Stanley

Stanley is a town on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia.

Stanley is a town on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. Travelling west, Stanley is the second-last major township on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Smithton being the larger township in the Circular Head municipality.

According to the 2016 census, Stanley had a population of 553.

In 1825 the Van Diemen's Land Company was granted land in north-western Van Diemen's Land, including the Stanley area. Employees of the company from England settled in the area in October 1826.The site (originally called Circular Head) was named after Lord Stanley, the British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in the 1830s and 1840s, who later had three terms of office as British Prime Minister.

A port opened in 1827 and the first school opened in 1841. There was a short-lived bay whaling station in operation on the fore-shore in the 1830s. Stanley officially became a town in 1842 and by 1843 more than 8,000 acres had been sold or leased to almost 70 people.The Post Office opened on 1 July 1845 and was known as Circular Head post office until 1882.

In 1880 the first coach service between Stanley and Burnie was established.

In 1936 a submarine telephone cable from Apollo Bay to Stanley provided the first telephone to Tasmania from the mainland.

Stanley has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb) that is bordering closely with the warm-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csb). Rainfall in the summer months receive more than the classification as warm-summer Mediterranean, and the total rainfall exceeds 900 mm. Stanley's summers are moderated by its shoreline position, whereas the rainy winters have moderate lows.

The highest temperature of 32.8 °C (91.0 °F) was recorded on the 14th of March, 1967, and the lowest temperature of -2.1 °C (28.2 °F) was recorded on the 7th of August, 1963.