Rose Lane Park

Rose Lane Park is a vegetated park with areas of trees for shade and exploring and unsealed walking paths. Rose Lane Park is also linked to Launceston's Convict Cemetery (1846 - 1870's).

Rose Lane Convict Cemetery

Before 1846, convicts were buried in the Church of England cemetery, in unmarked graves. In 1846, this piece of land, originally granted to businessman Philip Oakden, was made into the colony's convict cemetery. Over 320 convicts were buried here, between 1846 and the 1870s, when the site was closed.

No convicts buried here were given headstones. Although many died of natural causes, 23 were executed in Launceston, another 23 drowned, and three were murdered. Of these convicts, two-thirds were men and one-third were women.

After the cemetery was closed, it was maintained by ex-convicts and prisoners, but by the 1890s the site was no longer maintained.

For a period, Brickworks owner Samuel Hutton extracted clay from a portion of the site, but stopped when human remains were found. From the 1920s, the city council redeveloped the site as a reserve, and land adjacent went onto to become a rubbish tip, used until the 1950s.

The name Rose Lane has a number of possible origins - William Gunn, the brother of Rondald Campbell Gunn is known to have laid out a large rose garden in the 1860 in the Glen Dhu area. There is also the possibility that the site was planted with Roses and rosemary for remembrance.

Location

37 Peel Street, South Launceston 7250  View Map

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Features

  • Walking Trail Unsealed
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