Meander, Tasmania

Meander is a rural town in the Meander Valley Council area of northern Tasmania, Australia. In 2001 it had a population of 415, forty percent of whom worked directly in agriculture, many in the dominant industries of grazing of sheep and cattle, and the dairy industry. The surrounding land has been modified by the original inhabitants, who turned forest into grassland, and the later settlers, who have created extensive channels for irrigation and drainage. The town is 24km south of the town of Deloraine, Tasmania and is bisected by the Meander River. It sits between Quamby Bluff and Mother Cummings Peak of the Great Western Tiers mountain range.Meander's surrounds had been inhabited for thousands of years by the Pallittorre, part of the Northern Tribe of Aboriginal Tasmanians. European immigrants began moving into the area in the 1820s and they came into often violent conflict with the Pallittorre. The Pallittorre were removed from the land by a combination of deliberate government policy, disease and the conflicts with the new settlers. Land grants were first made to the European settlers from 1828, firstly of large areas but later for areas of under 100acre. The town of Meander was first gazetted in 1901, though never built as intended, then finally gazetted in another location in 1907. Industry in the town has included sawmilling, dairy, a cheese factory, and an abattoir.