Hamilton ( 73 kilometres north west of Hobart) was originally named Sorell Plains by Governor Macquarie but finally named Hamilton in 1824. Some say however that didn't happen until 1829 when Governor Arthur named the district after his friend William Henry Hamilton, the Hobart Town Postal Officer.

The stories of the town’s lively past are told in the Hamilton Heritage Centre.

The first Europeans into the Hamilton area were the botanist, Robert Brown and his party who attempted to trace the Derwent River to its source in March, 1804.

They reached the Hamilton Plains and followed the Fat Doe River (now known as the Clyde) up to the Clyde Falls near the present site of Bothwell.

The foundation stone for St Peter's Church was laid in 1834. It was completed in 1837 and consecrated by Bishop Broughton, the only Bishop of Australia, on 8 May 1838.

It is worth noting that the church has only one door. The reason for this was almost certainly to prevent the congregation, which in the early days was about 50 per cent convicts, from attempting to escape. The original church was a simple stone building.

There were plans to add a spire to the tower in the 1920s but they never eventuated.

Hamilton was once a bustling frontier town that contained many inns and several working breweries.

Jackson's Emporium was built in 1856. This sandstone shop was the Centre of Commerce in colonial Hamilton and has now re-opened as an interesting and different kind of department store specialising in Derwent Valley products.

Hamilton is relatively unspoiled and sufficiently removed from any over-commercialisation . It offers an opportunity to experience what the villages of southern Tasmania were like originally.