 Hadspen is an Australian town on the South Esk River in the north of Tasmania , 8 kilometres ( 5 @.@ 0 mi ) south west of Launceston . Hadspen has few commercial establishments and is primarily a residential suburb of nearby Launceston . Most of the town 's buildings are residential , and relatively recent . The town 's population of just over 2000 has grown rapidly from only a few hundred in the 1960s , and there are development plans that call for its doubling . 
