South Hobart – A Brief History

South Hobart: The name derives from an electoral district of the same name established in . Geographically, the name is an anomaly because it is not “south” of any significant reference point. A more appropriate and descriptive name might have been “Wellington”, which had been the name of a part of the suburb between 18 and 19 . Wellington Hamlets and Cascades are other locality names that have been associated with the suburb. South Hobart became part of the greater Hobart city in 19 . In 1999, the officially adopted boundaries were Antill Street to the intersection of The Huon Road and Strickland Avenue, the Hobart Rivulet to the north-west and the Sandy Bay Rivulet to the south-east.

The nature of South Hobart prior to colonisation in 1804 is subject to certain conjecture. There is no firm evidence of aboriginal occupancy, although the inhabitants of the Hobart area were known as the Mouheneenner. The availability of fresh water from the rivulets, which sprang from Mount Wellington, may have been an attraction.

Land was granted to colonists as early as 1806, and it is certain that the district was used for basic subsistence (for example: hunting, wood gathering, etc,) but also for recreational purposes. Entrepreneurial colonists were quick to judge the potential of the now Hobart Rivulet and foothills, and applied for land grants for various commercial purposes.

Early industry was drawn to the district more for the potential of the Rivulet to supply both water power and potable water. From as early as 1824 a variety of industries, such as timber and cereal mills, alcoholic beverages and tanning were established. Industrial activity peaked around 1850 as water power was replaced by the first steam engines, but was still strong until around 1900. Relics of industry still exist along the Hobart Rivulet Linear Park in such places as Gore Street, where the foundations and associated structures of a mill can still be seen below Vaucluse Gardens Retirement Village, together with fully operational concerns such as Cascade Brewery, and Cuthbertson’s Tannery in Wynyard Street. In fact, the inquisitive will spot many other examples of nineteenth century industrial technology along the walk. See if you can spot where the millpond for a long vanished flock mill would have been near Dennison Lane, or take a detour up Weld Street to discover a stone aqueduct, which may have carried a mill race that would have fed one of the many water wheels located along the banks of the Rivulet.

Agricultural industry developed as more of the land became cleared and occupied. The suburb once had market gardens, dairies, a hop field and orchards. The transformation of a rural/industrial area into a residential suburb is dependent upon the development of an efficient road system. One of the only tracks through the suburb close to the Rivulet was the road to Degraves Brewery at The Cascades. This track followed the course of present day Macquarie Street/ Cascade Road. This major transport route probably predated industrial/ government institutional requirements from 1824. Streets off the main thoroughfare towards mills on the Rivulet formed the basis of present side streets. Streets on the hillside, above D’Arcy Street, developed were formed about 1860.

The first residential subdivision of the area now known as South Hobart began in 1838, when Dr. Thomas Birch put his “100 acre farm” – between Elboden and D’Arcy Streets – up for sale as true sub-urban house and garden allotments of about half and acre. Up to 1838, the western boundary of Hobart Town was formed, in fact, by …”a farm which stretched from Davey Street to Salvator Road at the back of West Hobart”. [For more information, see The Sub-Division of Birch’s Farm Between Davey Street and The Rivulet by Kevin Green. Notes for a walking tour of South Hobart for The Hobart/Macquarie Group of The National Trust of Australia (Tasmania), 29^th May 1993.] These blocks were further subdivided into the denser housing pattern we have today. Around 1900 there were further subdivisions around the Female Factory and on Brewery land in what is now Strickland Avenue.

Rudimentary public transport as far as the Brewery was provided from 1884, but improved in 1893 with the introduction of an electric tramway between Cascades and the City.

As the population of the district grew, so, too, did the need for community organisations. Places of worship had been established since and the various Christian denominations were represented. More “humble” original buildings, such as All Saints’ Chapel, have since been replaced by architecturally and historically important structures. (All Saints’ Anglican Church (1861) in Macquarie Street, designed by Henry Hunter – Tasmania’s foremost Victorian architect, and St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church (1933) in Anglesea Street.) St. Peters Lutheran Church in Davey Street was originally a Wesleyan church dating from 1870. A Baptist Church, dating from 1865, on the site of St. Michael’s Collegiate School in Macquarie Street was destroyed in the 1967 bushfires.

Initially, schooling was associated with the various churches, with the earliest recorded facility being several “ragged schools”, managed by philanthropic organisations predating the government operated Macquarie Street State School, which was built to a design of Henry Hunter in 1895. It now serves as the South Hobart annex of Adult Education. There were several small private schools in the suburb up until the early 1930s, including Eton Brae, located beside present day Performance Autos.

The earliest officially recorded hospital in the suburb was the Female Factory established in 1879, although there must have been medical infrastructure on that site from its establishment in 1828 as a convict prison. There have been several small private hospitals, and the now St John’s Private Hospital developed from the Homeopathic Hospital established in 1899. Vaucluse, formerly a grand home and now a retirement village, was converted into a hospital for infectious diseases in 1907. Further down Macquarie Street, Alstonia, at 299 Macquarie Street, was a maternity hospital.

South Hobart has been amply catered for with hotels and inns, principally on corner sites along Macquarie Street. Many of the buildings still stand, now occupied by a variety of commercial enterprises. For instance, The Salad Bowl, one of the area’s three corner supermarkets, was originally The Northumberland Inn, whilst Le Provencal Restaurant and The Mountain Retreat Medical Practice on the corners of Weld and Anglesea Streets respectively were The Joiner’s Arms Hotel and The Mountain Retreat Inn. Of the existing establishments, the Globe Hotel on Davey Street was licensed by 1839 and the Cascade Hotel in 1847.

The present day Cascade Gardens was originally a commercial tea garden from 1898 until 1948 when it was taken over by the Hobart City Council. The formation of a local cricket club in 1903 stimulated the creation of a recreation ground on the corner of D’Arcy and Washington Streets. Wellesley Park (& Wentworth Street) recreation areas developed from the closure of Hobart Municipal Tips and were opened in 1975. The Badminton Centre was built in 1962 on the site of water reservoirs built by Peter Degraves in the 1840s – part of the original structure is still visible from inside the complex.

Kevin Wilson.

The Local History Group

The South Hobart Progress Association Inc.

November, 2001

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