Launceston is home to the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, which was established in 1891. Now the largest museum located outside a capital city in Australia, the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery is located at two sites across the city: the original purpose built building at Royal Park and another at the Inveresk Cultural Precinct, on the grounds of the former railway station and rail yards in buildings largely converted from the former Railway Workshops. The precinct also includes the Launceston Tramway Museum, which houses the No. 29 tram, the 'Mary St' shelter shed and a host of other memorabilia. The state's largest preservation railway, the Don River Railway, also has a carriage rebuilding workshop on the site. Australia's oldest bookshop, A.W. Birchall & Sons (Birchalls) dating from November 1844, is still located at its original site in Brisbane Street (now the Brisbane Street Mall).
Located in the Southern Launceston suburb of Prospect, the Country Club Casino is a hotel, casino and golf course complex. It was the second casino to be built in Tasmania and one of the first in Australia. Launceston Aquatic, a $26.3 million regional aquatic centre was completed in July 2009. The site, just outside the central business district spans approximately 6,450 square metres (69,400 sq ft).
From 1999 to 2003, Launceston was the home of three of the four Gone South music festivals. Since 2006, it has hosted the MS Fest, a music festival held at the Inveresk Show grounds each summer to raise funds for multiple sclerosis research.
Sport
Sport is a popular recreational and spectator activity in Launceston and like most of the state cricket and Australian rules football are popular sports. The city has been the birthplace of two prominent Australian cricketers; the former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting and the retired cricketer and Australian selector David Boon. The first
