[3] Oatlands is considered to have the largest number of colonial sandstone buildings in any town in Australia, and many of them were built by convict labour.

Oatlands is one of Tasmania's oldest settlements and was named by Governor Macquarie after an English town in the county of Surrey in 1821.

The mill was built in 1837 and was restored to working order during June/July 2010, and the Catholic Church was designed by Augustus Welby Pugin, the father of Gothic Revival architecture.

For some years after 1848, Oatlands was the place of exile of the Irish nationalist leader Kevin Izod O'Doherty, where his stone cottage still stands.

Much of Tasmania's economic renewal, like the highway, has bypassed Oatlands, along with Ross, Tunbridge, Kempton and Pontville, which today is a lot quieter than it used to be.

The residents are attempting to grow the town once more by making it a peaceful local centre with a tourist friendly image.