Brighton

Brighton is a small town 28 kilometres from the Tasmanian capital of Hobart. Brighton was one of five sites selected for townships in Tasmania by the Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, in 1821 and for a while was spoken of as a potential capital. A military post was established on the main Hobart-Launceston road at Brighton in 1826 beginning a military presence there that would last for over 170 years. Troops were prepared at Brighton Camp for service in both the First and Second World Wars, and it was also a site familiar to Tasmania's citizen soldiers throughout the Twentieth Century. In the later years of the Second World War Brighton Camp was also used to house prisoners of war and after the war it became a reception camp for refugees from Europe. From the early 1950s onwards, Brighton's primary use was for the training of members of the Citizens Military Forces and Later the Army Reserve. Such usage declined after 1993, and in 1999 it was one of several military camps across Australia used as a save haven for refugees from the conflict in Kosovo. Brighton Camp was closed and sold off soon after.