Personal experiences: Coming from Launceston to Hobart, what I was least looking forward too was the weather, especially winter. Being the lower end of Tasmania ( more closer to the Antarctic ) it is certainly more colder, frostier, wetter and more wind. Yet Hobart has been said, on rare occasions, to have four seasons in a day - frost, sunshine, rain and wind ect. Many people see positive sides and negative sides to Hobart's diverse weather spectrum. I personally think that the scenery, warm friendly atmosphere, culture of Hobart and much more positive elements out-ways this disadvantage and one soon grows to adjust to the dramatic climate changes of Hobart.
Hobart is situated at latitude 42°50'S and longitude 147°20'E. Its latitude equates with that of Rome and Salt Lake City in the northern hemisphere. It's also within a degree of Beijing, Sapporo, New York and Barcelona. However, its climate is not like any of them. It's much more like its southern counterparts: Wellington, New Zealand and Porto Madryn, Argentina. For the sailors and explorers who ventured this far south, this is the domain of the legendary Roaring Forties.
Hobart has a mild, temperate, maritime climate with four distinct seasons. The warmest months, January and February, are also the driest. It's often cool and cloudy in Hobart, but this doesn't prevent a lot of outdoor activity. The city itself, while exposed to the southerly winds from the Antarctic, is protected by Mt Wellington from the worst westerly weather, and to some extent by Mt Nelson in the south.
Because of its southerly latitude, the seasons are much more evident in Tasmania than they are in the rest of Australia. Springs heralds flower festivals, and the parks and gardens come to life with European bulbs and blossoming trees. Summer is a time of outdoor festivals and tourism activity. There's a native beech (Nothofagus gunnii),which turns red in the autumn to compete with the European autumnal colours. While the mountains are sprinkled with snow in the winter, at sea level the daytime temperatures and clear, crisp days are ideal for some outdoor activities.
Retrieved 21 April 2011, from http://www.discoverhobart.com/hobart/weather.html
History of Hobart
Personal experience: Hobart seems full of historical history that all dates back to when aborigines first discovered the southern end of Tasmania. Not being particularly interested in the historical aspects of Hobart, you cant help but bump into historical monuments or areas were ever you go around Hobart, and can not help but take a little bit of interest in this amazing city full of history. Even though I live here, while researching the Hobart's history I came across many things that I had never known until now.
Mount Wellington
Sourced information from The History of Mount Wellington - A Tasmanian Sketch Book by Elizabeth Quincy.
Naming and Discovery
Van Diemens Land Aborigines were the first to see/name the mountain 'Unghanyayahletta' or 'Pooranetere'. Official change of name to Mount Wellington occurred between 1822 and 1824.
Hobart exists because of Mount Wellington. Like it's city below, Mt Wellington has seen many periods of change, but intrusions made by man have been minimized since it was declared a peoples park and placed in the care of the Hobart City Council. Even so close to civilization, Mt Wellington is a world apart where it is possible to feel secure in the knowledge of mans place in Nature. Where else in the world today could such discoveries be made just 15 minutes away from a capital city?
Historical Monuments
Waterworks Stone Columns: 1861: The Governor arrived on horse back precisely at 2pm amidst the cheering of the crowd and gunshots boomed the salute. Addresses where given and the stone laid with due ceremony by the Governor who used a brand new silver trowel. He declared "The foundation stone of the City Waterworks to be well and truly laid", and hoped health, safety and heavenly favor would fall on the citizens with the refreshing waters of their own Mountain Springs. (pg 50, The History of Mount Wellington - A Tasmanian Sketch Book by Elizabeth Quincy )
Female Factory, Cascade Rd: The Cascades Female Factory in South Hobart from 1828 to 1856. After it ceased operation as a female factory in 1856, it continued as a gaol under the administration of local authorities from 1856 until 1877.
There were eventually 5 yards operating at Cascades Female Factory. The Factory opened with Yard 1 in 1828, Yard 2 opened in 1832, Yard 3 opened in 1845, Yard 4 opened in 1850, and Yard 5 opened in 1853, the last year of transportation.
Governor George Arthur purchased the site at Cascades for the female factory in 1827 from the owner of a failed distillery, TY Lowes. The factory's first intake of female prisoners was in December 1828, from the prisoners at Hobart Town Female Factory. It gradually expanded to hold 700 female convicts and their children, though at its peak it was even more overcrowded than usual, holding 1,200 women and children.
(Retrieved 21 April 2011 from http://www.femaleconvicts.org.au/index.php/convict-institutions/female-factories/cascades-ff )
One of many lists (1 from 139 pages) of female convicts held at the Cascades Female Factory.
(Retrieved 21st April 2011 from http://www.femaleconvicts.org.au/images/pdfs/CascadesFFconvicts.pdf)
Stone Arched Bridge in Fern Tree, built in
Old Quarry: Another landmark that burned for many years was the tall chimney at Crisp and Gunn Brickyards in the quarry at the top end of Arthur Street. Workers lived nearby and horses and carts became a familiar sight as they carried bricks down and firewood up the hills before the trucks took over. The Hobart City Council purchased the land to turn the quarry into a Council Depot but this plan was abandoned. In 1979 the Geological Society listed the quarry as a geological monument, after rare fossil reptiles and amphibians were discovered in the cliff face. In contrast with these ancient remains, the old brickworks quarry is now the site of a sophisticated electronic communications system to transport and receive signals from a satellite in orbit some 36,000 kilometers above the equator.
(Pg 62, from The History of Mount Wellington - A Tasmanian Sketch Book by Elizabeth Quincy)
Animals and wildlife
Mount Wellington provides a natural environment for it's wildlife - but where houses have spreed from the city to encroached on forest land, some animals have withdrawn into dense undergrowth interspersed with clearings and wet undisturbed gullies that protect them and guarantee their existence. Birds are the most common form of wildlife to be seen and heard on Mount Wellington, some permanent residence while others migrate during the seasons.Among the larger more powerful birds that can be seen at higher altitudes is Tasmania's only 'crow' and the Black Currawong or Jay. Echidnas, Platypuses, Bandicoots, Possums, Potoroos, wallabies and Tasmanian Devils are just a few more common wildlife. The Anaspides tasmaniae is a endemic fresh water shrimp that also lives in the streams of Mount Wellington.
Past Residents of Hobart
Retrieved from Sandy Bay - A Social History by Nicola Goc.
Individuals and their stories: I have picked out a few interesting individuals who use to be local residents of the Sandy Bay area.
Homes and buildings that still exist today that have had a life full of history. These are just a few of the many situated around the City of Hobart.
Plan of the encampment at Sullivans Cove, c. 1804.
Underground - The World Beneath the City by Peter Macfie.
Personal opinion: Life underneath the City of Hobart was something I had never known till now and I find it completely fascinating. There is not plenty of history visible along the streets, along the waterfront, within buildings but also a hidden history of life beneath the surface of the hustling and bustling of the City.
Underneath any city are hidden networks, some natural and some artificial, which allow a group of individuals to co-operate as a community. The man-made systems underneath a city reflect other invisible threads that connect a society, including economic systems and social networks.
(Introduction in Underground- The World Beneath the City by Peter Macfie)
(Introduction in Underground- The World Beneath the City by Peter Macfie)
