Cradoc, Tasmania

Cradoc (Australian postcode 7109) is a small township on the eastern side of the Huon River south of Huonville, Tasmania. At the 2006 census, Cradoc had a population of 743.

In 1792 Rear Admiral Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni D’Entrecasteaux was a French navigator, commissioned to search for La Perouse's lost expedition, and explore our southern coastline. La Perouse had sailed from Botany Bay in 1788 and disappeared. In April 1792 D’Entrecasteaux sailing the Recherche, with Captain Huon de Kermadec sailing the L’Esperance, put down in a bay and named it Recherche after his frigate. Captain Huon de Kermadec's Senior Officer was Cradoc. Cradoc was named after this Senior Officer. The expedition which reached the Derwent estuary, resulting in the naming of the channel, North West Bay, Bruny Island, Port Esperance, Southport, Huon River and Huon Island, and many others including the Derwent River, named ‘Riviere du Nord’. Some months later Englishman Captain John Hayes sailed the channel and renamed many sites including the Derwent. [‘Looking for La Perouse’ book by Frank Horner]. It was not named after the town of Cradoc in Wales. Cradoc has been part of a major fruit growing region in south eastern Tasmania since the late 19th century. A significant pioneer of the district was James Rowe, who operated sailing vessels and later steamships to carry fruit and passengers between the Huon districts and Hobart.