Local Devonport Attractions

Lillico Beach is a coastal reserve and penguin colony near Devonport in north-west Tasmania. Just ten minutes west of Devonport, this narrow coastal strip is home to a colony of Little Penguins, also known as Fairy Penguins. At around 30 centimetres high and weighing in at just one kilo, the Little Penguin is the world’s smallest penguin.

Lillico Beach is a coastal reserve and penguin colony near Devonport in north-west Tasmania. Just ten minutes west of Devonport, this narrow coastal strip is home to a colony of Little Penguins, also known as Fairy Penguins. At around 30 centimetres high and weighing in at just one kilo, the Little Penguin is the world’s smallest penguin.

Passenger trains disappeared from Tasmania some time ago, except this one, a full-size loco service from the Don Village Station to Coles Beach each day from Thursday to Sunday inclusive.

After leaving Don Village, the Railway winds its way along the banks of the picturesque Don River, passing Restoration Siding where old vehicles are waiting for restoration at the hands of the craftsmen.

​​The Bird Hide Walk is a short stroll over well a formed track, which takes you through banksia scrub and a tall paperbark swamp. As you walk along the track, (particularly in the warmer months)​ keep your eyes open for our resident copper head snakes! They like to keep themselves cool and close to their tucker in the shelter of the swamp or sunbathe on the track. If you listen, you will hear the sound of their prey as the little frogs call in the distance.

Bass Strait Maritime Centre Devonport is situated in parkland at the mouth of the Mersey River. Through objects, images and interactive displays, the Centre explores the themes of the natural history of Bass Strait and its islands, European exploration, settlement, early shipbuilders and entrepreneurs, shipwrecks, the impact of steam, the creation of the Port City of Devonport and Naval history.

Central to iconic trout waters lakes Barrington, Cethana, Paloona, Rowallan, Parangana and Mackenzie and nestled between the river fishing meccas of the Mersey, Forth, Don, Wilmot and Dasher rivers, picturesque Sheffield is the place to get your day trip or multi-day fishing and camping supplies.

The Devonport Regional Gallery is a vibrant, contemporary art space in the heart of Devonport city in the North West of Tasmania.

The Gallery offers an annual program of exhibitions, education and public events and workshops in three separate exhibition spaces and a workshop area, the Creative Space. The Main Gallery mainly presents touring exhibitions, while the Little and Upper Galleries feature works from the Devonport City Permanent Collection of Art and works by emerging and early career Tasmanian Artists.

Now owned and operated by the National Trust, Home Hill was the family home of Tasmania’s only Prime Minister, Joseph Lyons, his wife Dame Enid Lyons – the first woman elected to Australia’s federal parliament – and their 12 children.

Built for the family in 1916, it became their haven from public life and remains largely as it was when Dame Enid last lived there in 1981. Dame Enid’s style is evident throughout the house, with an amazing array of wallpapers from the 1940s to the 1970s beneath classic pressed tin ceilings; and in the garden through the rock walls and paths, the pond and the garden rooms.

Devonport, at the mouth of the Mersey River, is one of three major cities in Tasmania's north, the others being Launceston and Burnie. To visitors to Tasmania, it is primarily known as the port for the Spirit of Tasmania car and passenger ferries - Spirit of Tasmania I and II - which make daily 10-hour trips between their terminals at East Devonport and Station Pier, Melbourne.