Hobart
Hobart is the
state capital and most populous city of the
Australian island state of
Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a
penal colony, it is Australia's second oldest and twelfth largest city, with a metropolitan population of 206,000. The city is the financial and administrative heart of Tasmania, and also serves as the home port for both Australian and French
Antarctic operations.
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The City of Hobart (green) and Greater Hobart (teal) |
The first settlement was started in 1803 as a penal colony at
Risdon Cove on the eastern shores of the
Derwent River, amid British concerns over the presence of French
explorers. In 1804 it was moved to a better location at the present site of Hobart at
Sullivan's Cove. The city was named after
Lord Hobart the Colonial Secretary. The area's
original inhabitants were members of the semi-nomadic Mouheneer tribe. A series of bloody encounters with the Europeans and the effects of diseases brought by the settlers forced away the aboriginal population, which was rapidly replaced by free settlers and the
convict population.
Charles Darwin visited Hobart Town in February, 1836 as part of the
Beagle expedition. He writes of Hobart and the Derwent estuary in his
Voyage of the Beagle...The lower parts of the hills which skirt the bay are cleared; and the bright yellow fields of corn, and dark green ones of potatoes, appear very luxuriant... I was chiefly struck with the comparative fewness of the large houses, either built or building. Hobart Town, from the census of 1835, contained 13,826 inhabitants, and the whole of Tasmania 36,505.
But since the Derwent River was one of Australia's finest deepwater ports and was the centre of the
Southern Ocean whaling and seal trade, it rapidly grew into a major port, with allied industries such as ship-building. Hobart Town became a city in 1842, and was renamed Hobart in 1875.
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Hobart from the Eastern Shore |
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Derwent River from the Eastern Shore |
Hobart is located on the estuary of the
Derwent River in the state's south-east at . The
central business district is located on the western shore, adjacent to
Sullivan's Cove, with the inner suburbs spread out along the shores of the Derwent and climbing up the hills at the foot of
Mount Wellington (1270 metres/4233 feet high). The Port of Hobart occupies the whole of the original Sullivan's Cove.
The Greater Hobart Metropolitan area consists of three self-governing cities, Hobart, Glenorchy and Clarence, plus the urbanised areas of the Municipalities of Kingborough and Brighton. The suburban areas cover a significant amount of both the western and eastern sides of the river. Apart from the city, the main commercial centres are
Glenorchy (the
northern suburbs) and
Rosny (the
eastern shore). The satellite town
Kingston, south of the city, is fast becoming an outlying suburb of Hobart. Other surrounding towns such as
Sorell,
Margate,
Brighton and
New Norfolk are popular residential areas for commuters.
See also
List of Hobart suburbsClimate
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The climate of Hobart as measured and recorded on Ellerslie Road |
Hobart has a mild temperate
oceanic climate, with four distinct
seasons. The highest temperature recorded was 40.8°C on 4 January 1976 and the lowest was -2.8°C on 25 June 1972.
Climate Table | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|
| Mean daily maximum temperature (°C) | 21.6 | 21.6 | 20.1 | 17.3 | 14.4 | 11.9 | 11.6 | 13.0 | 15.0 | 16.9 | 18.6 | 20.3 | 16.9 |
|---|
| Mean daily minimum temperature (°C) | 11.8 | 12.0 | 10.8 | 8.9 | 6.9 | 5.2 | 4.5 | 5.2 | 6.4 | 7.7 | 9.2 | 10.8 | 8.3 |
|---|
| Mean total rainfall (mm) | 48.0 | 39.8 | 45.7 | 51.8 | 47.0 | 54.6 | 52.8 | 53.0 | 52.4 | 62.6 | 54.5 | 57.2 | 619.5 |
|---|
| Mean number of rain days | 10.9 | 9.4 | 11.3 | 12.2 | 13.4 | 14.0 | 14.9 | 15.2 | 15.1 | 16.4 | 14.2 | 12.9 | 159.9 |
|---|
| Source: Bureau of Meteorology |
The greater Hobart area has a population of around 245,000 (census 2005) people. The City of Hobart local government area has a population of 47,319 (census 2001).
See also: List of Mayors and Lord Mayors of HobartThe greater Hobart area today is covered by five
local government areas - the City of Hobart,
City of Glenorchy and
City of Clarence, as well as a small part of
Kingborough and
Brighton municipalities.
The City of Hobart is governed by twelve aldermen, headed by the Lord Mayor of Hobart
Rob Valentine. Councillors are elected biennially.
Hobart is a busy seaport, notably serving as the home port for the
Antarctic activities of Australia and
France. It supports several other industries, including a high-speed
catamaran factory and a
zinc smelter, as well as a vibrant tourist industry. Visitors come to the city to explore its historic inner suburbs, to visit the weekly craft market in
Salamanca Place, as well as to use the town as a base from which to explore the rest of Tasmania.
A leading manufacturer of high speed catamaran ferries,
InCat is based here. Other local attractions include the
Australian Cadbury chocolate factory, and for a day trip places like
Port Arthur, and the
tessellated pavement, the
Huon Valley, the
Tahune Forest Air Walk,
Cockle Creek (the southernmost point reachable by car) and the walk to
South Cape Bay Beach which also forms part of a 6 day walk to South Western Tasmania.
The
Cascade Brewery is located in
South Hobart, near the natural spring waters of
Mount Wellington. The Hobart surrounding area has many vineyards, including
Moorilla Estate at
Berriedale.
Nationally known bootmaker
Blundstones is based in
Moonah in the northern suburbs. National lottery company
Tattersalls was founded by
George Adams in Hobart but is now based in
Melbourne.
The
Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens is a popular recreation area a short distance from the City centre. It is the second-oldest Botanic Gardens in
Australia and holds extensive significant plant collections as well as built heritage.
Events
Hobart is internationally famous among the yachting fraternity as the finish of the
Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race which starts in
Sydney on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas Day). The arrival of the yachts is celebrated as part of the
Hobart Summer Festival, a food and wine festival beginning just after Christmas and ending in mid January. The
Taste of Tasmania is a major part of the festival, where locals and visitors can taste fine local and international food and wine.
Hobart is the finish point of the
Targa Tasmania rally car event held annually in April since 1991.
The annual
Tulip Festival at the
Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens is a popular Spring celebration in the City.
Hobart also hosts the bulk of the
Ten Days on the Island festival (http://www.tendaysontheisland.org/) a biannual international arts festival.
Entertainment
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Salamanca Markets, a popular market in Hobart every Saturday morning. |
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View of Wrest Point Casino and Sandy Bay, a suburb of Hobart. |
Australia's first legal
casino was the 17-storey
Wrest Point Hotel Casino in
Sandy Bay, opened in 1973. It is still the tallest building in the city, despite being several kilometres out of the CBD, and is a nationally recognised icon.
The Hobart nightlife normally revolves around
Salamanca Place and the waterfront area, but there are also many suburban pubs and bars (as well as the Wrest Point Casino). Major national and international music events are usually at the
University of Tasmania's Unibar, or the Casino.
Popular restaurant strips include
Elizabeth Street in
North Hobart, and
Salamanca Place near the waterfront. These include a large number of ethnic restaurants including
Chinese,
Thai,
Greek,
Italian,
Indian and
Mexican. Several
pubs and nightclubs can be found concentrated in the city and waterfront area.
Hobart is home to Australia's oldest
theatre, the
Theatre Royal. It also has three
Village Cinema complexes, one each in the city,
Glenorchy and
Rosny.
Hobart is home to the
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, which is resident at the
Federation Concert Hall on the City's waterfront. It offers a year-round program of concerts.
Media
Hobart's major newspaper is
The Mercury, which was founded by
John Davies in 1854 and has been continually published ever since. The paper is currently owned and operated by Rupert Murdoch's News Limited.
Television broadcasts in the city were restricted to two channels until 1986 -
TVT-6 and the
ABC. In 1986, multicultural broadcaster
SBS began transmission to the city.
In 1994 market aggregation allowed
Launceston based station
TNT-9 (now
Southern Cross Tasmania) to broadcast to Hobart as well. TVT-6 (since known as
TasTV, now
WIN Television) took on a
Nine Network affiliation, with Southern Cross carrying both
Seven and
Ten programming.
All stations commenced digital broadcasting during 2003, and in December 2003, a fifth station,
Tasmanian Digital Television (TDT) began broadcasting. TDT is a joint venture between Southern Cross and WIN. In March 2005
ABC2 the second ABC channel came on-line as well.
Commercial radio stations licensed to cover the Hobart market include
HO FM,
Sea FM (formerly
Triple T) and
Magic 107. Local community radio stations include
Christian radio station
Ultra106five,national award winning youth station
Edge Radio and radio station
92FM (which targets the wider community with specialist programs) which also transmits its signal through a translator on 96.1FM in the northern suburbs of Hobart. There is also one shortwave broadcaster based in the area,
Hobart Radio International. The
ABC has all five of its radio networks broadcasting to Hobart, via
936 ABC,
Radio National,
Triple J,
Newsradio and
ABC Classic FM.
Sport
Due to Tasmania's heavily distributed population, most Hobart sporting teams in national competitions are statewide teams. These include the
Tasmanian Tigers cricket team, which plays home games at
Bellerive Oval on the eastern shore. Despite
Australian rules football's huge popularity in the state, Tasmania does not have a team in the
Australian Football League. They do have a team (the
Tasmanian Devils) in the
VFL (Victorian league), and a team in the national league is a popular topic among supporters as well as the state government (one of the potential sponsors of such a team). Some AFL teams play scheduled games at
Aurora Stadium (at
York Park in
Launceston).
Tasmania's small population and low sponsorship potential results in the state not being represented in national
netball,
soccer and
basketball leagues; although the Oasis
Hobart Chargers do represent Hobart in the
South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL).
Hobart is home to the main campus of the
University of Tasmania, situated in
Sandy Bay. On site accommodation colleges include
Christ College,
Jane Franklin Hall and
St John Fisher College. Other campuses are in Launceston and Burnie.
Senior secondary colleges in the Hobart area include
Hobart College, at the top of
Mt Nelson just south of the city; inner-city
Elizabeth College;
The Friends' School in New Town;
St Mary's College and
Guilford Young College in
North Hobart; St Virgils College in Austins Ferry;
The Hutchins School in
Sandy Bay;
Rosny College at Rosny on the eastern shore; and
Claremont College at Claremont in the northern suburbs. Some of these colleges also function as community colleges, open to students outside the formal secondary school system. Many of these colleges are not exclusively colleges as they also provide primary and high school education.
Most
public transport within the city is via an extensive network of public and private
bus services. The main arterial routes within the urban area are the
Brooker Highway to Glenorchy and the northern suburbs, the
Tasman Bridge and
Bowen Bridge across the river to Rosny and the Eastern Shore, and the Southern Outlet Road south to Kingston and the Channel.
Leaving the city, motorists can travel the
Lyell Highway to the
west coast,
Midlands Highway to
Launceston and the north,
Tasman Highway to the east coast, or the
Huon Highway to the far south.
Hobart is serviced by
Hobart International Airport, and the smaller
Cambridge Aerodrome (which mainly serves small charter airlines offering local tourist flights).
Like many large cities, Hobart once operated passenger
tram services, a
Trolleybus network consisting of six routes which operated until 1968. However, the tramway closed in the early 1960s and rail servieces closed in 1980.
*
Hobart City Council* Satellite image from
Google Maps* Street map from
Whereis.com
