Some of us Baby Boomers grew up on a diet of John Wayne movies, music to twist the night away, and Australian actor, Errol Flynn, dressed in lincoln green.
Flynn made it big time in Hollywood in the 1940's in movies such as
The Sea Hawke, They Died With Their Boots On and
The Adventures of Robin Hood.
Born in Hobart, capital of Australia's island state of Tasmania in 1909, there are several landmarks within this picturesque city on the Derwent which add a different dimension to the Flynn that we saw on the big screen or read about in newspapers and magazines.
Movie Poster
Have you got your walking shoes on?
Let's start with a beautiful view of the harbour, standing outside the Grand Chancellor Hotel, one of the swankier establishments on Davey Street on the Hobart waterfront with a plaque recognising Flynn's contribution to cinema.
Hobart Harbour
Flynn's Tassie childhood is acknowledged by the Tasmanian Tourist Bureau with a walk-yourself tour dedicated to houses, schools, and churches attended by a young Errol. One of the buildings that form part of the University bears the name of Flynn Senior, a renowned marine biologist in the day.
The brochure isn't always in print and I had to rely on a document from some years ago. It's well worth pursuing as the trail provides an interesting look into life in this very southern capital over a century ago with much of the housing hardly changed.
A highlight of this walk is a parkland in Sandy Bay which has been renamed to honour Flynn and includes a truly dreadful sculpture which is supposed to be reminiscent of the actors days in Hollywood.
The State Theatre, at 375 Elizabeth Street, North Hobart, opened as a venue for cultural events in 1913 and now has an iconic star on the footpath commemorating Errol, planted firmly by his daughter, Rory, on the occasion of his 100th birthday in 2009.
To complete the Flynn tour we are taking a road trip through the Tasmanian Midlands. An hour out of Hobart and you come to Oatlands, a colonial grazing community.
The Kentish Arms Hotel in High Street, Oatlands, was first licensed in 1834. As in many rural communities, the pub has had to diversify to survive and so what was previously the lounge has become the TKO Bakery and Cafe with a repaint job. The meeting room is full of lobby cards for boxing movies - which is presumably the TKO reference, the public bar and bathroom facilities are covered in Monroe posters, and the cafe is full of Errol Flynn posters. Hundreds of them.
What a find at the TKO Bakery
This is when you order the Devonshire Tea. You earned it!
