page_title: History of Hobart
section_title: Late 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: History of Hobart / Late 19th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of Parliament House, Hobart in 1869.
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: Hobart Town had grown into a bustling port town by the mid 19th century. Local industries and commerce were thriving, and many local businesses began to succeed. Hobart Town's docks were struggling to cope with the demand now placed on them. The town's population was nearing 60,000 and ships were entering and departing the Derwent River on a nearly daily basis. The demand for berths and storage saw the construction of new docks and sandstone warehouses in an area which had been known as the 'Cottage Green', the former row of original cottages being demolished to make way for sandstone warehouses. By the mid-1840s, the bustling dock area had become known as the New Wharf, with access via Salamanca Place, named in honour of the Duke of Wellington's 1812 victory in the Battle of Salamanca. Many of the original warehouses still survive, used as galleries, studios, cafes, bars and restaurants.
  Hobart's first major problems came with the combination of a general economic downturn in the 1840s, followed by the Victorian gold rush of the early 1850s. Large-scale migration to the Victorian goldfields occurred, creating a shortfall in local labour resources. As a response, the once booming economy of Hobart began to decline. Despite the economic and population declines of the early 1850s, the decade proved to be one of social and cultural advancement for the young city. Transportation of convicts to Van Diemen's Land was abolished in 1853, the last convict ship from England, the St. Vincent, arrived on 26 May 1853.
  Calls for responsible self-government were successful, with a new constitution drafted, and Van Diemen's Land became an independent British colony in 1856. The new colony immediately changed its name to Tasmania, to disassociate itself with its past as a penal colony.
  Hobart Town was proclaimed as the capital, and the Customs House at Sullivans Cove was renovated to accommodate a two house Parliament House with the previous Tasmanian Legislative Council re-constituted as the upper house, and the newly formed Tasmanian House of Assembly as the lower house. Two years later in 1858, the elegant Tudor-Gothic style Government House was completed, and by 1866 a magnificent Italian Renaissance style Town Hall had been completed adjacent to Franklin Square and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. As the colony grew, so too did the need for more administrative buildings. The Treasury Offices were built between 1859 and 1864, and a Registry of Deeds Office was built in 1884.
  It was not just the administrative needs of the colony that were increasingly being catered for, but also the spiritual needs. Construction on a Catholic Cathedral designed by architect William Wardell, widely regarded as Australia's finest architect of the 19th century, was commenced in 1860, and was to be built on the site of the first Roman Catholic Church in Tasmania. In 1866, St Mary's Catholic Cathedral was opened, but without the originally designed tower. The magnificent St David's Anglican Cathedral, seat of the Bishop of Tasmania, and administrative centre of the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania, was completed in 1868 in high Gothic style, designed by George Frederick Bodley.
  By the late 19th century, the central waterfront area of Wapping, which included the original wharf area built on Hunter Island, had declined dramatically as a result of government attempts to control prostitution, gambling and excessive drinking. As the areas of Wapping and to a lesser extent, Glebe declined, Battery Point and Sandy Bay located to the south of the town, were becoming home to the town's more prosperous residents. Soon, Battery Point was centred on the pleasant Arthur's Circus, where many of the cottages and fine homes of the period can still be seen. Whereas Glebe enjoyed a resurgence, the shanties and brothels of Wapping were condemned, and many were destroyed to make way for new developments, such as the wool store, that survives to this day as the Old Woolstore Hotel. Part of the area had already been reclaimed in the early 1850s for the construction of the Hob
caption: Parliament House photograph from 1869
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