Hobart Town

“ Hobart Town contains at present, upwards of one thousand houses, and has a resident population exceeding seven thousand persons. The town is well planned, and the streets, which intersect each other at right angles, are wide, the law compelling persons who build to leave at least sixty feet in width for carriage and foot ways: they are Macadamized, and are, as well as the numerous bridges over the stream, kept in excellent condition by the chain gangs. ”

“ Without a large income, Arcadian luxury of climate, scenery, and quiet may be enjoyed in Tasmania. It is the perfection of retired country life. If there is in general not much wealth, there are almost always comfort and plenty. It does not matter that Hobart Town is some days’ journey distant, and that a day’s shopping is an occurrence that seldom happens once a year—sometimes not once in many years—for almost every want of the household is supplied from its own resources. ”

“ Hobart Town, which is the seat of the Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land, stands nine miles up the river Derwent. It was founded only fifteen years since, and indeed the rudeness of its appearance sufficiently indicates the recency of its origin. The houses are in general of the meanest description, seldom exceeding one story in height, and being for the most part weather-boarded without, and lathed and plastered within. Even the government house is of very bad construction. The residences, indeed, of many individuals far surpass it. ”

“ There cannot be another town in the world that has no shabby exteriors; no rickety gates and fences, no neglected houses crumbling to ruin, no crazy and unsightly sheds, no weed-grown front-yards of the poor, no back-yards littered with tin cans and old boots and empty bottles, no rubbish in the gutters, no clutter on the sidewalks, no outer-borders fraying out into dirty lanes and tin-patched huts. No, in Hobart all the aspects are tidy, and all a comfort to the eye ”

“ The society of Hobart-town is most perfectly English, and therefore most agreeable to visitors from the mother country.. The houses even of the wealthier colonists are smaller and more unpretending in appearance than those of persons of more limited means in England ”

“ All Native Youths and Children who shall be known to be with any of the Settlers or Stock-keepers, unless so accounted for, will be removed to Hobart Town, where they will be supported and instructed at the Charge and under the Direction of Government. ”

“ Hobart—in the parish of Hobarton, and county of Buckingham, is the chief town of the colony, and is in lat. 42°. 53'. S., and long. 147°. 21'. E. It was named after Lord Hobart, once secretary for the colonies; and stands on the shores of Sullivan's Cove, about 15 miles from the entrance of the Derwent. It is finely situated on a rising ground, and covers a surface of nearly two square miles. On the western side it is bounded by a range of wooded hills, with Mount Wellington, a snow-capped mountain, 4,000 feet high, in the back-ground. ”

“ Though it is not thirty miles from Hobart Town and civilization, yet westward for seventy or eighty miles to the sea is no human habitation, nothing but bush so thick, so devoid of anything to support life, that of the convicts who from time to time in years past escaped into it from Macquarie Harbour, on the west coast, scarcely any got through alive. Much of it needs only clearing to make fine agricultural land. There are millions of acres to be bought by the first comer at a pound an acre. ”

“ On arrival at Hobart Town, or Sydney, the first care of the emigrant must be, to get into the country as fast as possible, as a settler, who has a family, and moderate means, ought not to idle away his time, and spend his money, which he may do, in either of these places, with as much facility as in London. ”

“ I thought it prudent to follow the captain's advice, and when I found out my friends in Hobart Town, I said nothing about the extraordinary habits of the people among whom I had been living, but merely mentioned the circumstances of my shipwreck, the marvellous escape I had made, and my residence for three years among the inhabitants of one of the Pacific islands, by whom I had been kindly treated until taken off by Captain Hans Wurst, and brought by him to Hobart Town. ”

“ Enterprising young men, inured to the bush, were requested to attach themselves to the small military parties at the out stations, and, under military officers, to scour the northern country.
Men, holding tickets-of-leave, were required to enrol under the magistrate of their district, and settlers were enjoined to equip and detach whatever servants they could spare, reserving only sufficient strength for the protection of their families. The inhabitants of Hobart Town, in public meeting assembled, tendered their service to the government, for the furtherance of the object. ”

“ The admirable system of solitary confinement—which in average cases produces insanity in the space of twelve months—was as yet unknown in Hobart Town, and the forty heavily-ironed men had the pleasure of seeing each other's faces every day for six hours. ”

“ The decrease of numbers in the gangs, and the greatly improved resources of the convict department, have ameliorated several evils which formerly elicited great complaint. The male establishments at Hobart Town are patterns of neatness—the female, of disorder.
It merely remains to be stated, that the present system is to send out prisoners when entitled to tickets-of-leave; to disperse them through various districts in search of labor. In the colony they enjoy all the privileges of free laborers, except responsibility to a police magistrate. ”

“ The coach doesn't leave for Hobart Town till Tuesday at 5 a. m. This place is just now taken by storm by pleasure parties from Melbourne; I suppose they will go on to Hobart Town. I am better to-day. I do believe if I stayed here, I could establish a church. The people are delighted [268] to hear of your teaching, and of your plan of teaching. Shall I get you any boarding pupils? I believe this climate will be good for me.
"January 10. We arrived at Hobart Town last evening. Brother Smith was at the Coach Office, by chance or providence. There were 48 passengers. ”

“ He had forty-five Natives remaining. He would do his best for them. He would get gentlemen of Hobart Town interested in their welfare. He would ask friends to visit them. He would have books, pictures, toys, and other amusements. He would excite their ardour to raise provisions for the Hobart Town market. He would establish them in a good dairy farm. He would make them live on the fat of the land, and save money beside. He would so employ them, so keep them interested, that they should not die at that terrible rate they had died in the Straits. ”

“ The town is pleasantly situated at the foot of a hill upon a small plain of about 200 acres of land. There are a few good houses in Launceston, but its improvement has not kept pace with that of Hobart Town; nor is it ever likely to increase very greatly, since a government establishment has been formed at George Town, a place about thirty miles lower down, and consequently much nearer to Port Dalrymple at the entrance of the Tamar, and more convenient in its access for large ships. ”

“ John Wallop, were coming by the steamer to Melbourne. Hobart has a very dull, sleepy look, and the people we met in the streets seemed to be chiefly the passengers off the Manapouri. The town, like the whole of Tasmania, is utterly devoid of enterprise. The colony contains 127,000 inhabitants, of whom 2000 are in Hobart. So little has been done to improve the land, that the beef and mutton for home consumption have to be imported from New Zealand—witness our cargo of cattle—and the only flourishing industry is the jam trade, of which 150,000 lbs. are annually sent to Victoria. ”

“ It was early in the year of 1840 that I landed at Hobart Town (now abbreviated to Hobart) , from the good ship "Layton," of five hundred tons burden, after a voyage of nearly five months, which had brought out four hundred convicts, who were in those days sent out under a small military guard; and it was not long after finding myself on terra firma before the old craving took possession of me, nor long after that before it was gratified, as already a good foundation had been laid. ”

“ The settlers, divided into three classes, according to their origin or wealth, were located part in the neighbourhood of Hobart Town, at Pittwater, and New Norfolk, and part at Norfolk Plains. Thirty, forty, or fifty acres was the ordinary grant, until a later period: a large extent was neither possessed nor desired. Many valued nothing but the immediate benefits to which their character as immigrant farmers then entitled them. ”

“ It has fallen to our lot to be present at the executions of a large proportion of the malefactors who have suffered the extremity of the law in Hobart Town, and the apparent apathy with which the unhappy men met their fate, was always to us the most humiliating part of the spectacle. ”

“ Any volunteer parties from Hobart Town will render the most essential service by joining the force in the district of New Norfolk, or the Clyde, or Richmond—those from Launceston, by strengthening the police to the westward of Norfolk Plains, or on the west bank of the Tamar, or in the country extending from Ben Lomond to George Town; while still more desirable service will be given by any parties who will ascend to the parts round the Lakes and Western Bluff, so as to intercept the Natives if driven into that part of the country ”

“ Nothing in their conduct has occurred to lessen my good opinion of them. They appear all in excellent disposition, and quite resigned to their situation. The anxiety of many of them is extreme to ascertain who are to be left at Hobart-Town; but though I am aware, from conversation with the Lieutenant Governor, that fifty at least will be required for this colony, still it seems more prudent to withhold that information, as they might otherwise feel themselves released from accustomed restraint, and, if so disposed, might be tempted to give loose to some irregularities. ”

“ A venerable lady, who came to Hobart Town in 1804, with her parents, the first free settlers of the first fleet, gave me much interesting information of her early days. Some of her stories may appear in another work. She had heard people express their fears of the wild Blacks, and her mother gave her a caution about venturing far into the Bush, because she might be killed and eaten by the cannibals. ”

“ They polled little more than a hundred votes, but in Hobart Town a more serious conflict was expected. Beside the lower class of expirees, many of the publicans and almost all in the service of the government were in favor of transportation, or compelled to support it. Mr. Young, a solicitor, after several candidates had offered and retired, determined on a contest with Messrs. Chapman and Dunn, the chairman and treasurer of the local league council: more than five hundred votes were polled in his interest, but the friends of freedom carried their candidates by a triumphant majority. ”

“ Walking in the streets, which are unpaved, though some have curb stones, is very tiring; and the dust always rising in clouds is very trying to the eyes. The Government house is pleasantly situated on the shores of the bay, and will be greatly improved in a few years if the young trees planted about it thrive. Native timber is quite unsuitable for ornamental purposes."
The stay at Hobart Town was turned to account to complete the stock of provisions, anchors, and other very requisite articles, and also to repair the vessel and the rigging, the latter being sorely dilapidated. ”

“ They are thankful to the Lieutenant-Governor and the Colonial Secretary for removing them from Flinders Island, and to Dr. Milligan for all the trouble he has taken. The women can all make their own clothes, and cook their food by either boiling or roasting. Their houses are comfortable and clean. They are as contented as possible." So far this is all satisfactory.
But the Hobart Town people began to doubt the wisdom of the plans pursued at the Cove, particularly when Mr. and Mrs. Clark had gone to their rest. ”

“ Even after the name of Hobart Town had been transferred by Colonel Collins from Risdon to Sullivan's Cove, the people most commonly spoke of it as the Derwent, and a Derwenter to this day is the appellation for a Hobart Towner specifically, and Tasmanian generically. This letter from the South gives a slight sketch of our Natives, after a glowing eulogy of the superior climate and soil in the new colony to that of the old Botany Bay region:—
"To its human inhabitants, however, does Nature appear to have vouchsafed her powers with a sparing hand ”

“ At the beginning of this century a few tribes of natives were the sole human inhabitants of Tasmania, but about 1803 a party of English military, with a gang of convicts under their charge, came from New South Wales and formed a settlement, which is now a flourishing English town called Hobart Town. Sheep-raising is now the principal industry of this island, and large exports of wool are made yearly. ”

“ The university of Tasmania, established in 1890, and opened in 1893, has its headquarters at Hobart. The town is celebrated for its invigorating climate, and its annual regatta on the Derwent attracts numerous visitors. The harbour is easy of access, well sheltered and deep, with wharf accommodation for vessels of the largest tonnage. It is a regular port of call for several intercolonial lines from Sydney and Melbourne, and for lines from London to New Zealand. The exports, of an average value of £850,000 annually, consist mainly of fruit, hops, grain, timber and wool. ”