Under Construction
Bond Store Stanley
The Bluestone Bond Store, constructed in 1835, originally served as a customs store. It was built using Baltic pine and stones recycled from the ballast of early sailing ships. This was the docking point for ships, where goods destined for a gentleman’s country estate were unloaded and stored before being transported to the chief agent’s residence at Highfield House. Over time, the store found new purposes, functioning as a bacon factory and later as a grain store, remnants of which can still be seen today. Meg vividly recalled the rhythmic clatter of large grinding machines as grain was fed into them.
Take a closer look at the building’s rendering, and you’ll notice the lime made from shells, which were brought from Hunter Island by the old trading ship, The Prince of Wales.
Beyond Little Wharf lies the tuff, a volcanic rock that solidified millennia ago, forming small rock pools where young Meg used to play, catching shrimp and periwinkles for tea. Vintage postcards in Meg’s scrapbooks bear the words “Happy Days on the Sands at Stanley,” featuring images of families boating and girls in pinafores, collecting tiny white shells to adorn their mothers’ milk jug covers.
On one occasion, Meg and Lin rafted across the bay to Black River Beach in search of shells. Instead, they stumbled upon footprints of the Tasmanian tiger. Lin quickly returned to fetch a camera and crossed the bay again while Meg waited on the shore. The photograph they captured still fuels their hope that the Tasmanian tiger, last seen in captivity in 1936, might still roam wild and elusive in the Tasmanian wilderness.
