page_title: History of Hobart
section_title: Mid-19th century
hierarchical_section_title: History of Hobart / Mid-19th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Salamanca Markets, a popular market in Hobart every Saturday morning.
context_page_description: The modern history of the Australian city of Hobart in Tasmania dates to its foundation as a British colony in 1804. Prior to British settlement, the area had been occupied for at least 8,000 years, but possibly for as long as 35,000 years, by the semi-nomadic Mouheneener tribe, a sub-group of the Nuenonne, or South-East tribe. The descendants of the indigenous Tasmanians now refer to themselves as 'Palawa'.
  Little is known about the region from prehistoric times. As with many other Australia cities, urbanisation has destroyed much of the archaeological evidence of indigenous occupation, although Aboriginal middens are often still present in coastal areas.
  The first European settlement in the Hobart area began in 1803 as a penal colony and defensive outpost at Risdon Cove on the eastern shores of the Derwent River, amid British concerns over the presence of French explorers in the South Pacific. In 1804 it was moved to a better location at the present site of Hobart at Sullivans Cove, making it the second oldest city in Australia.
context_section_description: 1830 saw the consolidation of land settlement throughout the island. The most fertile parts of the island were now occupied by land holdings. Until 1831, the governor had extensive power for granting land, along with the disposition of convict labour. After 1831, free grants were abolished and all land was then sold by auction. This attracted the new class of "gentry farmers", who were more successful than earlier farmers, as the gentry farmers knew more about farming, and had more money to pay for tools and labour. Many of them became successful sheep farmers, and capitalised on the Australian wool booms on the 1820s and 30's.
  Although the first decade focussed on gaining a foothold on the island, and the second concerned with the establishment of essential primary industries, very soon industrial development began to branch out. It had been discovered that the Tasmanian climate was exceptionally suited to the growing of fruit. The Hobart Town Almanack in 1833 described the growth of apples and plums as "astonishing", and apple orchards were planted in the Huon Valley in the 1840s. Many of the original orchards continue operating to this day. Hops for beer were first grown in the northern settlement in 1804, and at Hobart Town in 1806. Robert Clarke was granted land at Clarence Plains in 1806 for growing hops, and became the first brewer of beer in the colony.
  Many small-scale breweries had soon sprung up. No large scale operations began until in 1824, when Charles Degreaves established the Cascade Brewery near the Cascade Falls in the foothills of Mount Wellington. By 1832, the brewery outgrew its original building. Degreaves relocated the brewery to the site of an old sawmill, slightly further upstream along the Hobart Rivulet, and a further three storeys were added to the main building in 1927, creating the iconic structure that survives to this day. The Brewery is still in operation and remains Australia's longest continually operating brewery.
  This was a particularly important time for whaling and its associated industries of shipbuilding and cooperage in Hobart Town as well. The waterfront of Hobart was upgraded in the 1830s to account for ever-increasing numbers of visiting foreign ships. Although the dock areas remained quite rough and ready, other areas of Hobart Town were developing into quite pleasant locales. In the early 1820s the shoreline of the river immediately to the north of the town had been set aside as the Kings Domain (later Queen's Domain) for use as a public space.
  Van Diemen's Land had been proclaimed a separate colony from New South Wales in 1824; it had been decided by 1825 that Hobart Town would be the new colony's capital city. An executive council (effectively a cabinet of chief public servants) and a legislative council (consisting of free citizens chosen by the government and lesser public servants) as well as a local judiciary in the form of the Supreme Court of Tasmania were established in Hobart Town, with the Supreme Court Building being erected in 1824. Governor Arthur continued control as before, however.
  Governor Arthur drew up plans for a Botanical Gardens on the domain, which were opened in 1828, and for the creation of a grand new Government House nearby that was opened in 1829. Later that year, a convict built brick wall was added which featured internal fireplaces that heated the wall in order to allow exotic tropical plants to grow along its length. A second such wall, 280 metres in length was later added, and is now the longest surviving convict built wall in Australia.
  By 1830, the population of Hobart Town was over 20,000, with 18,108 men, and 6,171 women. However, Hobart Town had grown to become a quaint, picturesque and thriving southern ocean port town. The whaling, sealing, wool and wattle oil industries were booming, as were agricultural crops such as wheat and apple growing. The economy was thriving, and life was quite comfortable for the merchants and free residents of the colony's capital.
  Some of the early settlers to Hobart Town, who had arrived with very little
caption: Many of the sandstone warehouses from the 1840s survive to the present
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