Southport, in the 1800s, was, at one time, was the second largest town in Van Diemen's Land and was even proposed as the capital of the colony. It's early history was that of an international shipping port as it shipped vast quantities of timber to Europe.

It was a very busy "mill town" and convict station and base for whalers and sealers and was first explored by Admiral Bruni D'Entrecasteaux who named Mussel Bay (Baie des Moules).

At one time when there were a number of substantial wharves and jetties dotted around the bay. Today, life is a little quieter and certainly more pleasant with tourism and fishing being the chiefly undertaken activities.

Most popular of these are visits to Adamson's Falls, the Mystery Creek Caves and the Hastings Caves and a swim in the thermal springs where the water temperature is a very pleasant 28 degrees - Celsius not fahrenheit of course!

Often linked with Southport is Ida Bay, a small bay on the Southport Estuary 113 kilometres south of Hobart.

Ida Bay was allegedly named after Ida Chesterman (nee Driscoll) and was known alternatively in the early years as Wheelbarrow Bay.

It is best known these days as the historic home of the Ida Bay Railway, constructed in 1922, and the last working example of the Southern Tasmanian Tramway and a magnet for transport buffs.

There were hundreds of miles of narrow gauge bush tramways built in Tasmania but this is the only original one still in existence. The tramline is a 2 feet (60 cms) gauge line and was originally designed to carry limestone to the sea port known as “The Deep Hole” which is almost opposite Southport.

There are relics of the limestone carrying days in the form of wagons and machinery.

Several of the passenger carriages are built on bogie flat wagons built in the 1890s. These are some of the earliest bogie wagons in Australia.

The Ida Bay railway runs two Malcolm Moore diesel locomotives that were built around 1940. It is the southern-most railway in Australia and is 6.8 kilometres in length.

From Lune River, the little train travels through light bush to the shores of Ida Bay. The line passes through the site of the original town of Ida Bay and past the wharf and graveyard that is all that remains of a once thriving area.

Soon after reaching the shores of the Lune River estuary, and for a mile or so, the scenic views across the waterways are superb. The train then goes past the bush site of Jagers sawmill and jetty and then through bush that lines either side of the track.

The line terminates at Deep Hole Bay, a large white swimming beach which is accessible only by the rail.

The beach is nearly a mile long and is very secluded. From Deep Hole there are marked bush walking tracks to King George III monument on Southport Bluff.

The George III was a convict ship which sank in 1835 with a huge loss of life. It is said that the guards on the ship, fearful that the convicts would panic if the ship went down, shot indiscriminately into the ship's hold. This is supported by the peculiar death toll which saw 81 convicts lose their lives while only 13 passengers and crew were drowned.