Discover Smithton

Smithton lies on the edge of Takayna / Tarkine and offers several distinct starting points for a trip: the Circular Head Heritage Centre, tours related to dairy and food processing, and a Visitor Information Centre with maps and trip-planning assistance. If you’re looking for a hotel in Smithton, you can choose your focus based on whether culture, cheese and oyster processing, or practical guidance for your activities is more important. This mix helps you plan your stay around specific interests without reducing Smithton to a single theme.

Culture at the Circular Head Heritage Centre

The Circular Head Heritage Centre has an extensive collection of fossils and geological specimens. It also displays local Aboriginal cultural artefacts and information about them. You can browse the collection at your leisure or ask to see particular items. The combination of natural history collections and local Aboriginal culture makes the Centre a specific place to visit if you’d like to explore these topics during your stay.

Dairy, cheese and oysters

Duck River Meadows Robotic Dairy in Smithton offers daily tours of its automated dairy. Check the current schedule and booking options before planning your visit. A tour of Duck River Meadows ends at the Duck River Meadows Pavilions, where you can sample and buy artisan cheeses. Available varieties may change. La Cantara Cheese factory is located in the dairy. Together, the dairy tour and the Pavilions offer specific points of interest for anyone interested in food production and cheese.

At Tarkine Fresh Oysters, you can learn about another aspect of food processing: the Smithton-based company offers tours of its on-site processing facilities, which must be booked in advance. The focus here is on oysters and their processing, while Duck River Meadows Robotic Dairy focuses on automated dairying. If one of these tours suits your trip, allow time to make the necessary booking and check the latest details beforehand.

Getting your bearings in Smithton

The Smithton Visitor Information Centre offers maps, help with adventure planning and souvenirs. It also has a café and a viewing room. Maps and planning assistance can help you get your bearings when considering possible activities; the café and viewing room add to the Centre’s facilities. Offerings may change, so it’s a good idea to check the latest information before visiting.

Nature in the broader destination of Circular Head Council

Within the broader destination of Circular Head Council, the Nut Summit Circuit is a 2.7-kilometre loop across the plateau, with about an hour allowed for the walk. The Nut State Reserve is a breeding ground for short-tailed shearwaters, peregrine falcons, Australian kestrels and little penguins. At night on Godfrey’s Beach, you can watch little penguins come ashore and head to their burrows from a purpose-built platform lit in red. The circuit, with its approximate duration, and nighttime penguin-watching at the beach offer different nature-focused options for your plans.

In the same broader destination of Circular Head Council, the Arthur-Pieman Conservation Area includes a large part of Tasmania’s extensive button grass moorlands as well as some of the state’s largest dune fields. The area can be explored in conventional and four-wheel-drive vehicles, by canoe and on foot. Conditions on vehicle tracks can change, so check them before setting out. The Conservation Area is also part of the traditional lands of the four clans Peerapper, Manegin, Tarkiner and Peternidic of the North West nation.

Discover more destinations: Gladstone, Scottsdale, Bridgewater, Pipers River, Grove, Chudleigh, Moorina, Deloraine.

For the broader travel overview: Tasmania.