Huon Valley


The Huon Valley, or simply the Huon is a valley and geographic area located in southern Tasmania, Australia. The largest town is Huonville, with other smaller towns spread across the area. It includes Australia's most southern permanent settlement at Southport. The Huon Valley Council area had a population of 15,140 in 2011. Famed for its apple growing, the Valley was first settled by British colonists in the 1820s; prior to settlement the Huon Valley area was inhabited by the Palawa people.
The area it is sometimes combined as the Huon-Channel area with the areas around D'Entrecasteaux Channel.

Etymology

The Huon Valley, along with its local government authority, several towns, the Huon River and the Huon Pine were named after Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec.

Economy

The Huon is both a major agricultural area, particularly famous for growing apples, but also producing cherries, berries and stone fruit and is home to many commuter workers who work in Hobart or Kingston and prefer to live in a more rural setting. It is also a major source of seafood; the Valley hosts the headquarters of Huon Aquaculture and the major processing plants for Tassal. The largest employers are agriculture, forestry and aquaculture, followed by out of Valley work; Tourism is a growing industry in the Huon Valley, and the valley attracts around 25% of Tasmania's tourist visitors.

History

The area was first settled by Europeans in the early 1820s. In 1843 Thomas Judd planted the first apple trees, founding the industry that made the Huon famous. He was followed by Silas Parsons, founder of Grove and then Wm. Barnett, Wm. Cuthbert and then William Geeves, namesake of Geeveston.

Government

The valley falls entirely into the Commonwealth Division of Franklin and the Tasmanian House of Assembly State Division of Franklin. The Huon Valley Council is the local government authority. It was previously divided among the Municipalities of Port Cygnet, Espererance and Huon, which merged in 1993 to form the Huon Valley Council.
Suburbs in the local government area of the Huon Valley include:
Post CodeSuburb
7109Brooks Bay
7109Cairns Bay
7109Crabtree
7109Cradoc
7109Glaziers Bay
7109Glen Huon
7109Glendevie
7109Grove
7109Hastings
7109Huonville
7109Ida Bay
7109Judbury
7109Lonnavale
7109Lower Longley
7109Lucaston
7109Lune River
7109Lymington
7109Mountain River
7109Raminea
7109Ranelagh
7109Recherche
7109Strathblane
7109Wattle Grove
7109Woodstock
7112Charlotte Cove
7112Cygnet
7112Deep Bay
7112Eggs and Bacon Bay
7112Garden Island Creek
7112Garden Island Sands
7112Gardners Bay
7112Golden Valley
7112Lower Wattle Grove
7112Nicholls Rivulet
7112Petcheys Bay
7112Randalls Bay
7112Verona Sands
7113Franklin
7116Barretts Bay
7116Castle Forbes Bay
7116Geeveston
7116Police Point
7116Port Huon
7116Surges Bay
7116Surveyors Bay
7117Dover
7150Pelverata
7150Upper Woodstock

In 2016 the Huon Valley Council was sacked by the state government after a long period of severe dysfunction.

Media

The Huon Valley hosts the Huon News, a weekly local newspaper, and the Cygnet & Channel Classifieds, a small local newsletter. Pulse FM Kingborough and Huon is the local youth radio station, and Geeveston is the headquarters of Huon FM, a community radio station. It was historically served by the Huon Times, which closed in 1942.