Port Cygnet (port of swans) was named by Commodore Baudin in 1802. Apple orchards had been established by 1843 and there was a thriving community. As time went on other fruit trees were planted which along with timber were the mainstay for Cygnet area. In 1967 southern Tasmania experienced the worst bushfire in its history. Cygnet lost a lot of buildings with many families selling up and shifting away from the area. In 1973 Britain joined the Common Market which impacted on the demand for apples, as a result the state government introduced a ‘tree pull scheme’ which compensated orchardists for the removal of trees (Similar to the Gippsland lake fisherman licence by-back scheme). Many farmers subdivided their land into small hobby farms and left the area. Around this time Cygnet started to attract many alternative lifestyle settlers with the town now known as a centre of artistic activity.
We went for a walk into the township and noted the variety of retro shops, organic produce stalls, galleries, café’s and an old cannery building that has been repurposed as a restaurant and cellar door. The Cygnet market brought out the locals and lots of tourists. It was interesting to see the variety of different wares that were on display.
We were surprised with the number of yachts moored at Cygnet. From our anchorage we had the front seat for the local yacht club race which tracked up and down the Bay.
