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8
CHAPTER 2
HOBART TOWN
In 1833 Hobart presented a pleasant, surprisi_ng, and rather odd
appearance to the newcomer arrivi_ng direct from England. Certainly , it
was difficult to believe that only thirty years before forest and scrub
had occupied the site where the town now stood, Nestlng at the foot of
the impressive, dominati_ng Mount Wellington, an graci_ng the broad estuary
of the Der\'lent River at a point some twenty miles from its mouth , the town
displayed a beauty rarely encountered. Its harbour, often dotted with
tall-masted saili_ng ships, was one of the best and most secure in the
world. The town which was built on ground gently rising from the water's
dge, already covered more than one square mile, its skyline dominated by
the tall, red-brick edifice of a church , its wide, long , intersecting
streets fronted by several large , well-built shops and handsome houses.
Almost thrugh its centre ran the Hobart Rivulet weaving its way from the
steep hills below Mount Wellington to the Derwent, a source both of power
to industries and a water supply to the inhabitants . Behind well-kept ,
tastefully laid out shrubberies which sloped to the water 's edge, stood
the rambli ng _
altered as the occasion demanded. Here lived Lieutenant-Governor Sir George
Arthur since May 12, 1824, the British Government 's representative and
arbiter of the colony 's destiny . Dotted here and there were numerous
public buildings : the stone court house catering for the Supreme Court,
the Court of Quarter Sessions, the Court of Requests and the Registrar of
the Supreme Court; in the centre the Police Office; to the south west
the Military Barracks built in a fine commanding position; to the east
the Hospital and the Prisoners ' Barracks , a large numb er of red brick
buildings surrounded by a high wall; n Macquarie Street near the water 's
dge, the Commissariat and the Ordinance Bui lding. Beside the waterfront
stood a row of tall , well-built warehouses forever busy as the ships
i.sgrged their C8;rgoes of passe_ngers and goods . Two miles away , in a