The Midland Highway between Hobart and Launceston more or less follows the old coaching road and we took this route to Ross, stopping briefly at Campbell Town to admire the convict-built road bridge. We drove south through sheep grazing countryside (merino sheep are farmed here), eventually turning off the highway to Ross, like Campbell Town originally settled by the Scots.
Ross has a very secluded, rural feel; elm trees line the main Church Street, creating a beautiful avenue, while paddocks with grazing sheep stretch alongside. Old stone buildings along the idyllic street are well preserved. From the grounds of St Johns Church of England, one of the town's three pretty churches, there are views of the Macquarie River, spanned by the sandstone Ross Bridge.
We explored the town and walked from the church down to the original Ross burial ground and past the site of the Female Factory, actually a prison, where women convicts were held before being sent to properties as assigned servants.
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