History of Hobart

History of Australia
This article is part of a series
Chronological
Prehistory
1606–1787
1788–1850
1851–1900
1901–1945
Since 1945
Timeline
Topical
Monarchy · Exploration
Constitution · Federation
Economic · Railway
Immigration · Indigenous
Military · Diplomatic
States, Territories and cities
New South Wales · Sydney · Newcastle
Victoria · Melbourne
Queensland · Brisbane
Western Australia · Perth
South Australia · Adelaide
Tasmania · Hobart
Australian Capital Territory · Canberra
Northern Territory · Darwin
Australia Portal  v • d • e

The Australian city of Hobart (formerly 'Hobart Town', or 'Hobarton') in Tasmania has a history of over 200 years, dating back to its foundation as a British colony in 1803. Prior to British settlement the area had been occupied for at least 8,000 years, but possibly for as long as 35,000 years,^[1] by the semi-nomadic Mouheneener tribe, a sub-group of the Nuennone, or South-East tribe.^[2] The descendants of the indigenous Tasmanians now refer to themselves collectively as 'Palawa'.

Although the area probably has a rich pre-history, little is known about the region from pre-historic times. As with many other Australia cities, urbanisation has destroyed much of the archaeological evidence of indigenous occupation, although Aboriginal middens are often still present in coastal areas.^[3]

The first European settlement in the Hobart area began in 1803 as a penal colony and defensive outpost^[4] at Risdon Cove on the eastern shores of the Derwent River, amid British concerns over the presence of French explorers in the South Pacific. In 1804 it was moved to a better location at the present site of Hobart at Sullivan's Cove, making it the second oldest city in Australia.^[5]

The convict past haunted the city for decades, and Hobart's prominent Georgian architecture served as a constant reminder to its citizens of the 'social stain' the middle and upper classes feared they could never erase. Gradually this unpromising beginning was transformed into a quiet, conservative, strongly class-conscious society.^[6]

Since that time, the city has grown from what was approximately one square mile around the mouth of Sullivan's Cove to stretch in a generally north-south direction along both banks of the Derwent River, from 22 km inland from the estuary at Storm Bay to the point where the river reverts to fresh water at Bridgewater. The city sits on low-lying hills at the eastern foot of Mount Wellington.^[7]

From the foundation of the settlement, Hobart has remained the administrative centre of Tasmania, and from the time that Tasmania was granted responsible self-government in 1856 it has been the capital city of Tasmania.^[7]

Hobart's growth has been comparatively slow due to its geographic isolation, and the city has experienced extreme economic boom and bust periods throughout its history. The city grew from being a defensive outpost and penal colony to become a world centre of whaling and ship-building, only to suffer a major economic and population decline in the late nineteenth century.

The early twentieth century saw another period of growth on the back of mining, agriculture and other primary industries, but the world wars had a very negative effect on Hobart, with a severe loss of working age men. Like most of Australia, the post-war years saw an influx of new migrants from Eastern and Southern Europe, such as Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia and Poland.^[8]

In the later years of the twentieth century, migrants increasingly arrived to settle in Hobart from Asia. Despite the rise in migration from parts of the world other than the United Kingdom and Ireland, the population of Hobart remains predominantly ethnically Anglo-Celtic, and has the highest percentage per capita of Australian born residents of all the Australian capital cities.^[9]

Hobart remains a major deepwater port for Southern Ocean shipping, and the last port of call for Australian Antarctic Division and French expeditions to Antarctica. Hobart is also a popular port of call for naval vessels from many countries due to the deep harbour of the Derwent River. US Navy vessels often stop for shore leave when returning to the United States from the Middle East.

Hobart is a city well defined by its geographical position, history and heritage. Classical examples of Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian architecture abound throughout the city, and along with more recently built forms, these buildings define Hobart's character as a city.

In recent years Hobart has experienced a boom in tourism, and the relatively low cost of living and relaxed way of life have attracted many mainland Australians and new migrants to move to the city. Although Hobart has experienced a much slower rate of growth than mainland Australian cities, particularly during the twentieth century, Hobart has a relatively stable population, a reasonably strong economy, a clean environment, a healthy sports, arts and culture scene, and is home to a stable local and state administration.^[7]

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Geography 3 Prehistory 4 European exploration 5 1803 British Settlement 6 Penal Colony 7 Early 19th Century 8 Late 19th Century 9 Early 20th Century 10 Late 20th Century 11 21st Century 12 Population 13 Historical places of note in Hobart 14 See also 15 References

Etymology

The etymology of the name of Hobart comes from the first Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land, David Collins, having named the new settlement in honour of the then Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire, the Lord Hobart.^[10] It was originally referred to as 'Hobart Town', which was often shortened to 'Hobarton', but by 1842 It had grown large enough to officially be recognised as a city, and although it took another 33 years, in 1875 the 'Town' was formally dropped from its name, leaving the modern name of simply 'Hobart'.^[11]

Residents of Hobart are referred to as Hobartians.

Geography

The city of Hobart is located in the South Eastern part of the island of Tasmania, at 42°S, 147°E. It is approximately 22 kilometres from the mouth of the Derwent River at Storm Bay. The Derwent is a major river that opens to one of the world's most picturesque harbours, with the often snow capped Mount Wellington as a towering backdrop to the city.

Hobart is built around Sullivan's Cove, a small bay formed where the Hobart Rivulet and the Derwent River join. The location was chosen as a suitable location for a settlement due to the deepwater harbour that allows easy access for shipping, the sheltered anchorage that Sullivan's Cove provides, and the ample freshwater supply from Hobart Rivulet.

The main part of the city runs along the Western Shore of the Derwent River in a north-south direction, but the Eastern Shore residential suburbs are also quite extensive. The Eastern Shore has many low hills and a small mountain ridge known as the Meehan Range, but only mirrors the height of the Western shore to the top of the western foothills. The Western shore is partially flat at sea level but rises steeply away from the shore to the foothills.

Deep gullies are situated between the hill ridges, most of which reach to around 500 - 800m in height. The foothills sweep upwards to the Pinnacle of Mt. Wellington 1280 metres above, which is the most prominent feature of the Wellington Range. The Derwent Valley stretches northwards and is flat farmland and rolling green hills that follows the winding course of the river.^[12]

Prehistory

The prehistory of the Hobart region is poorly understood. At the time of invasion by the British, it is estimated that approximately 1000 to 5000 people lived in Tasmania, divided into eight tribal groups. It was the semi-nomadic Mouheneener tribe, a sub-group of the Nuennone, or 'South-East' tribe, who were first affected by European invasion, as Hobart Town was founded in their traditional hunting grounds, and the British settlers soon turned to eating Kangaroos to survive.

The Nuenonne had no permanent settlements at Sullivans Cove, or anywhere else in Tasmania, but rather lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers, moving about within their region, but fully managing and utilising its flora and fauna resources in a sustainable fashion. The early European's described the Nuenonne as living in crude bark huts established around a fire at moveable camping grounds as they travelled about their region.

The French described them as a friendly peaceful people who lived a happy, simple life. The best description of them came from Captain James Cook RN, on his visit to the Derwent River in 1777. Cook described the Nuenonne as:

“

...Being of middling stature, slender and naked. On different parts of their bodies were ridges, both straight and curved, raised in the skin: the hair of the head and beard was smeared with red ointment.

”

During the first visits to Tasmania by European explorers, the Nuenonne, normally in parties of about eight men, were often very welcoming. They often greeted explorers from the shore with friendly shouts as the Europeans rowed towards them. And were happy to exchange food and water for trinkets. At first they thought the Europeans were spirits who arrived on the backs of great birds, believing the European ship's sails looked like Seagull wings. However tension grew quickly amongst the Nuenonne as they realised the British detachment was intending to stay.^[14]

By the 1820s, the expansion of European settlements throughout the island, and massive growth in pastoralism, was often at the expense of the Aborigines, who began to fight hard against the intruders. Clashes became more frequent, and tit-for-tat killings became common. Although exact numbers for the death toll were not recorded, estimates vary from between 5-9,000. Towards the end of the 1820s the conflict had become so bad that martial law was declared, and the conflict soon grew into the Black War.^[15]

By 1831 there were only 200 natives left. Governor George Arthur's attempt's to capture and resettle them failed miserably with his "Black Line" policy, which soon became a fiasco. George Augustus Robinson's efforts to resettle them at Flinders Island eventually resulted in the extermination of all the full-blooded native peoples by introduced European diseases such as smallpox, influenza and pneumonia. By 1847 there were only 44 native Tasmanians left, and the last full-blooded Aborigine, Trugannini, died in 1876. Today their race survives only in mixed blood descendants of the women enslaved by Bass Strait whalers and sealers.^[16]

The expansion and urbanisation of Hobart has destroyed much of the archaeological evidence of prior indigenous occupation, although Aboriginal middens are often still present in coastal areas.^[3] As a result it is difficult for archaeologists and anthropologists to gain a full understanding of the way of life of the Tasmanian Aborigines prior to European settlement.

European exploration

The first Europeans to sight the Derwent River were the Dutch crew of Abel Janszoon Tasman aboard Heemskirk and Zeehaen. Leaving the Dutch colony of Batavia in Java (now Jakarta, Indonesia), in August 1642 they charted the Tasmanian coastline in November 1642 (though they did not determin that it was an island), and named it Van Diemen's Land, in honour of the Dutch governor of the Dutch East Indies, Anthony van Diemen.^[17] It is suggested that although no contact with the indigenous Tasmanians was made, the sighting of the Dutch ships led to the creation of myths about spirits riding on great seabirds amongst the Tasmanians.

No other Europeans (except for himself) visited Tasmania for over 100 years. The next visit to the River Derwent was by the Frenchman Marion du Fresne who arrived in 1773 with the ships Mascarin and Castries. Following them in the last thirty years of the eighteenth century there was a flurry of European visits. As French and British rivalries grew towards the end of the eighteenth century, both nations sent regular scientific missions to the region.

The English explorers Tobias Furneaux, aboard Adventure in 1773, and James Cook, aboard Resolution in 1777, both described the shores of the Derwent as a suitable location for resupplying and watering their ships.^[18]

One of Cook's Resolution crew in 1777, William Bligh, returned to the Derwent River for a second time aboard his own command, the Bounty on his fateful journey to Tahiti in 1788 that would end in mutiny by his crew. John Cox, aboard Mercury in 1789, closely followed Bligh. In the 1790s the French and English continued to explore the area and chart parts of Tasmania's coast. William Bligh returned to the Derwent River in 1792, this time with the ships Providence and Assistant, again en route to Tahiti. He had been ordered to complete his previous mission of obtaining breadfruit from Tahiti for the West Indian plantations, and remembered the Derwent's favourable position to stop en route.

The following year, French explorer Bruni d'Entrecasteaux and Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec who were in command of Recherche and the Espérance ^{[disambiguation needed]} in search of the ill-fated French explorer Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse, also sailed into the river and charted it more extensively. He named the river as 'Riviere du Nord'. During the stopover, his expedition also established a vegetable garden at Recherche Bay for use by future expeditions.^[19][20]

A few months later the English captain, Sir John Hayes also sought shelter for his ships Duke of Clarence and Duchess of Bengal there. It was during this visit that Hayes named the river as the 'Derwent River', in honour of the Derwent River in Cumbria.^[21][22]

The next visit to the Derwent River came by George Bass and Matthew Flinders in 1798 and 1799, when they circumnavigated Tasmania aboard the Norfolk, being the first European's to prove that Tasmania was an island. British interest in the island then stopped for the next four years.

1803 British Settlement

Although several European explorers had navigated along the coast of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) between the 1770s and 1790s, a strong English interest in the Derwent River only began with the return of English Royal Navy Captain William Bligh in 1792 at the mouth of the Derwent River aboard HMS Providence. He stopped briefly in Adventure Bay to take on fresh water before continuing his voyage.^[23]

The British government had established a colony at Port Jackson in 1788 under the command of Arthur Phillip which had grown into the settlement of Sydney. Initially founded as a penal colony, by 1800 it was becoming commercially successful as well.

From 1792 until 1802 France and Great Britain had been embroiled against each other in the French Revolutionary Wars, and growing French interest in the South Pacific alarmed the colonists in Sydney. An expedition in 1802 to survey Van Diemen's Land by French explorers Nicolas Baudin and Louis de Freycinet aboard Geographe, Casuarina, and Naturaliste, stopped in the Derwent River to make observations of the indigenous Tasmanians, and the native flora and fauna.^[24]

With Bass and Flinders having confirmed in 1798 that Van Diemen's Land was an island, the British claim to the whole east coast of Australia was not legally valid for Van Diemen's Land. Baudin's presence there caused alarm at the prospect of the French establishing a rival colony, and the Governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King dispatched a request to the colonial office in London for permission to establish a new settlement there.

Whilst King impatiently awaited news from London regarding Van Diemen's Land, separate news arrived that the short lived peace with France had been broken by the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars. King decided he could not afford to await word from London and risk France establishing a naval base on Van Diemen's Land.

Acting on his own initiative, he dispatched an expedition under the command of a young 23 year old Lieutenant John Bowen to establish a colony there. Bowen was in command of the whaler HMS Albion. Accompanying him was 21 male and three female convicts, guarded by a company of marines of the New South Wales Corps, as well as a small number of free settlers. A second supply ship, the Lady Nelson arrived on September 8, 1803, and HMS Albion arrived on September 13, 1803, subsequently invading and then settling Van Diemen's Land for the British.^[7]

At the same time David Collins had been dispatched from London in response to King's initial request, and departed from England in April 1803, in command of HMS Calcutta with orders to establish a colony at Port Phillip. Collins had been a member of the First Fleet which had founded Sydney 15 years earlier, and the Colonial Office felt this experience would be invaluable in the creation of a second settlement.^[25]

Collins arrived in Port Phillip Bay in October 1803. After establishing a short lived settlement at Sullivan Bay, near the current site of Sorrento, he wrote to Governor King, expressing his dissatisfaction with the location, and seeking permission to relocate the settlement to the Derwent River. Realising the fledgling settlement at Risdon Cove would be well reinforced by Collins arrival, King agreed to the proposal.^[26]

Collins arrived at the Derwent River on February 16, 1804, aboard HMS Calcutta, with HMS Ocean ^{[disambiguation needed]} as a supply vessel, immediately taking command over from the young Lieutenant by lieu of rank. The settlement that Bowen had established at Risdon Cove was vulnerable to changing tides and poor water supply and did not impress Collins. After three trips across the Derwent River to view possible alternatives, he decided to relocate the settlement 5 miles (8.0 km) down river, on the opposite shore. They landed at Sullivan's Cove on February 21, 1804, and created the settlement that was to become Hobart, making it the second oldest established colony in Australia.^[27]

In October 1804, Lieutenant-Colonel William Patterson ^{[disambiguation needed]} was dispatched from Port Jackson by Governor King to establish a second colony on the northern shore of the island. He arrived at the mouth of the Tamar River, and established a camp at a location near to where George Town now is. However feeling exposed to the off-shore weather, a few weeks later Paterson moved his camp 50.7 km (30.5m) inland to found Launceston.^[28]

In January 1807, Lieutenant Thomas Laycock carried dispatches on horseback from Launceston to Hobart Town overland, taking eight days to traverse the island, and he became the first person to make that journey through the interior. His southward journey followed a more westerly route, and he found the mountainous terrain hard going, however his return journey ran through the flatter midlands, and the modern main Midland Highway still follows a similar route to that first Hobart to Launceston ride.^[29]

Penal Colony

Although Hobart Town had initially been established primarily as a deterrent to prevent the French from establishing a colony there, its isolation soon proved to be a useful attribute for a secondary penal colony.

The convicts who arrived with Bowen's expedition had been dispatched to assist with necessary labour in the establishment of the colony. However it was soon decided that the growing population of convicts in Sydney could be better managed by breaking them up into smaller groups. Some were sent to Norfolk Island, and others to Hobart Town. Early in 1804 whilst the settlers were still camped at Risdon Cove, a strike occurred amongst the soldiers who were guarding the convicts, as they were too few to be effective. An agreement was made that the ratio of soldiers to convicts would be increased, and they returned to duties. Whilst some were kept in gaol within Hobart Town, secondary sites such as Sarah Island and Port Arthur were also created to spread the convict labour to more isolated regions, and for the purpose of stricter confinement for repeat offenders.^[30]

By 1817 an increasing number of female convicts were arriving in Hobart town, and there was not enough room to keep them in the first Hobart Town gaol. Permission was granted in 1821 by NSW Governor Lachlan Macquarie for the construction of a separate gaol for female convicts. Despite this, construction took nearly eight years, and it wasn't until December 1828 that the first female convicts began to be transferred to the Cascades Female Factory, in the foothills of Mount Wellington.^[31]

The opening of penal settlements at Maria Island (1825) and Port Arthur (1832) on the Tasman Peninsular, 111 km Southeast of Hobart Town, brought more importance to the island's East Coast, and the eventual saw the closing of Sarah Island penitentiary in 1833. The first land grants at Richmond were made in 1823, however the township began to grow much more rapidly after Port Arthur was founded, as it soon became an important stop on the highway to Port Arthur. Richmond Gaol was soon opened in 1823, and the oldest surviving bridge in Australia, the Richmond Bridge, was built there across the Coal River in 1825. The penitentiary at Port Arthur, although now remembered as a cruel and unpleasant place, was actually one of the most advanced in the world at the time. Improvements were made with the opening in 1853 of the 'separate prison', also known as the "model prison", which was modelled on the modernised prison of Pentonville in London. Conditions were fair, and a legitimate attempt was made to reform men, and boys were taught a trade and given religious lessons in a very pious society. Port Arthur was guarded by day and night by a line of soldiers and dogs, across the isthmus of the peninsular.^[32]

In 1831 the need for better facilities to contain the convicts within Hobart Town was answered by the opening of the Campbell Street Gaol with its magnificent Penitentiary Chapel, and open execution yard. Law Courts were soon added, and remained in use until 1983. The gaol features underground passages and solitary confinement cells.^[33] Port Arthur the site of the secondary punishment penitentiary opened in 1830. By 1835 it had grown to house 800 convicts, many of whom regularly served in chain gangs. It operated until 1877.

Although Van Diemen's Land was a place of secondary punishment, only 6% of convicts in Hobart were kept confined in gaols. The majority were used on government building projects, such as the Sorell Causeway, or worked as indentured servants for free settlers. Despite this relative freedom, they were often confined by heavy leg irons, and flogged for minor indiscretions.^[34]

Convict transportation to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) was to last exactly 50 years. In the 1840s a strong local opposition group grew in Hobart Town known as the Anti-Transportation League, and they began lobbying the government to call for an end to convict transportation. By 1853 transportation to Van Diemen's Land was abolished, but many of the convicts already there still had lengthy sentences to complete. The success of the Anti-Transportation League led to locals calling for responsible self-government for the colony of Van Diemen's Land, which was granted in 1856, with Hobart Town remaining as the colonial capital.

Early 19th Century

The first decade of the settlement on the Derwent River was a difficult one. Their geographic isolation, even from the other Australian settlement at Sydney soon became apparent, and led to an air of despondency. The settlers initially struggled to come to terms with the environment of the new location, finding the summers hot and unbearable, and the winters nearly as cold as England.

The settlement was plagued with problems such as a shoddy workforce (mostly unskilled convict labour, and unwilling Marines pressed into work duties), insufficient supplies and neglect by imperial authorities, disease and constant threat of Aboriginal attack, the difficult terrain, and quarrels amongst settlers. There were also insufficient tools, and timber-cutting was slow going in the thick forests, making it difficult to supply timber for permanent buildings. At times disaster hovered, but never became absolute.^[35]

Lieutenant Bowen's settlement at Risdon Cove had been poorly sited. He had chosen it based on the advice of an earlier expedition, that had found the creek at Risdon swollen with fresh water. Bowen's contingent had arrived on 11 September 1803 at the end of what was probably a wet winter. The grassy woodlands around Risdon Cove were verdant and lush, and the creek was at full flow. However after a long hot summer between December 1803 and February 1804, during which the Risdon Cove encampment received not a single day of rain whatsoever, the creek was dried up completely and the grass and woodlands parched.^[36]

At the mouth of a small inlet that was subjected to a wide tidal variation, it was difficult to launch vessels for much of the day, and the camp had poor water supply. In addition, the site was hilly and the soil was sandy and unsuitable for European agricultural practices. To make matters worse, as the creek dried into the summer months, swarms of mosquitoes and flies plagued the camp. As the summer lengthened, wildfire became more frequent, and on one occasion, the officers huts were nearly consumed.^[37]

By the time Captain David Collins arrived on February 16, 1804, the soldiers were virtually mutinous. Fed up with poor rations, forced labour, and surly convicts to guard, the men had all but lost any respect for the young Lieutenant Bowen. Bowen immediately felt threatened by the arrival of Collins, and for a time refused to accept his command. Eventually Bowen departed aboard HMS Ocean ^{[disambiguation needed]} to seek confirmation from Governor King.^[38]

Soon after his arrival, Collins decided to move the settlement to the far shore of the river. Surveyor George Harris ^{[disambiguation needed]} was dispatched in a longboat, and within a day had reported back to Collins that he had located an excellent sheltered cove at the mouth of a fast flowing stream that seemed fed by the melted snow off Table Mountain (now Mount Wellington). He suggested the location would provide ample drinking water, whilst the cove would protect the ships from the current and weather. Most of the tents were struck two days later, and re-erected at Sullivan's Cove on Monday, 20 February 1804. The following Sunday, 26 February 1804 the colony's chaplain, the Right Reverend Robert Knopwood conducted the first divine service in Hobart Town.^[39]

Before the settlement at Risdon Cove had been completely abandoned, one of the most violent conflicts between British forces and Australian Aborigines is alleged to have occurred. The facts of this event are still disputed by historians and the descendants of the Tasmanian Aborigines, however it is alleged that on the morning of May 3, 1804, a food hunting party of approximately three hundred crested the heavily wooded hills above the Risdon Cove settlement, looking for kangaroo, in what is now considered to be part of the Oyster Bay tribe's traditional hunting grounds. It is supposed that both the Marine sentries, and the hunting party surprised each other. It is not clear how the engagement began, with differing accounts being given. It does seem that feeling threatened by such an overwhelmingly large group, the Marines fired upon the Aborigines in an unprovoked attack. A convict by the name of Edward White claimed to have seen this. Armed with only spears and clubs, the Aboriginals were outdone by the firepower of the Marines who were armed with the Brown Bess smooth bore, muzzle loading musket, many of whom were experienced troops from conflicts in India and the Americas. It is claimed that between three and fifty of the Aboriginals were killed.^[40]

This was just the first incident in what would become a complete breakdown in relations between the British settlers in Van Diemen's Land, and the indigenous population. A series of bloody encounters between the two groups continued on a regular basis for much of the next twenty years, culminating in the Black War. Between the warfare and the effects of diseases brought by the settlers the aboriginal population was soon forced away from the area and rapidly replaced by free settlers and the convict population.^[41]

Within the first two days of having landed at Sullivan's Cove, shelter was provided for all of the Europeans through the erection of tents. With the winter approaching, the establishment of permanent shelters was of top priority, but took much longer than desired. The difficulty in obtaining timber from the thick forests, and establishing clearings on which to build, proved worse than first believed. A lack of saws, axes and other cutting tools made this process even harder. A shortage of building materials beset the colony, and local manufacture of timber products was slower than had been hoped.^[42]

A wharf out of Hunter Island was built by the fourth day to facilitate the unloading of supplies from the ships. A crude storehouse was also established on the island, which could be accessed via a low sandbar at high tide. The long spit could only be traversed at low tide, making it easier for sentries to guard the storehouse from would-be thieves.^[43]

By July the settlement at Risdon Cove had finally been abandoned, and many of Bowen's initial party, with the exception of the few free settlers, returned to Sydney. By the time of Bowen's eventual departure, few permanent houses had been built, and the winter of 1804 was a particularly wet one, making conditions in the new settlement very unpleasant. Most suffered from the cold and wet, and disease soon broke out.^[44]

The colony of Hobart Town initially struggled to survive. Expected supply ships did not arrive in the first year, and the lack of cultivation of wheat that was essential for survival, combined with bad droughts and soaring temperatures in the summers of 1805 and 1806 nearly saw the end of the colony. All of the settlers, soldiers and convicts were put onto short rations when the supply ships had failed to arrive.^[45]

By Early 1806 bay whaling had begun in the mouth of the Derwent River. But by October 1806, the signs for the coming summer were bad. Chaplain to Lieutenant-Governor Collins, Reverend Robert Knopwood wrote in his diary late in October:

“

The distress of the colony is beyond conception.

”

In November:

“

The weather is very dry. Nothing grows for want of rain…the grubs destroy all our vegetables.

”

By Christmas Day, the temperature was so high he wrote of the heat:

“

that it bent the glass of the thermometer and broke it.

”

Supplies from Sydney were interrupted in 1806 after flooding on the Hawkesbury River destroyed farms and crops. At the same time, the wheat crop on the Derwent failed due to drought. To overcome food shortages, the settlers turned to fishing, and even gathering seaweed to eat. However, they managed to survive through the prudent use of the farm animals that had been sent by early supply ships. They included cattle, sheep, goats, horses, pigs and poultry. In fact, the settlers were better supplied with animals than equipment.^[49]

As the area surrounding the river was explored, areas such as the Coal River Valley were discovered to be suitable for agriculture, and were soon producing substantial harvests. Unlike Sydney, where harsh summer conditions made the first attempts at agriculture difficult, Hobart Town's crops in 1806 and 1807 were so successful there was a large surplus of wheat and produce.^[50]

Although both exploration and settlement were hampered by the island's mountainous topography, the colony soon bean to established itself, and local food production replaced a dependency on external supply, and the area's natural resources began to be exploited. The climate, similar to England's, was found to be suitable for fruit orchards, particularly apples and pears, and the raising of livestock soon also began. The best resource of southern Van Dieman's Land though, was the sea. The River Derwent possesses one of the finest deep-water natural harbours in the world, and abundant marine life provided plentiful food supplies. Whaling and Sealing soon cropped up as important industries, and provided the economic backbone of Hobart Town in its first decade.^[17]

The first overland journey through the island's interior was made in February 1807. Lieutenant Thomas Laycock led a party of five soldiers from the New South Wales Corps overland from the island's second settlement at Port Dalrymple (later Launceston) in the north to Hobart Town in the south seeking supplies for the struggling northern colony that was running low on food. His party took nine days on foot, seven of which were traveling days, via a central route of approximately 180 km (112 miles) that took their party high into the lakes district of the Central Highlands. Their unexpected arrival in Hobart Town out of the bush to the north of the colony elicited a rousing reception in the town. They were equipped with a cartloads of supplies despite the southern colony also suffering shortages, and their return journey found a less arduous route north following the flatter midlands route further to the east of the southward journey, which essentially formed the route that the Midlands Highway follows today, and was completed without having to cut down a single tree to allow the carts to pass. Surveyor Charles Grimes was sent out the following month to formally survey the route, and a road between the two settlements was established by 1808.^[51]

Despite this initial expedition, exploration and road building into the interior was slow. Eventually the route would be later developed as the principle north-south road in the island, but it took several years to do so. As a result, the colony of Hobart Town chose to prefer sea routes, even to the north of the island as the primary means of transportation. By 1808 docks (that survive to this day) were constructed using convict labour, and vital buildings such as the government store were erected. The Commisarat's Store, which was completed in 1810 survives to the present, and is Hobart's oldest surviving building. The Bond Store, completed over a decade later in 1824 also still survives.^[52]

Although the first arrivals were almost entirely made up of convicts and soldiers, it was not long before rumours of Van Diemen's Land began to also attract free settlers allowing Hobart Town to grow. But Hobart Town's isolation also led to a large number of 'undesirables', many men of ill-repute, seeking a new life to escape from former crimes, escaping the law, or just looking for a life of solitude found their way to the fledgling town. The area around the docks was rife with crime and prostitution, and heavy drinking and fighting was common.^[53]

The 1810s saw Hobart Town grow from being a pioneer encampment into a town. Governor Lachlan Macquarie toured the Hobart Town settlement in 1811, not long after his appointment in New South Wales, and his suppression of the Rum Rebellion, whilst he was still brimming with energy and confidence. He enjoyed a strong interest in the island, Hobart Town especially, but was very disappointed at the poor state of defence, and general disorganisation that the colony had been left in at the time of Collin's death. Although some important infrastructure had been built, the town itself was still essentially a disorganised collection of crude wattle and daub huts that Macquarie described as: "untidy". By this stage the first Government House, only six years old, was already falling to pieces.^[54]

Macquarie drew up plans and gave orders for the further development of the settlement. He laid out plans for the widening of streets, and planned for further roads, laying them out in a typically ordered fashion. He divided Hobart Town into a principle square, and seven streets to be named Macquarie, Elizabeth, Argyle, Liverpool, Murray, Harrington, and Collins and framed a regular plan of the town. Buildings were to be properly built, or repaired, and there was to be a new church and courthouse. He located major civic institutions, such as a hospital, barracks, new market, and a system of signal stations, which have left his imprint upon modern Hobart, and much of his planned works can still be seem today. In 1811 he planned for the settlement in Northern Van Diemen's Land to be administered from Hobart Town, instead of a separate sub-colony responsibility to Sydney. This was effective by June 1812, and upon his arrive in 1813, Thomas Davey became the first Lieutenant-Governor of both North and South Van Diemen's Land.^[55]

Along with planning for a new grid of streets to be laid out, and new administrative and other buildings to be built, he order the construction of the Bond Store, which was completed in 1815, and he commissioned the building of Anglesea Barracks, which opened in 1814, and is now the oldest continually occupied barracks in Australia. The Angelsea Barracks continued to be expanded with addition of a Hospital in 1818, a Drill Hall in 1824, a new Guard House in 1838, and new Military Gaol in 1846, all of which survive to the present. By 1818, the Mulgrave Battery had been built on Castray Esplanade, on the southern side of Battery Point upon the orders of Lieutenant-Governor William Sorell. Now Hobart Town had two basic fortifications.^[56]

By 1814 external to the settlement proper, several farms were also already located. They were mostly centred upon land grants that the imperial government used to reward hard-working free settlers, or convicts who had served their sentences. In the first four years of the Hobart Town settlement (up to 1808), a total of only 2,453 acres (9.93 km²) had been granted, mostly north, west and South of the Settlement. These grants were made in the areas that make up the modern Hobart Suburbs of Battery Point (Mulgrave Point), Sandy Bay (Queenborough), Dynnyrne, South Hobart, West Hobart, North Hobart, and New Town.^[57]

However no official grants were made in 1811, and 1812, due to the Rum Rebellion in Sydney. Despite this by 1814 this figure had reached 43,077.5 acres (174.328 km²), with a whopping 33,544.5 made in 356 grants in 1813 alone, Thomas Davey's first year as Lieutenant-Governor. The grants Davey issued were mostly in the districts of Clarence Plains (East of the Derwent River), and in the Derwent Valley to the north of the settlement, but also included areas around Launceston. This new group of citizens with personal land-holdings saw the first establishment of a local landed gentry, despite many of them having had no previous upper-class background, they formed the basis of the newly established local society.^[58]

By 1820 Hobart Town had grown to accommodate over 10,000 people, and had become an important Pacific base for the Royal Navy. The plentiful natural resources of the island also proved useful for the Royal Navy, who had soon turned Hobart into a thriving port. The docks were usually buzzing with activity as the Navy shipped materials such as timber, flax and rum from Hobart Town. By this time it had become a vital Southern ocean re-supply stop for international shipping and trade, and therefore a major freight hub for the British Empire. Wealth poured into the port on the back of this trade, and in 1823 the Van Diemen's Land Bank, the first in the colony, began operations. Ships from as far a-field as Europe, South Africa, China, Batavia, Singapore, and the United States were all regularly seen in the Derwent.^[56]

In the twenty years immediately after settlement, Hobart Town had soon became a major base for the Southern Ocean whaling and sealing industries. Hobart Town's shipyards built many of the whalers, and were kept busy with maintenance and repairs. Whale oil soon became a major export, and was used to light the street lamps of London, and the wool industry had also established itself as a major export from Hobart Town's docks. In 1816 there was already 20,000 sheep, and by 1818, 12,000 horned cattle. Merino and other flocks were established in the now expanding Midlands district, and at Clarendon, Perth, Longford, Esk Vale, Jericho, Simmonds and other places. Soon merino stud rams were being sold for high prices, and Van Diemen's Land became noted throughout the empire for its fine wool growing. Wheat was now also grown in such abundant crops that it was being exported to Sydney to subsidise their less successful crops. A few years later in 1825 saw the formation of the Van Diemen's Land Company. It planned to raise sheep in the colony to provide fine wool for British cloth manufacturers who were then buying their fine wool from Spain and Germany. Homegrown British sheep were bred mainly for meat in that period.^[59]

The Van Diemen's Land Company was very unpopular in Hobart Town. The settlers felt that they would use all the convict labour, and be favoured by government. They started out trying to grow wheat and barley but found the crops often ruined by heavy rain. Arthur also gave the company no favours, and it eventually fell into financial trouble in the 1850s. They were however, successful in growing potatoes, finding the islands climate and soil well suited. Other crops they grew in the colony included Oats, peas, wheat, and grass for hay to feed livestock.^[56]

Education and religion were becoming increasingly important at this time. It was seen as a way of improving people, and enlightened ideas about breaking class barriers through education and religious devotion were popular. In 1828 there were eight government primary schools. By 1835 that number had increased to 29, with the number continuing to increase steadily over the next few years. Secondary education would remain in private hands well into the late 19th century. Libraries came early to Hobart Town, with a reading and Newspaper room established in 1822, and the Hobart Town Book Society opened in 1826. The Tasmanian Public Library (now the State Library of Tasmania) would not open until much later in 1870 though.^[60]

1830 saw the consolidation of land settlement throughout the island. The most fertile parts of the island were now occupied by land holdings. Until 1831 the governor had extensive power for granting land, along with the disposition of convict labour. After 1831 free grants were abolished and all land was now to be sold by auction. This attracted the new class of so called "gentry farmers". The new settlers were more successful than the earlier farmers had been. They knew more about farming, and had more money to pay for tools and labour. Many of them became successful sheep farmers, and capitalised on the Australian wool booms on the 1820s and 30's.^[61]

Although the first decade had primarily been based on gaining a foothold on the island, and the second concerned with the establishment of essential primary industries, very soon industrial development began to branch out. It had been discovered that the Tasmanian climate was exceptionally suited to the growing of fruit. The Hobart Town Almanack in 1833 described the growth of apples and plums as "astonishing", and apple orchards were planted in the Huon Valley in the 1840s. Many of the original orchards continue operating to this day. Hops for beer were first grown in the northern settlement in 1804, and at Hobart Town in 1806. Robert Clarke was granted land at Clarence Plains in 1806 for growing hops, and became the first brewer of beer in the colony.^[62]

Hops for beer had been first successfully grown in the northern settlement in 1804, and at Hobart Town in 1806, and many small-scale breweries had soon sprung up. However no large scale operations had begun until in 1824, when Charles Degreaves established the Cascade Brewery near the Cascade Falls in the foothills of Mount Wellington. By 1832 the brewery had become an outstanding commercial success and outgrew its original building. Degreaves relocated the brewery to the site of an old sawmill, slightly further upstream along the Hobart Rivulet, and a further three storeys were added to the main building in 1927, creating the iconic structure that survives to this day. The Brewery is still in operation and remains Australia's longest continually operating brewery.^[63]

This was a particularly important time for whaling and its associated industries of shipbuilding and cooperage in Hobart Town as well. The waterfront of Hobart was upgraded in the 1830s to account for ever-increasing numbers of visiting foreign ships. Although the dock areas remained quite rough and ready, other areas of Hobart Town were developing into quite pleasant locales. In the early 1820s the shoreline of the river immediately to the north of the town had been set aside as the Kings Domain (later Queen's Domain) for use as a public space.

Van Diemen's Land had been proclaimed as a separate colony from New South Wales in 1824, it had been decided by 1825 that Hobart Town would be the new colony's capital city. An Executive Council (effectively a cabinet of chief public servants) and a Legislative Council (consisting of free citizens chosen by the government and lesser public servants) as well as a local judiciary in the form of the Supreme Court of Tasmania were established in Hobart Town, with the Supreme Court Building being erected in 1824. Despite these trappings of democracy, Governor Arthur maintained his autocratic rule, was not particularly bound by their decisions, and did not pay them much attention either.^[64]

Governor Arthur drew up plans for a Botanical Gardens on the domain, which were opened in 1828, and for the creation of a grand new Government House nearby that was opened in 1829. Later that year, a convict built brick wall was added which featured internal fireplaces that heated the wall in order to allow exotic tropical plants to grow along its length. A second such wall, 280 metres in length was later added, and is now the longest surviving convict built wall in Australia.^[7]

By 1830 the population of Hobart Town was over 20,000. However the division was very male biased, with 18,108 men, and 6,171 women.^[64] However, Hobart Town had grown to become a quaint, picturesque and thriving southern ocean port town. The whaling, sealing, wool and wattle oil industries were booming, as were agricultural crops such as wheat and apple growing. The economy was thriving, and life was quite comfortable for the merchants and free residents of the colony's capital.^[7]

Some of the early settlers to Hobart Town who had arrived with very little were starting to now become very wealthy members of Hobart Town's new gentry class, often with vast tracts of land, especially in the Midlands. One such example is Henry Hopkins. Hopkins arrived in Hobart Town in 1822 with a shipment of boots when they were in short supply. He mad a huge profit and invested the earnings in local wool for export to England. He had begun life in Hobart Town sharing a two-room house with an Earth floor with his wife. However after ten years of exporting wool, he was wealthy enough to build "Westella House", then the biggest in Hobart Town, and still standing today. It had 48 rooms and the dining room could seat 60 guests.^[65]

Hopkins was very influential in the life of early Van Diemen's Land. He became a community leader and magistrate soon after arriving. He campaigned heavily to abolish transportation, which had already been abolished in New South Wales. This placed a heavier burden on Van Diemen's Land, which by 1830 was Britain's only external gaol. He was one of the founders of congregationalism in Hobart Town and built a chapel at his own expense in Collins Street. He also contributed to building funds for the still existent St. David's Anglican Cathedral, as well as other Presbyterian and Wesleyan churches, and started scholarships for theological students.^[66]

Although Hobart Town was becoming more commercially successful, the number of felons transported from England arriving in the colony had dramatically increased by the late 1820s and 1830s. Demobilisation following the Napoleonic Wars had left thousands of veterans unemployed, and many turned to crime, resulting in an increasing number of transported felons. The Campbell Street Gaol had opened in 1831, and the magnificent penitentiary chapel, designed by convict architect John Lee Archer was added later in the same year. The chapel remains one of the finest examples of colonial Georgian architecture in Australia. Two further wings were added to the gaol in 1860 and were soon converted in Criminal Courts that remained in use until the 1985.^[67]

Charles Darwin visited Hobart Town arriving there on February 5, 1836 as part of the HMS Beagle expedition. He writes of Hobart Town and the Derwent estuary in his Voyage of the Beagle:

“

...The lower parts of the hills which skirt the bay are cleared; and the bright yellow fields of corn, and dark green ones of potatoes, appear very luxuriant... I was chiefly struck with the comparative fewness of the large houses, either built or building. Hobart Town, from the census of 1835, contained 13,826 inhabitants, and the whole of Tasmania 36,505. If I was obliged to emigrate I certainly should prefer this place: the climate & aspect of the country almost alone would determine me.

”

Hobart Town had become a town dependent on external trade. Although many of the primary industries were highly successful, they were never conducted on a sufficient scale to bring long lasting wealth. By the 1830s the sealing industry had disappeared, and although whaling persisted, it was on a diminished scale from the first twenty years. Despite the decline in these industries, the export of Tasmanian wool continued to thrive. New industries were required to replace the declining trades, and shipbuilding was one of the new successes for Hobart Town in the 1830s. The quality of the islands hardwood timber resources, combined with excellent port facilities and access to major shipping routes meant that by 1850, Hobart Town was producing more wooden ships than all other Australian ports combined. Hobart built ships plied all of the world's oceans, and could be found as far a-field as the United States and Europe.^[69]

As often proved to be the case in Hobart's history, the changing world advanced faster than the city. Just as Hobart Town was growing to dominate the international shipbuilding trade, shortages of labour struck the industry, as men migrated en masse to the Victorian goldfields, and the shift towards steam and steel in shipbuilding undermined Hobart's production of quality wooden built ships.^[70]

Hobart Town had developed a reputation as a rowdy and debaucherous town very soon after its foundation. The area immediately to the north of the docks had become a bustling waterfront district and was called 'Wapping', and was a mixture of crowded terrace housing, pubs, hotels, brothels, and gambling houses as well as various other forms of seedy entertainment for visiting sailors. Cock-fighting and Dog fighting were popular in the area. The Theatre Royal, built in 1834 is located in the area, and Wapping was very much seen as the entertainment part of the town. The theatre was fitted out with a plush Georgian interior which was restored after the disastrous fire which affected it in 1984.^[71]

The wild nature of Hobart Town's seedier side almost had a disastrous effect. The town was in danger of losing visitations by Royal Navy vessels due to the large number of sailors contracting venereal diseases whilst on shore leave in the port. The local authorities clamped down on the behaviour in the area, and the visits were allowed to continue.

But outside of Wapping the town was growing well. Numerous grand sandstone buildings and colonial residences were being built. Whilst Wapping remained an inner city residential slum where many of the poor lived, the wealthier residents were moving south of the town to the greener and more pleasant areas of Battery Point and Sandy Bay. In the 1810s and 20s Battery Point had been one of the first areas cultivated for farmland and crops, but by the mid 1830s it had become a collection of cottages and fine homes, from which the port that it overlooked was operated. The area was dominated by the battery of guns from which it took its name. In 1839 'Kelly's Steps' were built by shipwright and adventurer Captain James Kelly to provide a short-cut from the pleasant colonial houses of Kelly Street and Arthur Circus in Battery Point, directly down to the warehouse and dockyards district of Salamanca Place.^[72]

In 1835 convict architect John Lee Archer had designed and overseen the construction of the magnificent sandstone Customs House facing Sullivan's Cove, with construction completed in 1840. The building would later be used as Tasmania's parliament house, but its use as the Customs House is commemorated by a famous pub baring the same name (built 1844) which is now a favourite of yachtsmen after they have completed the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

Similarly many fine churches were also being constructed. The Scot's Church was built in Bathurst Street from 1834-36, and a small brick building within the churchyard had been used from 1834 as the first Presbyterian Church in Hobart Town. The Salamanca Place warehouses and the Theatre Royal were also constructed in this period. The Greek revival St George's Anglican Church in Battery Point was completed in 1838, and later had a grand Gothic tower designed by eminent architect James Blackburn added in 1847. St Joseph's was built in 1840. Although many such fine churches were being built throughout the town, it took another twenty years for Hobart to finally get a cathedral.

Sir John Franklin arrived in Hobart Town on 5 January 1837 with his enlightened wife Lady Jane Franklin to become the 5th Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land. The colony their took command of was very oriented towards commerce and industry, but sadly lacking in culture and opportunities for education. Lady Jane was passionate about improving the town and colony, as was her husband. However their liberal views were not well received by many members of Hobart Town's civil service, and civilians who benefited from exploiting convict labour did not appreciate their humane views.

Despite this, the Franklin's did much to reform Hobart Town society, and the colony of Van Diemen's Land in general. Lady Jane Franklin had built a replica Greek Temple modelled on the Parthenon and designed by James Blackburn. It was built in the bush in Lenah Valley and opened in 1841. Inside she housed the Lady Jane Franklin Museum, resplendant with replicas of the Elgin Marbles. The Franklin's inaugurated the Royal Hobart Regatta in 1838. This popular event has been held annually since, and features sailing, rowing, swimming, and other water-sports events, culminating in a fire-works display. They also founded the Christ College, now part of the University of Tasmania, the first tertiary education institution in the city. Lady Jane also attempted to establish evening gatherings to discuss art, literature and science, but these proved unpopular with well-to-do 'Hobartians', who preferred that she host parties and dances instead. Not to be outdone by his wife, Lieutenant-Governor Franklin opened the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery a year later in October 1843. In 1844 he also founded the Royal Society of Tasmania, the first such Royal Society outside of the United Kingdom. The enlightened governorship of the Franklins' brought much social and cultural improvement to Hobart Town, and culminated in the town's incorporation as a city in 1842. The town had grown from a defensive outpost into a penal settlement, and from there, into a prosperous trading port. Free settlers were outstripping the arrival of convicts, and soon the proud colonists were clamouring for an end to transportation, and greater self-representation. The Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science was first published in 1840, however economic depression hit all of the Australian colonies that year, and Hobart Town suffered badly in what was to be the beginning of the first of many economic downturns.^[73]

By the mid nineteenth century, elegant sandstone public buildings had replaced the crude early mud and timber edifices of the pioneering days, and many fine stately colonial mansions were being built in the town by the colony's more successful citizens, such as Stowell and Secheron House (1831) in Battery Point; Runnymede (1836) in New Town (originally called 'Cairn Lodge', it was built for prominent Scottish born lawyer Robert Pitcairn); Narryna House (1836) in Battery Point; Bellkirk House (1863) in Hobart; Lenna House (1880) in Battery Point; and Westella House (1890) in Hobart. Although not as grand as some of the stately homes, many fine cottages from the same period still survive, such as Barton Cottage (1837), Moina Cottage (1850), Colville Cottage (1877), and Cromwell Cottage (1880). There is also whole row of magnificent sandstone houses along Macquarie Street dating from the 1850s that survive much as they originally were.^[7]

The middle of the century saw Hobart Town sitting proudly as a major southern trading port, well known and regularly visited, attracting commerce and emigrants with excellent rates of growth. The colonial outpost prospered and had developed into an elegant city with major stone architecturally featured buildings having replaced most of the early pioneering structures. By the mid-1840s Hobart Town's shops were said to be as good as in many English towns, although at night the only lights in the streets were the lamps outside hotels and public houses. Some of these shop fronts can still be seen around Hobart's streets, such as the old Conner's family store in Murray Street. Hobart Town's main streets were lit by oil lamps from the 1840s, and eventually by gas lamps in 1857.^[74]

Late 19th Century

From the difficult early days, Hobart Town had grown into a bustling port town by the mid nineteenth century. Local industries and commerce were thriving, and many local businesses began to succeed, such as Henry Jones' Jam Factory that turned local fruit produce to jam and exported it throughout the British Empire.

Hobart Town's docks were struggling to cope with the demand on them. The town's population was nearing 60,000 and ships were entering and departing the Derwent River on a nearly daily basis. The demand for berths and storage saw the creation of new docks and sandstone warehouses in what had been known as the 'Cottage Green'. The former row of original cottages were demolished for sandstone warehouses, and by the mid 1840s the bustling dock area had become known as Salamanca, in honour of the Duke of Wellington's 1812 victory in the Battle of Salamanca.^[75] Many of the original warehouses still survive as galleries, studios, cafes, bars and restaurants.^[76]

Hobart's first major decline came with the combination of a general economic downturn in the 1840s, followed by the Victorian gold rush of the early 1850s. Large-scale migration to the Victorian goldfields occurred, creating a shortfall in local labour resources. As a response, the once booming economy of Hobart began to decline. Despite the economic and population declines of the early 1850s, the decade proved to be one of social and cultural advancement for the young city. Transportation to Van Diemen's Land was abolished in 1853, and calls for responsible self-government were successful, with a new constitution drafted, and Van Diemen's Land became an independent British Colony in 1856. The new colony immediately changed its name to Tasmania, to disassociate itself with its past as a penal colony.^[77]

Hobart Town was proclaimed as the capital, and the Customs House at Sullivan's Cove was renovated to become a two house Parliament House with the existing Tasmanian Legislative Council becoming the upper house, and the newly formed Tasmanian House of Assembly becoming the lower house. Two years later in 1858, the elegant Tudor-Gothic style Government House had been completed, and by 1866 a magnificent Italian Renaissance style Town Hall had been completed adjacent to Franklin Square and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. As the colony grew, so too did the need for more administrative buildings. The Treasury Offices were built between 1859 and 1864, and a Deed's Office was built in 1884.

It was not just the administrative needs of the colony that were increasingly being catered for, but also the spiritual needs. A Catholic Cathedral designed by famous architect William Wardell, widely regarded as Australia's finest architect of the nineteenth century, was commenced in 1860, and was to be built on the site of the first Roman Catholic Church in Tasmania. In 1866 St Mary's Catholic Cathedral was opened, but without the originally designed tower.The magnificent St David's Anglican Cathedral, seat of the Bishop of Tasmania, and administrative centre of the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania, was completed in 1868 in high Gothic style and designed by George Frederick Bodley.

By the Late nineteenth century the central waterfront area of Wapping had declined dramatically under government attempts to control prostitution, gambling and excessive drinking. As the areas of Wapping and to a lesser extent, Glebe declined, Battery Point and Sandy Bay located to the south of the town, were becoming home to the town's more prosperous residents. Soon Battery Point was centred around the pleasant Arthur's Circus, where many of the period's cottages and fine homes can still be seen. Whereas Glebe enjoyed a resurgence, the shanty's and brothels of Wapping were condemned, and many were destroyed to make way for new developments, such as the wool store, that survives to this day as the Old Woolstore Hotel. Part of the area had already been reclaimed in the early 1850s for the construction of the Hobart Gas Works, which was opened amidst much fanfare on 9 March 1857, bringing gas lighting to the streets of Hobart Town for the first time.^[78]

In 1870 the 48 metre high (158 ft) shot tower was constructed south of Sandy Bay for the purpose of manufacturing shot for the Tasmanian Colonial Forces. It used gravity to drop molten lead down the inside of the tower that would form spherical pellets and solidify before hitting the ground.

The Hobart Electric Tramway Company commenced operation in 1893, providing Hobart with the first complete electric tramway in the Southern Hemisphere. Its fleet of double-decker trams were the only such trams in Australia. The tramway proved very popular and the route from the city to Sandy Bay Beach was always crowded in summers during the early twentieth century. The tramways expanded rapidly, and suburban growth followed the lines. By the early twentieth century, tramlines ran from the city depot to North Hobart, Lenah Valley, Springfield, Glenorchy, Cascade Brewery, Proctor's Road, and Sandy Bay. Single deck trams were introduced in 1906, and the Hobart City Council took over control of the company in 1912, renaming it the Hobart Metropolitan Tramways. Electric Trolley Buses were also introduced in 1935.

An economic depression had struck Hobart in the early 1890s, but there were companies that succeeded in spite of it. In 1891 Henry Jones established a Jam Factory in which he began to manufacture preserved jams and spreads using locally sourced high quality fruit produce. The factory soon came to be known simply as 'The Jam Factory' to locals, and was soon exporting jam throughout the British Empire. His company had soon grown to a limited Liable company under the name of Henry Jones IXL, and established a second factory in Victoria.

In 1895 American writer Mark Twain visited Hobart as part of his worldwide tour of the British Empire, and wrote about his visit in his 1897 book Following the Equator. In it he writes:

“

How beautiful is the whole region, for form, and grouping, and opulence, and freshness of foliage, and variety of colour, and grace and shapeliness of the hills, the capes, the promontories; and then, the splendour of the sunlight, the dim, rich distances, the charm of the water-glimpses! And it was in this paradise that the yellow-liveried convicts were landed, and the Corps-bandits quartered, and the wanton slaughter of the kangaroo-chasing black innocents consummated on that autumn day in May, in the brutish old time. It was all out of keeping with the place, a sort of bringing of heaven and hell together.

”

Early 20th Century

Hobart had been badly affected by the depression of the 1890s. The population had declined, and the economy was in recession. The early twentieth century saw a shift in economic emphasis away from the traditional agricultural primary industries towards industrialisation. Henry Jones' waterfront factory had outgrown its requirements by 1911 as demand continued to grow, and Henry Jones IXL built a grand new factory on the eastern side of Constitution Dock which was the first reinforced concrete building in Australia. In what was a pre-war period of development, several new buildings were added to the Hobart skyline in the early twentieth century. In 1911 the grand new Hobart City Hall was opened, which had been designed by competition winner R. N. Butler.

A new Customs House, built in classical revival style was opened in 1902 adjoining the original 1815 Bond Store. The iconic grand sandstone Hobart General Post office with classical clock-tower, designed by architect Alan Walker in High Victorian style, and built through funds donated by the people of Hobart in celebration of Australian federation, opened on 2 September, 1905. A telephone exchange was added in 1907. The Hobart GPO is probably most famous internationally for being the place where Roald Amundsen, in front of a large gathering of locals, telegraphed the news on 7 March, 1912, around the world that he had successfully reached the South Pole the previous December.

Although many bushfires had burned around the Hobart region since settlement, Hobart's relatively small size had meant few had caused serious damage. That was changed in the summer of 1913-14, when several small bushfires burned on the slopes of Mount Wellington, and destroyed orchards, several buildings and livestock.

With the economy lagging, the Premier Walter Lee toured pre-war Germany whose economy was booming. He was inspired by the Hydro-electricity schemes of the Ruhr Valley, and realised the same method of cheap electricity production could benefit Tasmania with its mountainous interior. In 1914 the state government established the Hydro-Electric Department (later Hydro-Electric Commission) to provide cheap electricity in the hope of attracting industry to the island.

Upriver from the city key industries were established including the Pasminco Electrolytic Zinc Company, the Electrona carbide works, Cadbury's Chocolate Factory (1920) and the Boyer Newsprint Mills, and since the early twentieth century the cheap ready supply of Hydroelectric power has meant Hobart has been able to maintain a small industrial base. However it has never attracted the heavy industry so desired by the state's politicians, and meant that Hobart has remained the least industrialised of all of the Australian capital cities.^[7]

The Cadbury's Chocolate Factory project mirrored the companies Quaker principles of taking responsibility for bettering the lives of the company's workers that existed in their Bournville operation in the United Kingdom. Architects James Earle and Bernard Walker sought to provide an all-round community, and created the Cadbury's Estate alongside the factory, where the workers were provided with comfortable housing, shops, entertainment and sporting facilities, which were designed to engender a sense of community and personal well-being amongst Cadbury's workers.

As a result, the local economy of Hobart has continued to survive on primary industries such as agriculture and fishing, and smaller scale industries such as canneries, fruit processing works, furniture manufacture, silk and textile printing, soft drink and confectionary production. Cottage industries such as pottery, woodwork, crafts and textiles also persist.

17 December 1924 saw the first radio broadcast in Hobart. The development had come as part of a Commonwealth Government initiative earlier in 1924 to develop top quality radio broadcasting facilities in each state capital. The projects were funded by licensing fees, limiting those permitted to receive the broadcasts, but by mid-1925 526 people in Hobart had bought licences to listen to broadcasts. The first Hobart station, 7ZL, was established by the Associated Radio Company, but had been bought by Tasmanian Broadcaster Pty Ltd in 1928. Finally, in 1932, ownership transferred to the Commonwealth Government owned Australian Broadcasting Commission as a result of an act of the Commonwealth Parliament nationalising radio companies.^[80]

The transfer of ownership which brought free broadcasting to Hobart for the first time, was in time for Hobart listeners to receive news that the first Tasmanian born Prime Minister, Joseph Lyons had been appointed. 7ZL was broadcast on the 580 AM frequency with a one-kilowatt transmitter. By 1937 the Hobart audience had grown sufficiently to warrant a second station, and in that year the Post Master General announced that 7ZR would begin transmitting at the 1160 AM frequency. The following year, Hobart listeners tuned in to 7ZR to hear Don Bradman score 144 in a tour match against the Tasmanians at the TCA Ground. Since its inception, 7ZR has since remained with the ABC and now forms part of the Radio National network as 936 ABC Hobart.^[80]

During the 1930s the Modern movement of architecture became quite popular in Hobart, and although few fine examples survive, one such example is the Sunray Flats (1938) in Davey Street. Designed by Colin Wilson of Hartley Wilson and Philp, they are a fine example of early International modern style architecture. The 1930s saw another building boom like that of the early twentieth century. Like the first boom, the boom of the 1930s was also cut short by the outbreak of the Second World War

On 9 February, 1934 Hobart was again visited by bad bushfires. The day was called 'Black Friday' and several homes were destroyed. Although many livestock were killed, there were no human fatalities.

On 23 January, 1937 the first road to the summit of Mount Wellington was completed having taken 30 months to build, and named the 'Pinnacle Road'. It had cost £26,000 and allowed easy access to the Springs which soon became a popular tourism and day-trip destination, and the Summit, which although subject to volatile weather changes, provides spectacular views over Hobart and the Derwent River estuary.

Late 20th Century

Although post-war Hobart was a thriving small city with a growing population and good combination of industry and primary agriculture, the city was largely confined to the western banks of the Derwent River.

The first plans for a bridge across the Derwent River had been made in 1832, but the width and depth of the river, combined with the powerful currents proved to be too much of a deterrent. A solution was hit upon to create a pontoon bridge, and in 1943 the Hobart Bridge was opened, spanning the Derwent River for the first time. To deal with the perceived problem of upriver shipping access, a lifting span was added near the western landing that allowed quite large vessels to pass through.

The Hobart Bridge had created the desired expansion of residential development on the eastern shore of the river, but by the mid-1950s the population of the eastern shore, as it soon became commonly known, was so great that massive traffic congestion problems plagued the bridge. Stormy weather also created severe hazards on the water level roadway, with large waves sometimes sweeping over the roofs of vehicles.

By the late 1950s it was realised a larger capacity bridge was needed. Construction on the much larger concrete arch Tasman Bridge began in May 1960, and was completed on 18 August 1964 at a total cost of £7 million. The bridge was originally four lanes, and expanded access to the eastern shore dramatically.

The 1950s brought an increased sense of mobility amongst Australians, both socially and geographically. Tourism was on the increase in Tasmania, and the state government invested £2,000,000 in the early 1950s for the construction of the 4700 ton Princess of Tasmania. Built in 1958, she was the first of a line of drive on ferries to cross the Bass Strait between Melbourne and Devonport that allowed tourists to travel by car from mainland Australia to Tasmania. Despite the popularity of the ferry service, it was already clear that aviation was the future of travel. In 1956 Lanherne Airport (now known as Hobart International Airport) was opened 20 km to the east of Hobart, and immediately created an increase in the number of tourists visiting the city.

The Hobart Metropolitan Tramways reached a peak in popularity in the 1930s and 40s, but by 1960 increased pressure from private car ownership and petrol-powered buses led to economic trouble for both passenger rail and the Hobart Tramways.

The final straw for the Tramways came on 29 April 1960 when a number 131 tram was struck by a lorry near the intersection of Elizabeth and Warrick Streets. The brakes failed as a result of the collision and the tram began to roll backwards down the step gradient of Elizabeth Street during evening peak hour traffic. Despite being dazed by the collision, and rather than secure his own safety by jumping clear, tram conductor Raymond Donoghue guided the remaining passengers to the front of the vehicle (as it was rolling backwards), and warned motorists by continuing to ring the tram's bells and desperately trying to operate the emergency hand brakes to no avail. It is estimated that the tram built up a speed of 40 to 50 miles per hour (64 to 80 km/ph). Eventually the tram collided violently with the front of the following number 137 tram, killing Donoghue instantly. He remained vigilantly at his post throughout the disaster and in his heroism he saved the lives of all of the passengers aboard, although 40 people were injured. Raymond Donoghue was awarded the George Cross for his actions.^[81]

As a result of the accident and the economic questions, Hobart's trams were abandoned that year in favour of the Metropolitan Transport Trust's fleet of petrol driven buses. Most of the fleet of trams were sold off for scrap metal, although some were placed into storage, and the early 21st century saw calls for the restoration of a tram service, possibly as a reduced tourism service along the Hobart waterfront.

1967 proved to be a disastrous year for the city of Hobart. On February 7, 1967 a combination of high winds, a heat wave, ill conceived back-burning and deliberate arson led to the worst outbreak of urban bushfire in Hobart's recorded history. The fires, which came to be known as 'Black Tuesday', swept down both shores of the Derwent River driven by high winds and destroyed countless homes and other property. 52 people were killed in the Hobart area alone, and 10 in other parts of the state, in what became Australia's greatest loss of life on a single day outside of wartime.

The tourism boom continued throughout the 1960s, and prompted local hotelier Greg Farrell, head of Federal Hotels group and owner of the Riviera Hotel in Lower Sandy Bay to lobby the State government to allow the construction of Australia's first legalised Casino.

The issue greatly divided locals and politicians alike, and a referendum was called in 1968. With a 58% majority, the referendum was passed, and construction began on what was to become an icon of the Hobart waterfront, the 17 story octagonal tower of the Wrest Point Hotel Casino. It opened in 1973 amid much fanfare and was soon leading another tourism boom with gamblers and celebrities visiting from throughout the world.

Despite the double boom in tourism in the 1950s and 1960s, Tasmania's geographic isolation still deterred the craved foreign investment in industry that was needed to stimulate the economy, and the government was constantly dealing with economic fluctuations. Hobart went through short periods of building booms, followed by longer stagnations, a cycle that continued into the 1990s.

On Sunday January 5, 1975, a disaster occurred in Hobart when the handyweight bulk ore carrier MV Lake Illawarra collided with the 19th pylon of the Tasman Bridge in what would later be referred to as the Tasman Bridge disaster. The ship crashed into pylon 19, and then bounced across to strike pylon 18, knocking both pylons down, and also causing a 127-metre section of steel and concrete roadway to collapse onto the deck of the ship. The Illawarra sank, killing seven crew, and five motorists were killed when they drove off the gap, plunging into the river below.

Whilst many ferry services were launched to try and aid commuters stranded by the disaster, others had to endure a 20 km round trip to the temporary bridge that was constructed near Risdon Cove. Although it isolated many city workers, the disaster had a positive effect in that it encouraged a boom in the establishment of local commercial services on the eastern shore in places such as Rosny Park.

The disaster prompted the development of a second major crossing of the Derwent River near the location of the temporary Bailey Bridge at Risdon Cove, 10 km to the north of the Tasman Bridge. With Federal Government funding the $49 million Bowen Bridge was opened on 23 February, 1984 by newly elected Prime Minister Bob Hawke. The Bridge was named after Lieutenant John Bowen who had established the first British settlement at Risdon Cove in 1803, approximately 500 metres from the eastern landing of the new bridge.

The Tasman Bridge was eventually repaired taking over two years and costing an additional $44 million. Many additional safety features such as navigation aids were added, and the opportunity was taken to expand the capacity to five lanes, to allow more traffic to cross. The fifth lane is a central reversible lane that follows am and pm peak hour crossing times.

One of the largest building projects in Hobart for many years was completed in 1987 when the unpopular waterfront Hobart Sheraton Hotel (now the Grand Chancellor) was opened. Taking over two years in its construction and built on a site in the docks area, its rooms have exceptional views of Sullivan's Cove and the Derwent River. But the hotel's construction was extremely unpopular with residences and commercial businesses immediately to the north who had previously enjoyed similar views were obscured by the hotel's construction. The hotel's builders were also criticised for not sourcing enough of the sandstone coloured bricks that were meant to compliment Hobart's colonial waterfront heritage. When the bricks ran out early in construction, they had to complete the project with a pinker shade of bricks that many people disliked. The construction of the Hobart Sheraton broke Wrest Point Hotel Casino's monopoly on the 4-5 star demographic.

The 1990s was a decade of substantial change for Hobart. Although a nation-wide recession brought high levels of unemployment and a lowering rate of home ownership, a profound shift in the political landscape followed on from the 1989 state government election. The conservative Liberal government of Robin Gray had sought a third term in office, but had dramatically underestimated the widespread opposition to the construction of another paper pulp mill within the state, and the growing groundswell of support for the Tasmanian Greens p arty. In what was the worst outbreak of bushfires in the 1990s, 6 houses and over 3,000 hectares of land in the Hobart area were destroyed by fire on 17 January, 1998.

In what was one of the largest projects to go ahead in the late 1990s a partnership between the Hotel Grand Chancellor, the Australian Commonwealth government and the Tasmanian Government created a permanent home for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra when the 1,100 seat Federation Concert Hall was opened on 4 September 2002. The hall's design sparked controversy due to its polished brass exterior cladding, but was welcomed by the orchestra who had been forced to play at a variety of venues from the Hobart City hall to the Hobart Odeon Theatre. It had formed part of an overall redevelopment of the Wapping area, that had seen the old Metropoitan Transport Trust bus garages, lower Collins Street,

21st Century

In the early 21st century Hobart enjoyed the benefits of Tasmania's economic climb out of the recession of the 1990s. Unemployment dropped and housing prices rose, as many people from mainland states and overseas moved to the state capital to take advantage of the cheap but high standard of living. The stagnation of population growth slowly reversed, and the first decade of the 21st century has seen Hobart's population begin to steadily rise again.^[82]

The city continues to be home to a creative and progressive community who are more in touch with their local environment than most cities worldwide, although the issue of logging in Tasmanian old-growth forest continues to divide opinions.

A thriving local arts community exists, with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra world renowned. The Hobart City Council offers an annual City of Hobart Art Prize, and maintains the Hobart Council's Public Art Programme. The council see it as part of their remit to maintain and develop a healthy variety of activities that enhance the cultural life of Hobart. To do this they provide grants and funding for a variety of cultural activities including arts, theatre, festivals, and other events, and also provide financial support for the City of Hobart Eisteddfod Society, the Salamanca Arts Centre, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and the Theatre Royal.

In 2008 widespread discussions commenced about the possible regeneration of large sections of Hobart's waterfront, particularly around Macquarie Point, and the old railyards near the docks to the north-eastern side of Sullivan's Cove. Such a project could drastically alter the aesthetic appearance of Hobart. This area had once been a major rail hub, and the old Hobart Railway Station (now a part of the ABC studios) still exists nearby. A possible alternative use is the construction of new buildings for the Royal Hobart Hospital. In Ocotber 2008, the Tasmanian Government announced it planned to spend $150,000 on a public education programme, outlining its intentions for the hospital development.^[83]

Population

The population of Hobart has been subject to gradual growth, normally slower than the mainland state capital cities, and normally subject to strong fluctuations based on economic factors. Whilst there have been periods of negative population growth, as a general rule, Hobart's population has risen slowly but steadily since settlement, and has enjoyed a strong recent increase in the early 21st century.

The modern Australian state of Tasmania is a multi-cultural society with a variety of different ethnic and national backgrounds. Hobart reflects this more than any other region within the state.

Increasingly migrants come from Asia, but over 90% of Hobartians have a European background, and of those, 37.5% are described as Anglo-Celtic Australians – those with British and Irish ancestry. 31% are described to be of just English ancestry, 9% are of just Irish ancestry, and 7% of just Scottish ancestry.^[84] Since the end of World War II, migrants have also increasingly come from other parts of Europe, and notable communities of Italians, Greeks, Poles, Dutch, and Germans exist. The largest non-European communities in Hobart are Chinese and Hmong.

City of Hobart Population by year [1]
1803	433
1810	2,500
1824	5,000
1835	38,959
1842	57,420
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1968	140,000
1976	164,400
1981	173,700
1986	182,100
1991	183,500
1996	195,800
2001	197,282
2006	205,566
2020	(projected)

Historical places of note in Hobart

• Arthur Circus
• Cascade Brewery
• Hobart Cenotaph
• Hobart coastal defences
• Kelly's Steps
• Old Hobart Gaol
• Runnymede House
• Salamanca Place
• Shot Tower
• St David's Cathedral
• Parliament House, Hobart
• Theatre Royal

See also

• Hobart, Tasmania
• History of Tasmania
• History of Australia
• Convicts in Australia
• Penal transportation

References