The Huon Valley, or simply the Huon, is a

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

and geographic area located in southern

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, Australia. The largest town is Huonville, with other smaller towns spread across the area. It includes Australia's most southern permanent settlement at

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

. The Huon Valley Council area had a population of 15,140 in 2011. Famed for its apple growing, the Valley was first settled by British colonists in the 1820s; prior to settlement the Huon Valley area was inhabited by the Mouheneenner, Nuenonne, Mellukerdee and Lyluequonny people. The area it is sometimes combined as the Huon-Channel area with the areas around

D'Entrecasteaux Channel The D'Entrecasteaux Channel is a body of water located between Bruny Island and the south-east of the mainland of Tasmania, Australia. The channel is the mouth for the estuaries of the Derwent and the Huon Rivers and empties into the Tasman S ...

Etymology

The Huon Valley, along with its local government authority, several towns, the Huon River and the

Huon Pine ''Lagarostrobos franklinii'' is a species of conifer native to the wet southwestern corner of Tasmania, Australia. It is often known as the Huon pine or Macquarie pine, although it is actually a podocarp (Podocarpaceae), not a true pine (Pina ...

, were named after

Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec (12 September 1748 – 6 May 1793) was a French Navy officer. He took part in voyages of exploration in the Pacific Ocean under Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, looking for the lost expedition of Jean-François de La Pérouse ...

Economy

The Huon is both a major agricultural area, particularly famous for growing apples (83% of Tasmanian apples originate in the Valley), but also producing cherries, berries and

stone fruit In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part ( exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel' ...

, and is home to many commuter workers who work in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/ Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

or Kingston and prefer to live in a more rural setting. It is also a major source of seafood; the Valley hosts the headquarters of

Huon Aquaculture Huon Aquaculture is a large aquaculture and food processing enterprise located in Tasmania. Founded in 1986, Huon has grown to become the second largest salmon producer in the state, after ASX listed Tassal; it employs 487 Tasmanians and produc ...

and the major processing plants for

Tassal Tassal is a Tasmanian-based Australian salmon farming company founded in 1986. It was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) from 2003 until 2022. Tassal is the largest producer of Tasmanian grown Atlantic salmon, supplying salmon t ...

. The Valley had a

gross regional product Gross regional product (GRP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a region or subdivision of a country in a period (quarterly or yearly) of time. A metropolitan area's GRP (gross metropolitan prod ...

of $0.71 billion in 2020; the largest employers are agriculture, forestry and aquaculture, followed by healthcare and retail. Tourism is a growing industry in the Huon Valley, and the valley attracts around 25% of Tasmania's tourist visitors.

History

The area was first settled by Europeans in the early 1820s. In 1843 Thomas Judd planted the first apple trees, founding the industry that made the Huon famous. He was followed by Silas Parsons, founder of Grove and then Wm. Barnett, Wm. Cuthbert and then William Geeves, namesake of

Geeveston Geeveston is a small town in the south of Tasmania in Australia on the Huon River, south west of Hobart, making it Australia's most southerly administrative centre. The town takes its name from William Geeves, an English settler who was given ...

Government

The valley falls entirely into the Commonwealth

Division of Franklin The Division of Franklin is an Australian electoral division in Tasmania. The division is located in southern Tasmania around the state capital, Hobart. It is the only non-contiguous federal electoral division in Australia, with the two part ...

and the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...

State Division of Franklin. The

Huon Valley Council Huon Valley Council is a local government body in Tasmania, covering most of the south of the state. Huon Valley is classified as a rural local government area and has a population of 17,219, towns and localities of the region include Cygnet, ...

is the local government authority. It was previously divided among the Municipalities of Port Cygnet, Espererance and Huon, which merged in 1993 to form the Huon Valley Council. Localities in the local government area of the Huon Valley include:

Media

The Huon Valley hosts the ''Huon News'', a weekly local newspaper, and the ''Cygnet & Channel Classifieds'', a small local newsletter.

Pulse FM Kingborough and Huon Pulse Hobart is a Tasmanian digital news publisher and broadcaster owned by Pulse Media Group Pty Ltd based in Hobart. Pulse is best known for its local news and entertainment posts across social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram ...

is the local youth radio station, and

is the headquarters of Huon & Kingston FM, a

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popu ...

station. It was historically served by the ''

Huon Times The ''Huon Times'' (1910–1933), later the ''Huon & Derwent Times'' (1933–1942), was an English language newspaper published in Franklin, Tasmania, Australia. History The newspaper was first published on 16 February 1910 by Sydney Wentwort ...

'', which closed in 1942.

References