William Thomas CrampPrint Page

The monument, erected by the Southern Tasmanian Licensed Anglers Association ( S.T.L.A.A), commemorates William Thomas Cramp, a fishing administrator.

In 1921, William Cramp was appointed a commissioner of fisheries and continued after 1927 when the government amended the Fisheries Act to create a Sea Fisheries Board but left responsibility for inland fisheries with the renamed Salmon and Fresh Water Fisheries Commission. He retired in 1931 and was replaced on the board by his second son Harold. William Cramp died in 1935.

As a member of the Southern Tasmanian Licensed Anglers Association Cramp adopted a close interest in the trout fishery in Lake Sorell. In July 1919 Cramp led a deputation from the Association that offered to build and run a hatchery there if the Commission gave its approval and technical support. This was agreed and the Government granted £50 to assist in construction. It produced 100,000 trout fry in 1920 and production grew steadily over the next three years. It was named the W. T. Cramp Hatchery and continued to operate until the 1940s. It was said that he had unrivalled knowledge of the State’s lakes and streams and visited the hatchery every winter for almost twenty to supervise the collection of brown trout eggs. In 1934 his Association erected an obelisk at Interlaken to commemorate his service.

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