Shipwrights Arms Hotel

The land on the south east corner of today's Colville Street & Trumpeter Street junction was originally purchased by William Hortin, who was local tailor, in February 1845. Hortin proceeded to build a cottage or "dwelling house" on the site which he ultimately sold the following year for 200 pounds. By may 1846, the building had been licensed as a public house and was known as the "Shipwrights Arms"

Up to this time, pubs had been built in areas of busy thoroughfares with the aim of benefiting from passing trade. However, at this time in the development of Battery Point, there was very little through traffic on Colville Street. The Shipwrights Arms had primarily targeted, as its name suggests, at the large number of boat builders employed around that time in the nearby slipyards that had sprung up along the Derwent foreshore, along the eastern side of the nearby Napoleon Street. Battery Point was also become more populous as a neighborhood and the Shipwrights Arms was able to enjoy considerable local custom.

The Shipwrights Arms was a local institution for nearly 80 years with the various publicans having to apply to the Licensing Court every year for a renewal of their license and it could be refused if the court was to assess the premises to be unsatisfactory or if the court was to decide that there was no longer any need for a pub in the particular neighborhood.

In 1924,the Shipwrights Arms had been trading for 80 years in the original building and it was starting to show its age. A petition calling for the closure of the pub had been signed by 31 local residents but the Cascade Brewery, who had been the owners of the Shipwrights Arms since 1876, countered by putting forward plans to transform the building into a first class hotel. As a consequence of the new plans, a counter petition was lodged in favour of the continuing of the existing license was signed by 135 locals. tenders for the upgrade of the hotel were invited in February 1925 and upgrades were undertaken. Further structural alterations were made in 1950 and it is how the Shipwrights Arms exists today.

"Shippies", as it is known to locals these days, is a traditional style English corner pub, filled with history, tradition and local pride. It is lined with a very unique collection of photographs, ornaments and fittings depicting Tasmania's maritime and historical past. The pub has become best known with its link with the Sydney To Hobart Yacht race and has become a favorite with crew members and spectators alike.

It currently continues to offer accommodation and fine meals all year around. Having sampled some of the meals on offer, I can safely say that the meals are of the highest quality at a very reasonable cost. A great place for a meal when you're in Hobart. The whole pub is magnificently maintained both inside & out and is a major landmark in the Battery Point precinct.

Main Information & Text Source - 

" The Story of Battery Point - Street By Street" - Donald Howatson 2012

The Shipwrights Arms Hotel website - Shipwrights Arms

Historic Shipwrights Arms Photo - Shipwrights Arms website

Special Thank You to Shipwrights Arms Licensee, Adrienne Daly, for her hospitality and permission to take the photos inside the building

The Bank Of Australasia, Hobart

The Bank of Australasia provided an important role in the development of the Hobart and Tasmanian economy. The former Bank of Australasia (now the Queen Mary Club) is the grandest surviving pre-1850 bank building in Hobart. The Heritage building was designed by prominent colonial convict architect James Blackburn and was built in 1843 and it is said to be his most polished work.

The Bank of Australasia building was his last work in Hobart before his passage north, culminating in a residency in Melbourne. It featured a combined banker’s residence and chambers, set in the streetscape behind a high fence.

This is the oldest surviving bank building in Hobart, and the one of the oldest Bank precincts (courtyard etc) in Australia. The precinct has remained virtually intact since the early 19th Century and represents a unique example of a grand, architecturally important commercial building / residence within the centre of Hobart. The building is a fine example of early Victorian architecture with its dual entrances, for `Bank' and `Residence',

The Queen Mary Club was formed as a residential social club for ladies in Hobart on 4 July 1910, obtaining patronage from the new Queen Mary. Club members leased the upstairs manager's quarters of the former Bank of Australasia, eventually buying the whole building in 1935.

The Queen Mary Club was the second earliest all-women's club in Australia (the Queen Adelaide Club was established 1909) and is the longest continuously operating women's club in Australia. The place thus has special associations to Australian and Tasmanian women.

Main Text & Information Source - Australian Heritage Database

Queen Mary Club website - http://qmchobart.com/

The Hobartville Wall

In the 1830s Commercial Road was referred to as 'the old road to New Town'.  It would have formed part of the oldest road in Van Diemen's Land - the original route linking Hobart Town with New Town Bay where the first land grants to free settlers were established in February 1804.  The gradient at the northern end of Commercial Road is rather steep, and the main route was realigned to follow today's Elizabeth Street.

The building which now accommodates the Friends' School was previously known as Hobartville.  It was constructed in the early 1830s for William Wilson Esq.  Wilson was a merchant, shipowner and whaler.  Wilson was married to Grace, the second daughter of David Lord, a wealthy property owner.  Wilson died around 1837 and Grace died in August 1844. Hobartville was subsequently acquired by James Lord, Grace's brother.  James was a landowner and politician, and was interested in horseracing and hunting with hounds.

Hobartville became a regular starting point for hunts which then ranged over Mount Stuart and Knocklofty at a time when the area was still largely undeveloped.  James died at Hobartville in May 1881 and his widow, Mary, died there in December 1884. The Hobartville estate was then subdivided for residential development and most of it was sold-off in November 1885, although Hobartville and the surrounding 5 acres were retained until it was purchased for the Friends' School in September 1888.

Correspondence amongst the Friends who managed the school mentioned the property 'which was notable for the six hundred feet of brick wall on its western boundary'. The wall is very high and is topped with broken glass embedded in mortar and would have surely discouraged even the most committed burglar.  The bricks are bonded together, rather appropriately, in English Garden Wall pattern with three rows of stretchers followed by one row of headers.

The wall appears to date back to the early 1830s when Hobartville was built.  At that time there was a Government brickfield located nearby at the site of today's North Hobart Football Oval and presumably the bricks were manufactured by the convicts working there. The wall is only one of two such walls remaining in Hobart.

The Friends' School undertook an extensive building development program in the 1920s. The works included the construction of a new Science and Art Block and the now iconic two-storey portico.  The gateway with 'The Friends' School' embossed across the top appears to date from this period.

Main Text & Information – Australian Heritage Database

St Matthews Church, New Norfolk

If the Bush Inn is reputed to be the oldest continuously licensed hotel in Australia it is probably fitting that Tasmania's oldest church also exists in New Norfolk. The Anglican Church of St Matthew in Bathurst Street opposite the delightful Arthur Square was built in 1823 and is said to be the oldest church in Tasmania, given that the original St David’s in Hobart was replaced and St John’s in Launceston is four months less venerable.

It was begun in 1823 and opened for services in 1825. The church was built as a response to the rapid expansion of population in the district. By 1822 there were 600 people living in the area. The early Church, which was erected in 1823 by David Lambe was used as a schoolhouse and chapel mainly by the Norfolk Islanders who formed a large part of the congregation.  When Robert Knopwood retired as Government Chaplain in Hobart in 1825 he went to live at New Norfolk and it was the inhabitants of New Norfolk who requested that he be appointed to St. Matthews. He was duly appointed but for some reason had restrictions applied to his duties, he wasn’t allowed to baptize children or perform marriage ceremonies. It was left to The Reverend Hugh Robinson who was appointed to administer the parish in 1826, to perform these duties.

The church was consecrated in 1828 by Archdeacon Scott from Sydney. It has been the subject of numerous alterations. In 1833 extensive additions made it a much more impressive building. A tower was added in 1870 and in 1894, after a period of energetic fund raising, the chancel was added and the windows, roof and transepts were altered. It is clearly not the same church which was built on the site in 1823. All that is left of the original church are the walls and flagged floor of the nave and part of the western transept.

St Matthews originally had a peal of 8 bells said to have been on loan from Port Arthur. However, the bells were not very melodious and the bell tower was not very well constructed so in 1900 it was dismantled. At the same time the entrance was relocated, the sanctuary and side chapel were added and the roof realigned to become the building that survives today.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the church is the excellent historical stained glass windows. There are also some original furnishings including the pulpit, the prayer table & the small alter in the chancel. Perhaps one of the most well known marriages in early colonial times was performed at St. Matthew’s and that was between Norah Cobben (ex convict) and Jorgen Jorgenson, convict, naval officer, police superintendent and explorer and self styled King of Iceland.

Today St. Matthew’s with its beautiful stained glass windows would be one of the most well known churches in the Derwent Valley.

Main Text & Information Sources

St Matthews, New Norfolk

St Matthews

Information signs around St Matthews & the surrounding area

Sir John Franklin's Lost Ship Discovered

One of the greatest mysteries of the Victorian era of exploration has been solved this week, with the remains of former Tasmanian Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Franklin’s ill-fated 1845 voyage to the Northwest Passage discovered on the ocean floor off Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently announced sonar had captured images of one of the vessels, following a government-sponsored hunt that began in 2008. The discovery of the wreck was confirmed on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014, using a remotely operated underwater vehicle recently acquired by Parks Canada. Details of where exactly the ship was found have not yet been released.

Sonar Image - Parks Canada

In 1845, celebrated former Tasmanian lieutenant Governor Sir John Franklin vanished during a voyage on the edge of the Arctic Circle north of Canada. Sir John Franklin led the two ships and 129 men in 1845 to chart the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. The expedition's disappearance shortly after became one of the great mysteries of the age of Victorian exploration. Franklin, who served as a reformist leader of island colony from 1836 until his removal in 1843, led an expedition of two ships and 129 men to the Arctic two years later but the explorers vanished soon after.

Sonar Image - Parks Canada

Franklin was searching for a way through the Northwest Passage, hoping to find a northern sea link between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The loss of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror prompted one of largest searches in history, running from 1848 to 1859. The mystery has gripped people for generations, in part because no one knows for sure exactly what happened to the crew. Experts believe the ships were lost when they became locked in the ice near King William Island and that the crews abandoned them in a hopeless bid to reach safety.

Sir John Franklin's wife spearheaded an attempt to find him, launching five ships in search of her husband and even leaving cans of food on the ice in the desperate hope he would find them. Stories gleaned from the local indigenous people, the Inuits, suggest the expedition became locked in ice and perished. In desperation, it was claimed the stranded party resorted to cannibalism. However, Lady Jane Franklin refused to accept her husband met such a horrid fate and continued raising money to fund searches many years after he was last heard from and long after most authorities had given up hope of his survival. Despite a great number of search expeditions over the following decade, no sign had ever found of the HMS Erebus or the HMS Terror.

Three bodies discovered over a century later in the 1980s were found to have a high lead content and to this day, many people believe the 129 crew members were poisoned by leaking lead in their poorly soldered tin cans. More recent research suggests the canned food supplied to Franklin was not acidic enough for that to happen and the lead was more likely to have come from the internal pipe system on the ships.

The search resulted in the discovery of the Northwest Passage, which runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Arctic Archipelago. The discovery of Franklin's vessels is considered one of the most sought-after prizes in marine archaeology. A team of Canadian divers and archaeologists has been trying to find the ships since 2008.

Sir John and Lady Jane were in Van Diemen’s Land between 1836 and 1843 and left an enormous legacy, establishing a museum, university and helping develop the island’s reputation beyond that of a penal colony. Their contribution to Tasmanian society is significant and positive. Franklin’s legacy is still visible in Tasmania today, with both a river and village named after him and his wife, his statue a prominent feature of Hobart’s Franklin Square, while University of Tasmania residential college Jane Franklin Hall was named after his widow.

Main Text written by Duncan Abey - “The Mercury” newspaper, September 11 2014

Extra text from BBC World news - Fabled Arctic Ship Found

Extra text from “The Mercury” September 11 2014 - Ice Thaws on Franklin Find

Sir John Franklin Biographies & Historic Photos

Wikipedia - Sir John Franklin

Wikipedia - Franklin's Lost Expedition

Australian Dictionary of Biography - Sir John Franklin

Alison Alexander’s Book – The Ambition of Jane Franklin - Jane Franklin

Video from CBC's "The National" Youtube Channel