Jefferys Track Closed: What's Happening, Why, and What It Means for Tasmanian 4WDers

Tim Parremore
3 days ago
5 min read

If you've tried to plan a run between the Derwent Valley and Huon Valley over the last few months, you've probably already heard the bad news: Jefferys Track is closed. Not "wait for the seasonal gate" closed. Not "track conditions" closed. Closed because of a property and policy dispute that nobody at a state level seems willing to fix.

Last year we wrote a guide to driving Jefferys Track. We've had a few people contact the shop asking what's actually going on, so here's the most up-to-date picture we can put together from the Wellington Park Management Trust, local councils, parliament, and reporting out of New Norfolk.

The Headline

The Wellington Park Management Trust officially announced the closure on 16 January 2026. Their statement was blunt: "Jeffreys Track, that previously enabled 4WD permit holders to exit Wellington Park, is no longer open to the public."

By 2 February 2026, "No Entry" signs had been physically installed at the southern (Huon Valley) end of the track, where it leaves Wellington Park and crosses private land. The Trust says a similar situation is now developing at the northern (Derwent Valley) end as well.

The result is that the 2025–26 East West Trail permit season is effectively over. The Trust has confirmed permits will not be available again until a solution is found, and as of mid-April 2026 they have added a further complication: commercial timber harvesting is set to begin on Jefferys Track north of Wellington Park.

Why a 180-year-old route suddenly isn't a public road

Jefferys Track is roughly 13 km of dirt road running between Hydehurst Road at Lachlan and the intersection of Mitchells Road and Crabtree Road above Crabtree. It's been used in some form for about 180 years and has long been described as the "missing link" between the Derwent and Huon Valleys.

The catch is that, while a chunk of it sits inside Wellington Park, other sections cross multiple privately-owned properties. For decades it was just treated as a public route. Recent legal advice has made it clear that's not actually the case.

According to the Wellington Park Management Trust, in the sections outside the park "Jefferys Track is not maintained by a public authority, nor does a public authority assume liability for use of the track. Instead, this falls to the private landholders." That's a significant exposure for an individual property owner — public liability if someone gets hurt on the track, plus the cost of maintaining a 4WD route that gets thousands of users a year.

The landowner at the southern end is reported to actually support continued public access. They've simply been told by their lawyers that they can't keep wearing the legal and maintenance risk on their own. The Trust says it has been unable to secure approval for an alternative exit route across other land tenures, and that work is "beyond the control of the Trust."

So the track didn't close because anyone wanted to close it. It closed because nobody with the authority to fix the problem has fixed it.

What's been tried before

This isn't a surprise that landed out of nowhere. The same fundamental issue was flagged in a 2020 feasibility study commissioned jointly by the Huon Valley and Derwent Valley Councils, with input from GHD and Deloitte. That report noted that "different sections of Jefferys Track are owned and managed by different parties, and the fact that no single party has overall responsibility for funding, monitoring and maintenance of the track appears to be one reason for its current poor condition."

There have been multiple proposals over the years to upgrade the route — into a sealed link road, a tourist drive, even a logging route. All of them have been knocked back as unviable. The track remained as a 4WD trail, and the underlying ownership question remained unresolved.

What politicians are saying

The Tasmanian Greens have called publicly for action. In a media release dated 4 February 2026, Lyons MHA Tabatha Badger said the Greens "share Tasmanians' disappointment that one end of Jefferys Track has been closed off to the public, preventing recreational use and blocking a section of the much-loved Tasmanian Trail."

Badger said the landowner, the Greens, and a number of other stakeholders have written to the Liberal Government seeking a resolution and a reclassification of the private land to a public road reserve. According to her statement, "no action has been taken, leaving the landowner with no realistic option but to halt any further public access."

She has called on the State Government to be transparent about what it intends to do. As of writing this, there has been no public commitment from the Liberal Government to a fix.

Who else loses out

It's easy to think of this as just a 4WD issue, but the track also forms part of the Tasmanian Trail — the long-distance route from Devonport to Dover used by walkers, horse riders and mountain bikers. The southern closure breaks that route too. So it isn't just permit-holding 4WDers who are locked out; it's a slice of the recreational and tourism economy across Southern Tasmania.

The East West Trail through Wellington Park itself was already a tightly managed asset — only six 4WD vehicles per day, permit and gate key required, summer-only. Without an exit at Jefferys Track, the Trust simply cannot run permits at all. That's why the entire 25–26 season has been pulled, not just the affected section.

What this means if you've prepped a vehicle for the run

If you were planning a Jefferys Track trip this season, the short answer is: don't. The southern end is signed and gated, the northern end is heading the same way, and there are now timber harvesting operations starting on the northern section as well. Driving around or ignoring the closures puts the landowner in exactly the legal position they're trying to get out of, and it makes a permanent reopening less likely, not more.

If you're keen to keep the issue moving, the most useful thing you can do is contact your local State member and the Minister responsible, and ask specifically what action is being taken to recognise the disputed sections as a public road reserve. The Trust, the councils, and the landowner have all done their part. The lever now sits with the State Government.

We'll keep an eye on this one and post an update the moment something actually changes.

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