HOBART 1804

To commemorate the beginning of European settlement in Tasmania in 1803 and the founding of Hobart in 1804, the Mercury published a diary by local author and historian Frank Bolt following the events of 200 years ago. The Mercury's Newspapers in Education website lets you follow Frank Bolt's Tasmania 200 diary through to its conclusion in August 2004. SEE: http://www.mercurynie.com.au/resources.htm

The Mercury Friday 20 February 2004, page 2:

“TASMANIA 200

200 Years ago today Lt David Collins led his party ashore to establish Hobart. 

February 20, 1804

AS the first light of dawn strikes the River Derwent, several longboats with convicts and soldiers leave the supply ship Ocean and make for the entrance of the rivulet marked by a small rocky island. …In order to avoid problems encountered at Collins' earlier settlement at Port Phillip, the convicts are to be kept together in one area, and are therefore told to pitch their tents near the area of what is now the intersection of Argyle and Collins streets; the marines are to be located in the area between what is now the post office and Murray St, a location which guarded the landing place while at the same time forming a buffer area between the convicts and the Governor with his senior officers.

The free settlers face fewer restrictions but for the time being are told to find suitable spots along the Hobart Rivulet between what is now Murray St and Elizabeth Mall.

Other gangs work very hard on clearing the high ground overlooking the bay, the area intended for the tents of the Governor and his officers; Collins' prefabricated tent is being erected somewhere between today's Franklin Square and the side entrance of the Hobart Town Hall” http://www.mercurynie.com.au/resources/tasmania%20200/february.htm

The Mercury Saturday 21 February 2004, page 26:

“21 February 1804

Having established a beachhead, no time was lost in getting the necessary baggage and provisions ashore. Throughout the day the longboats ferried the cargo from the Ocean to the landing place, while a change in the wind allowed the ship to be brought closer to shore and in the end was moved right inside Sullivans Cove, making the transport of the people and their cargo to the shore much more convenient.

…Meanwhile, the prisoners continued the job of erecting huts and generally clearing the area of vegetation, but such was the effect of their activities that Collins became alarmed at the impact of it on the environment in general and issued a “General Proclamation'' on the subject, ...In it, he pointed to the value of the Hobart Rivulet as a beautiful source of pure running water, warned against its pollution or causing damage to the vegetation alongside it, and undertook to arrange for a proper spot at the creek's edge where people could collect their water from this stream.

The place selected for this purpose was an area near the Liverpool St end of the present Mall, but to get there was no easy matter.

Recalled Fawkner: “The [Hobart site in general] was open forest land, with trees up to four feet in diameter; but near the banks of the rivulet the trees were larger and more closely set. From the fall of the hill [i.e. from the Collins St end of the Elizabeth Mall, in those days being a very steep area with a small sandstone cliff rising over a small creek] to about 150 metres on the other side of the rivulet, the ground was very closely set with scrub and underwood of all sizes up to trees, so closely grown that a track had to be cut and cleared before we could procure water from the rivulet for our use.''

The location of this watering spot was underneath what is nowadays the rear of the shops facing the Mall between the entrance of the Cat and Fiddle Arcade and the nearby corner of Liverpool Street.”  http://www.mercurynie.com.au/resources/tasmania%20200/february.htm

Thomas and Mary ‘Ann’ Peters had their two and a half year old daughter, Elizabeth, with them when they disembarked on the shore of  Van Diemen’s Land. 

Mary Ann probably fell pregnant during the time at Port Phillip, NSW. Their second child, Martha, was born about July 1804. (She is listed on rations from 1st Aug 1804 onwards.) She was baptised in September 1804. She was born during “a long, cold winter” that is graphically described by Frank Bolt in the Mercury’s series.

 …”The huts in which most people lived would by now, at best, only be a structure hurriedly put together from whatever building materials their environment offered such as timber frames, walls made from woven acacia boughs plastered with wet clay (or planking for the lucky ones), a roof structure also made from timber found in the bush, and covered with either slabs of timber, bark or grass sods or an old sheet of canvas.

Due to the lack of glass and pre-made doors, these openings were closed off with sheets of canvas, soaked in oil to make them waterproof.

Around the hut would be the essential stack of firewood and kindling and, again for the lucky ones, a small enclosure with one or two chickens or even a hog, carefully tended for the time it would be slaughtered.

Soon, a paling fence or a simple stick fence with brushwood woven into it would mark the area of their land around the hut and, more importantly, would keep out the local wildlife stalking the chickens. No domestic furniture is mentioned in the cargo lists, implying that everybody had to create their own tables and chairs, shelves and the like from whatever suitable timber could be obtained.”

 SEE: http://www.mercurynie.com.au/resources/tasmania%20200/july.htm

The CD: Land musters, stock returns and lists : Van Diemen's Land 1803-1822 edited by Irene Schaffer provided me with this interesting snippet of information on my 4th great-grandfather Thomas Peters from the 1804 records. 

APPENDIX 3:2 Clothing supplied to convicts at Hobart Town from 16 October 1804 to 31 December 1804 shows: PETERS Thomas   3 Jackets 3 W/Coat 3 Britches 6 Shirts 3 Trousers 4 Shoes 3 Stockings 2 Hats

Note: Until 1810 the government issued convicts ordinary civilian clothing or 'slops’.

See: http://www.tasfamily.net.au/~schafferi/index.php?file=kop85.php