Peak.
St Saviour's Anglican church was built in 1898 and is an actively used church in the parish of Deloraine.Berne, p.113 Next to the church is the Meander Primary School. The school contains a number of buildings that have been relocated from surrounding settlements to Meander including: The old school building from Montana; Jacky's Marsh school building which is used as a library and kitchen; A building that was part of the school at Golden Valley. The school and St Saviour's Church were classified as a "historic precinct" by the National Trust in 1988.Woods & Pennicott, p.70 Cheshunt is a historic home, owned by the Bowman family, whose former estate covered much of the Meander area. The home is a two-story Victorian building that was designed and completed, in 1852, by noted architect William Archer. The southern wing of the house was completed in 1886.Bennett, pp.4–5
Meander is in the Meander Valley Council local government area, the Division of Lyons—for the state house of assembly and the federal house of representatives— and the state legislative council electoral division of Western Tiers.
Demographics and people The town of Meander, and the surrounding area, had a population 293 at the 2006 census. The statistical measurement area was enlarged to at the 2011 census and the population recorded as 415.
The 2011 census reported agriculture as a significant source of employment; almost 40 percent of those working are employed in the livestock, dairy farming, grain farming and sawmilling industries. As is the case for Tasmania as a whole, Meander's residents are primarily Australian born—84.6% compared to 83.6% for Tasmania and 69.8% for Australia—and have both parents born in Australia (75.5%, the same percentage as Tasmania). With few exceptions English is the only language spoken, and more than 80% of residents reported ancestry from Australia or Great Britain. The population has a similar median age to the rest of Tasmania—41 years compared to 40—but older than the 37 years for the rest of Australia. 47% of residents reported some religious affiliation, 65% of these Anglican and the remainder other Christian churches. All occupied homes are separate buildings, 81.3% of which are owned outright or mortgaged, higher than the 67% for all of Australia. Household income is lower than the state or county; $770 per week for Meander compared to $948 for Tasmania and $1234 for Australia.
One of the town's more famous residents was Jean Stafford. She is a successful country music singer who spent some of her childhood living in a Meander farm house, attending the Meander school, and was married at the Meander Methodist Church. She has won Golden Guitar awards, as Australia's best female country singer, and was given the Keys to the City of Nashville, Tennessee in 1991.Boxhall, p.190
Education
Schooling started in Meander in 1891, when the Government rented a building from the Meander Church of England, a building now called the Sunday School. They agree to rent it for two years as a school was intended to be built.Woods & Pennicott, p.72 The first teacher at the "West Meander School", Miss Mary Johnson, taught at the school for 21 years from the 1891 opening till 1917, when she moved onto a teaching position in Deloraine. When opened the school, which taught only primary school age children, had 19 students. In 1901 the education department purchased next to the church, and a new school was built c.1910–11.Woods & Pennicott, p.73 Meander's student population grew to a maximum of 80–90 in 1926, though this may have been a temporary increase due to students from Montana while the school there, which was damaged by fire, was being rebuilt.