Take a look through some of our most significant themes, events and anniversaries.
Learn about the First People of this place, the ancient and enduring Palawa culture and the Mumirimina people of the Oyster Bay nation – from deep time to dispossession in the early 1800s, through extraordinary resilience to reflection and respect.
[Tasmanian Aboriginal traditional woven basket by Colleen Mundy, 2010]
Visit the new History Rooms at Sorell Memorial Hall, opened in December 2025. Many thanks to Sorell Council and everyone who has contributed to the purpose-built extension and to our members for the hundreds of volunteer hours dedicated to curating the collection here and online. Free entry, now open Wed 9-12 and Sat 12-3 or by appointment.
See the extraordinary archive of Arch Rollings photographs and learn about the sliding doors moment that saved thousands of precious photographic glass plates.
Step back 200 years to the time that escaped convict and ‘gentleman bushranger’ Matthew Brady and gang raided Thornhill and held authorities captive in Sorell gaol, wounding Lieutenant Gunn. Listen as Professor Hamish Maxwell-Stewart describes Brady’s life in Van Diemen’s Land. (ABC Radio, 11 minutes).
Take a virtual tour of the Pioneer Village at Sorell School, established in the 1980s by teacher Moya Sharpe and loved by generations of students. Fifty years on, the village is still providing immersive hands-on learning about life in times past.
See how the local community commemorated the 200th anniversary of the naming of Sorell township by Governor Lachlan Macquarie on 20 June 1821.
The Sorell 200 timeline is now available on screen in the History Rooms.
Learn about the 375th anniversary of the Abel Tasman voyage aboard the Heemskirk and Zeehan, the naming of Van Diemen’s Land and the landing onshore near present-day Dunalley on 3 December 1642.