Kempton, Tasmania

Kempton is a township on the Midland Highway north of Hobart, Tasmania. At the 2001 census, the town had a population of 310. A low rainfall region of plains and low hills, it is mostly used for grazing sheep.

Originally the home of the Big River tribe of Aboriginal people, Kempton was first settled by Europeans in the 1820s. In 1838 the town was renamed after early administrator and businessman Anthony Fenn Kemp who established the property Mount Vernon immediately to the north of where the township later grew. The hotel at Kempton was a popular first night stop for the trip from Hobart to Launceston.

A railway line connected the town with Hobart from 1891 until 1947A Short History of the Apsley Branch Line Stokes, H.J.W. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, July, 1971 pp152-160.

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