History of Hobart - Early 19th Century

Early 19th Century

The first decade of the settlement on the Derwent River was a difficult one. Its 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, 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.

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.

Tidal fluctuations at the mouth of the narrow inlet upon which the camp was located made launching vessels difficult for much of the day, and the camp had a 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.

The soldiers were virtually mutinous by the time Captain David Collins arrived on 16 February 1804. Fed up with poor rations, forced labour, and surly convicts to guard, the men had all but lost any respect for 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 to seek confirmation from Governor King.

Soon after his arrival, Collins decided to move the settlement to the far shore of the river. Surveyor George Harris 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 Sullivans 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.

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 3 May 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.

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 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.

Within the first two days of having landed at Sullivans 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.

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.

By July, the settlement at Risdon Cove had 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.

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 ended the colony. All of the settlers, soldiers and convicts were put onto short rations when the supply ships failed to arrive.

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:

In November:

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

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. They managed to survive through the prudent use of the farm animals that had been sent by early supply ships, which included cattle, sheep, goats, horses, pigs and poultry. In fact, the settlers were better supplied with animals than equipment.

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.

Although both exploration and settlement were hampered by the island's mountainous topography, the colony soon established itself, and local food production replaced a dependency on external supply, and settlers began to better exploit the area's natural resources. 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 Diemen'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.

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, as they were running low on food. His party took nine days on foot, via a central route of approximately 180 km (110 mi) 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. Hobart Town brought 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 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.

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 used 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 Commissariat'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.

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 attract free settlers, allowing Hobart Town to grow. But Hobart Town's isolation also led to a large number of 'undesirables' seeking to escape from former crimes, escaping the law, or just looking for a life of solitude finding their way to the fledgling town. The area around the docks was rife with crime and prostitution, and heavy drinking and fighting were common.

The 1810s saw Hobart Town grow from 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 was interested in the island, Hobart Town especially, but was 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.

Macquarie laid out plans for the widening of existing streets, and planned for further roads, laying them out in a typically ordered fashion. He divided Hobart Town into a principal 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.

Along with planning for a new grid of streets to be laid out, and new administrative and other buildings to be built, he ordered the construction of the Bond Store, which was completed in 1815, and commissioned the building of Anglesea Barracks, which opened in 1814, and is now the oldest continually occupied barracks in Australia. The Anglesea 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.

By 1814, several farms were already located outside the settlement proper. 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.

No official grants were made in 1811, and 1812, due to the Rum Rebellion in Sydney. Despite this hiatus, by 1814 the area of land grants 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 formed the basis of the newly established local society of landed gentry, despite many of them having had no previous upper-class background.

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 busy 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.

In the twenty years immediately after settlement, Hobart Town became a 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 were 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 elsewhere. Soon merino stud rams were being sold for high prices, and Van Diemen's Land became noted throughout the empire for its fine wool. Wheat crops were produced in such abundance that it was being exported to Sydney to subsidise their less successful crops. The Van Diemen's Land Company was formed in 1825 to raise sheep in the colony to provide wool for British cloth manufacturers who were then buying wool from Spain and Germany, as sheep bred in Britain were largely meat breeds.

The Van Diemen's Land Company was very unpopular in Hobart Town. The settlers felt that it would use all the convict labour, and be favoured by government. The company 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 fell into financial trouble in the 1850s. The company was, however, successful in growing potatoes, finding the island's climate and soil well suited to that and oats, peas, wheat, and grass for hay to feed livestock.

Education and religion were becoming increasingly important at this time, as a way to break class barriers through education and religious devotion. 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, although the Tasmanian Public Library (now the State Library of Tasmania) did not open until 1870.