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9
\esterly diection, stood the Female House of Correction, commonly known
as the Femal
addition, there were privately-owned homes and business houses like the
Commercial and Deent Banks in Macquarie Street, several other churches
and some excellent inns .
J. Ross recorded that in 1831 the population of
Hobart Tmm was ab out six thousand, and that there were seven hundred and
ighty-five houses , six corn mills, four breweries, two timber mills, a
soap manufactory, about ight tanneries , a hat factory, a parchment making
business and a ship buildi.ng yard ,1
In
On the outskirts were many handsome
villas enclosed by well kept gardens and orchar-ds. William Russ Pugh ,
who later became a well-known Launceston doctor , exclaimed on his arrival
in Hobart Town:
A strnger cannot feel otherwise than astonished when he observes
the number of dwelling houses and thinks that it is little more
than thirty years si'nce the spot on which he stands was known only
to the savage. The fruit trees are perfect pictures. I never
saw apples· in such numbers on one tree as I have seen since I
arrived here.2
Arthur , reportng to the Secretary of State for the Colonies,
Edward G. Stanley, a few months earlier , on May 14, 1834, confirmed P.ugh 1 s
opinion:
A taste for expensive houses and rich furniture is very prevalent
and is daily gaining ground , and but for the alternation of costly
nouses of recent construction with such of the primeval huts as
are still permitted to stand as memorials of the infancy of the
colony - I do not knQW that there is anything in the appearance of
Hobart Town or in the manner of living of the inhabitants that
would suggest to the mind of the newly arrived emigrant that where
Hobart 'riow stands there was thirty years since noṫhing but a
·
wilderness . 3
On August 18, 1833, Arthur estimated the total population of
Van Diemen 's Land as approximately 26,694, of whom about 10,000 lived in
Hobart nd 4,446 in Launces ton . 4 He judged the increase of population
in the towns at this time to be due to the existing r.egulations which made
1
2
3
J. Ross , The Van Diemen 's Land and Hobart-Town Almanack (Hobart Town ,
1831), PP• 80-81, 92.
Quoted The Illustrated Tasmanian Mail, Christmas Number , Dec. 6, 1934,
from a MS of 1835 "L.og Book and Journal on board the Barque, 1 Derwent ' -
360 tons - A. Riddell, Commander , on her voyage to New Ho l land" by
·
Dr William Russ ugh .
GO 33/17 p. 346.
GO 33/14 p. 438.