Whitemore

Whitemore is a rural locality and small town in the local government area of Meander Valley in the Launceston region of Tasmania.

Whitemore is a rural locality and small town in the local government area of Meander Valley in the Launceston region of Tasmania. The locality is about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) south-east of the town of Westbury. The 2016 census has a population of 198 for the state suburb of Whitemore.The town's land and surrounding rural area was first granted to Richard Dry in the 1830s then sold for farming to William Hingston in 1854. Hingston constructed a Wesleyan Chapel, near which a few later buildings were added. Over time the town has had a blacksmith, post office, library, shops and petrol station; none of these remain in the 21st Century.

Shaw Contracting, a large Civil engineering firm formed by James Alan Hope Shaw, has been the most significant business in the town's history. Whitemore's most prominent features are the 1864 brick church, adjacent original church building dating from 1857—now a community hall—and the large workshop and offices of Shaw contracting.

From 1870 to sometime before 1978 the town had a nearby rail service but in the 21st century transport is by car or school bus. The town has a small largely Australian born, and aging, population. Whitemore has a few houses, a church that is part of the Uniting Church in Australia, the offices and workshops of Shaw Contracting, and a recreation ground and tennis courts used by the towns' tennis and cricket teams.

Whitemore is in the southern part of the former Quamby estate. The estate was granted to Richard Dry, father of Richard Dry who was later Premier of Tasmania, in 1837. The estate was in two main parts. The southern section was approximately 4,500 acres (1,800 ha), including an outlying part of 500 acres (200 ha) on which the modern town of Whitemore lies. The land in this section was recorded as first leased to William Burke in 1846. He worked a 200-acre (81 ha) lot as a tenant farmer, though it was probably leased before this, as at the time 200-acre (81 ha) was recorded in the lands returns records as cleared. This southern part of Quamby Estate covered the Whitemore Creek valley, the later town of Whitemore and Shaw's farm, amongst other later farms.By 1851, 350 acres of the 500 acre section was cleared. By the mid 1850s the area had been settled for almost two decades and was noted as "fairly well populated". Dry sold land in the area in 1854 to William Hingston, who named a 120 acres (49 ha) section "Whitemoor farm" after a farm his family had run as tenant farmers in Cornwall. Hingston's land ownership and actions assisted the establishment of Whitemore as a central village of the surrounding farming area. Around 1857 Hingston donated the land for a Wesleyan chapel that became known as "Whitemoor chapel". Over time this name was taken by the village that grew around the church. Hingston built "Whitemoor house" in c.1860 using locally made bricks. The building was extant as of 2002.By the time Hingston built Whitemoor House the town had a modest country store, a blacksmith's shop and the Wesleyan chapel.The town never became the population centre and Whitemoor remained a farming district with only a few buildings clustered near the church. By 1865 the town had four substantial buildings: A brick church; the original wooden church now used as a school; and two cottages. As late as 1915 there were only three occupied cottages in the town.Land was purchased by the local council in 1951 for a memorial hall to commemorate those who served in the two world wars. Built largely using volunteer labour and working bees, the hall opened on 9 December 1953. The buildings in Whitemore are constructed either side of the only road through the town. The town section of this road was sealed in 1953.Whitemore was gazetted as a locality in 1968.