Sheffield

Sheffield is a small rural town in the Kentish local government area of north-west Tasmania, set beneath Mount Roland about 23 kilometres inland from Devonport. Known as the Town of Murals, it features more than 60 large outdoor murals depicting local history and pioneer life, painted since 1986 to revitalise the community. The town is a gateway to Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park and Lake Barrington, with galleries, cafes and surrounding farmland.

Visitors can expect a compact town centre with streets lined with large painted murals on building walls, art studios and galleries, cafes, bakeries and craft shops. Mount Roland provides a dramatic backdrop to the south. Visitors can walk the mural trail at their own pace, visit the Sheffield Mural Park and nearby museums, browse local produce and art, and use the town as a base for drives to Lake Barrington, Tasmazia and Cradle Mountain.

Sheffield was settled by European farmers in the mid-19th century and proclaimed a town in the 1860s, named after Sheffield in England. It developed as an agricultural service centre for the Kentish district. In 1986, following rural economic decline, the community launched the Town of Murals project inspired by Chemainus in Canada, commissioning murals that depict local history, which revitalised tourism to the town.

Sheffield is nationally recognised as Tasmania's Town of Murals, with over 60 murals forming an open-air art gallery that preserves and interprets local pioneer, agricultural and Aboriginal heritage. The town hosts the annual Mural Fest painting competition and supports a community of artists, galleries and studios, making it a cultural hub for north-west Tasmania.