Country Houses of Tasmania: Behind the closed doors of our finest private colonial estates

Tucked into the folds of Tasmania's wild landscape is an array of beautiful historic homes from a time when life was simpler and grander - and perhaps more of an adventure.

The early pastoral settlers of Tasmania were a hardy and eccentric bunch: young men out to make their fortunes; struggling families hoping for a fresh start; and feisty women wanting to make their own mark. From the landed gentry to convicts who'd won their freedom, these men and women created an antipodean England in the elaborate Georgian and Victorian mansions they built. Alice Bennett and Georgia Warner have collected together the stories of these houses, and of the people who have passed through them over the years.

As the new colony thrived, fortunes were made and many of the homes featured in Country Houses of Tasmania signalled the New World's wealth with their sumptuous furnishings - from Carrara marble to Italian porcelain, Minton caustic tiles, the best Berlin metal and French moire wallpaper.

In the twenty-first century these houses which have been largely lost on the Australian mainland - remain as brick-and-mortar reminders of the past. Many of today's owners are descendants of the original builders, and all are dedicated to the preservation of that hidden architectural heritage.

'The homes you enter in this book are private. Unless you are part of their inner circle you might not have even known they existed,' write Georgia Warner and Alice Bennett. So the next time you glimpse a Georgian chimneypot over the top of a high hedge in rural Tasmania, or view a stately pile off in the distance down a tree-lined drive, open Country Houses of Tasmania and you will know what rare treasures lie inside.