St John's Church, New Town

St John's Anglican Church dates from the mid-1830s and is the oldest church in the New Town area. By the late 1820s, New Town had become a semi-rural retreat for some of Van Diemen's Land's wealthiest public servants and businessmen.  These gentlemen lobbied Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur for a church to be built in the area, and when the Colonial Administration started making arrangements for a large new orphan school to be built in New Town, the facility was designed to include a church that was 'sufficiently large to afford accommodation for the neighboring inhabitants' as well as the children from the orphan schools.

A Committee to solicit and receive donations from the public towards the cost of the larger church was formed in June 1830 and ultimately collected over ₤800 of subscriptions. The original subscription list shows Arthur's personal contribution of 25 guineas.

The Church and Orphan Schools with their spectacular symmetrical front elevation were designed by the colonial engineer and architect, John Lee Archer.  Built in 1834-5, the church is the focal element for the St Johns precinct being linked visually to the watchouses by St Johns Avenue with its fine planting, and joined to the orphan's school by colonnades.

The foundation stone for the Church was laid by Lieutenant-Governor Arthur in January 1834 'amidst great pomp and ceremony'.  The convict-built Church was opened for service in December 1835 but was not formally consecrated until May 1838 because of delays in arranging a visit from Bishop Broughton, the first Bishop of Australia.

In its early days, the congregation consisted of the 'Gentry', who rented boxes and pews in the centre of the church. Government House had a private box close to a large open fireplace. The church was heated by four large fireplaces. Each box and pew was lit by candles, as was the whole church. 'Lighting lamps' were introduced in the 1850s and burned whale oil. There were also 'free' seats were under the South Gallery, three steps higher than the rest of the floor. These were occupied by the family servants and other members of the community.

The North Gallery (near the Bell Tower) seated the children from the Orphan Schools. The South Gallery was for the convicts, who sat on narrow backless benches securely fastened to the floor. The division in the centre that separated male and female convicts can still be seen. There also remains one of the two Warders' or Guards' seats, placed strategically by the stairway, and a half-door which was securely bolted. There were three locked doors to be negotiated before they could leave.

The present Pulpit is all that remains of the huge original, which was one of the famed triple-tiered constructions of the time. Plans show it occupied the opposite end of the church facing the altar. The clock was made in London in 1828. The tower is built of stone, the church of hand-made brick. The rafters were hewn on Mt Wellington and hauled down by convict teams. The paneling is cedar.

The 1896 William Hill organ is one of the finest organs in Tasmania and St John's Church is noted for its magnificent acoustics. In June 1897, trees were planted along St Johns Avenue to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

A church history noted that about 1900-1905, 'such shame was felt at its early history, that irreparable damage was done in altering and stripping the church of any and everything connected with its convict past'.
The Church is still used for regular worship.

St John's Official Website: http://stjohnsnewtown.com/

Prospect House

This property is an unusual two storey Georgian style house with French doors to both levels suggesting a missing verandah. The location of the entrance door at one end of the main facade is also unusual. The house sits on a fine corner site with commanding views of the Derwent River.

John Blackwell was granted 300 acres of land on the northern side of the New Town Rivulet in July 1821. Thomas Haskell purchased 20 acres at the eastern corner of the grant from Blackwell for ₤35 in July 1828. Prospect House was built around 1834 and had a series of short-term owners before William Rout, an ironmonger, purchased it for ₤850 in May 1843. Rout also bought adjoining land so that the property extended to over 100 acres. Rout did not live at Prospect House but rented it out.

A notice in the Hobart Town Daily Mercury in March 1858 advertising the lease of Prospect House described a 'commodious and pleasantly situated mansion … suitable for the residence of a respectable family, with coach-house, stables, and all necessary out-offices… The house commands a fine view of the Derwent and the surrounding country.'

Prospect House remained in Rout family ownership until September 1909, when it was sold on 14 acres. Subsequent owners included: Thomas Widdicombe, a storekeeper (1910-1926); Archibald Eiszele, a contractor (1926-1935); and Marmion Beamish, a dairyman (1935-1946).  Frank Morley, a dairyman, purchased the property in September 1946 and in the mid-1950s created Sinclair Avenue and subdivided the area for residential development.

Fortunately the original house has survived and is in good condition and is currently a private residence.

Information Source: Australian Heritage Database.

Batchelor's Grave, Taroona

History has recorded very little about James Batchelor. Just about all that's known about him is that he occupies the oldest marked colonial grave in Tasmania. We only know him as a strapping young seaman who died on his ship during the journey from Calcutta. In some places he is recorded as second officer on the Venus, in other accounts as first officer. Whatever his rank and whatever the cause of his death, one thing is clear. In a peaceful location, just above the high water mark of the beach at modern day Taroona, James was buried according to the custom of sailors of the times, wrapped in his hammock or in sailcloth.

A fine ship of 350 tonnes, equipped with two guns and a crew of 50, the Venus was built in India and made two voyages between 1808 and 1810 to bring wheat and other various products to the hungry colony of New South Wales. On the 28th of January 1810 Batchelor died on the approach to the then six-year-old settlement of Hobart Town, Van Diemen's Land.

Rather than bury him at sea, the captain of the schooner Venus, Eber Bunker, dropped anchor in the Derwent and buried his second officer above the high tide mark at Taroona.
Following the burial service, the Venus called at Adventure Bay on Bruny Island, where Captain Bunker found a bottle with French words on it…probably left by explorer Bruny D’Entrecastreaux.
While he wasn't the first European to die in the young colony, no one else's grave from before that time has survived - not with their name still on it anyway.

Two centuries of salt winds, marauding cattle, bushfires, thoughtless fisherman and well meaning restoration has taken its toll on the freestone tablet inscribed with the barest details of a man's life and death. The white-painted stone has also been touched up so many times that names had been altered and even whole words lost. A description of the grave from the 1880's states that Batchelor was 21 when he died. That line of inscription's now gone.

As signs at the site say “ The grave marker has been lost beneath the undergrowth, rediscovered again, broken into pieces and restored. Its inscription has been overpainted many times and inevitably, some of its accuracy has been lost. This version is as close to original as we can manage, given the passage of time”. The one point that the historical records agree is that James Batchelor was buried at the site on the 28th January 1810.

The site is now a protected historical site and is listed on the Tasmanian Heritage Register & the Australian Heritage Database.

Main Information Source: Information signs posted at the site.

Mr Watson's Cottages

An intact example of the simplest form of row housing in Australia, these cottages are said to have been built for workers from the nearby shipyards in Battery Point.
Shipbuilding was the first important manufacturing industry established in Van Diemen’s Land – the colony’s blue gum timber was well-suited for boat-building and there was strong demand for trading and whaling vessels.  A number of slipyards were established at Battery Point, with some at the bottom of today’s Finlay Street, and the remainder along the foreshore on the eastern side of Napoleon Street.

John Watson was a master shipbuilder who arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1833 and spent several years supervising and training convicts at the government shipyards at Port Arthur.  In 1839, Watson leased a site on the eastern side of Napoleon Street and began building ships there.  Watson is acknowledged as the father of Hobart’s shipbuilding industry and his apprentices included Alexander McGregor, John Gibson McGregor, John Lucas and James Mackey who went on to run successful shipyards on their own account.  Watson never owned the cottages that now bear his name.

The amount of shipbuilding activity in the vicinity of Napoleon Street steadily increased during the 1840s with more slipyards established, more vessels launched and larger numbers of workers employed.  Shipbuilding is thirsty work and the Shipwrights Arms Hotel which still operates at the top end of today’s Trumpeter Street was first licensed in May 1846.  The shipyard workers needed places to stay, as well as places to drink, and there was high demand for rental accommodation in the neighbourhood.

James Poynter, a successful Hobart merchant, had purchased a strip of land sloping down to the River Derwent from the eastern side of Napoleon Street.  He had plans and specifications drawn up for a row of four brick cottages along the Napoleon Street frontage.  Each of the cottages contained four rooms and there was a cart entry down one side and along the rear.  Poynter invited builders to tender for erecting the ‘Four adjoining Cottages’ in the Colonial Times in December 1856.
The brick-built cottages were auctioned in May 1858.  Notices in The Courier stated they were ‘desirably situated for the residence of parties whose avocations call them daily to the Wharfs or its neighbourhood, and also as an investment, the certainty of always having occupants at a fair rental enables the purchaser to make a pretty safe calculation.’  They were purchased by Robert Burnett Burgess who lived nearby in Trumpeter Street.

In 1872 the four cottages were purchased for ₤360 by John Downie, a shipwright, who lived in one of them and rented out the other three. In 1919 the cottages were purchased for ₤900 by Thomas Vernon Nicholas, a local butcher with a shop in Hampden Road.  The notice in The Mercury advertising the sale had declared that they ‘all let readily, and realise very good rentals.’ In 1922 the cottages were purchased for ₤1,350 by Arthur Robert Reid, the curator of the Hobart zoological gardens (Beaumaris Zoo), who rented them all out.
The ‘Investment Cottages’ were offered for sale in The Mercury in November 1951 and it was noted that each of the four cottages had a laundry, bathroom and toilet at the rear.  The advert continued that ‘The situation is very good, overlooking the harbour, and adjacent to transport.  We recommend this property as a good investment proposition.’

Today, despite its long history as rental properties, the terrace is in excellent condition.  Its front façade, complete with white picket fence, is effectively unaltered from the time when it was first built.

Information Source: Australian Heritage Database