Just Tasmania .com
Hobart accommodation, restaurants, history, things to do

Often called the "Jewel Of The South", Hobart was named after Robert, Baron Hobart, the 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire (1760-1816) who was also Secretary of the Colonies in the years from 1801 to 1804.

Australia’s second oldest city, (Sydney is the oldest, of course) it was settled in 1804 when Colonel Collins moved the new settlement from Risdon Cove to Sullivan’s Cove. It was originally known as Hobart Town and changed its name to Hobart in 1881.

Many of the convicts sent to Van Diemen's Land were young and Irish, many who had gotten into trouble for their belief in a free Ireland. Sending them to far away Tasmania was seen as a solution to the growing demands for independence.

Tasmania attracted many free settlers as well. A lot settled by the Derwent River, with its deep harbour at the mouth, to export things like fruit and wool to other parts of Australia and the British Empire.

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 this led to an air of despair. 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

On the 1st of January 1856, the name Van Diemen’s Land was changed to Tasmania, to try and erase the reputation that the island had built up as a penal colony and to move towards a new future.

The Theatre Royal is the oldest theatre in Australia and it was opened in 1837. Hobart also has the oldest brewery in Australia, the Cascade Brewery, which started in 1832. Errol Flynn, famous movie star from the last century, was born in Hobart in 1909.

Hobart is the home of the famed Salamanca Markets in Salamanca Place, the home of many convict built stone warehouses which became the rendezvous place for whalers and merchants in the early days of the colony. The wharf buildings and storehouses have been converted into a collection of restaurants, cafés, art galleries and specialty shops while retaining its historical buildings.

On Sunday January 5, 1975, a disaster occurred in Hobart when the 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 members, and five motorists were also killed when they drove off the gap, horrifyingly plunging into the river below.

Video of Hobart: Click here