Jericho was originally known as Jericho Plains and was named after its biblical namesake by a marine Lt. Hugh Germain, who, the story goes, had been sent with a convict named Jorgensen, to shoot kangaroos for food and guard the local shepherds.

According to the story, the only books carried by them were the Bible and The Arabian Nights and they amused themselves by naming geographical features from each book in turn – hence Jericho, and the nearby Jerusalem and Jordan River.

The area was first settled in 1816 and became an important way station for coaches on the road from Hobart to Launceston. It is now one of the oldest townships in Australia.

The main road of Jericho contains many fine examples of early colonial sandstone architecture, and constructions including wonderful examples of convict cut culverts, bridges and walls, many of which date from the 1830s.

The main Anglican church, St James built in 1888, contains the grave of Trooper John Hutton Bisdee, who was the first Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross.

When Bisdee was 30 years old, and a Trooper in the Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen, Australian Imperial Force during the Second Boer War when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC.

“On 1 September 1900 near Warm Bad (later re-named Warm Baths), Transvaal, South Africa, Trooper Bisdee was one of an advance scouting party passing through a narrow gorge, when the enemy suddenly opened fire at close range and six out of the party of eight were wounded, including two officers. The horse of one of the wounded officers bolted and Trooper Bisdee dismounted, put him on his own horse and took him out of range of the very heavy fire.”

He died on 14 January 1930 and was buried in the St James Churchyard, Jericho. His Victoria Cross is on display at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart.

The most famous buildings in Jericho are probably the Commandant's Cottage (1842) and the Probation Station (1840), which was built to house the 200 convicts who were used to construct the road linking Hobart and Launceston.

The land adjacent to the station was originally known as ‘Fourteen Tree Plain’ and was the site of the first horse race in the colony of Van Diemen’s Land, held in April 1826.

The town flourished for a time in the nineteenth century as a stage coach resting post, but declined in the twentieth century.

Now by-passed by the Midland Highway, the State's main north-south highway, it is a sleepy village that retains its colonial charm and is part of Tasmania's Heritage Highway.

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