What about Hamilton - the Tasmanian town that almost was something more It was the economic centre of Tas (wool) once and the planned streets are still marked out there and many sandstone structures dating back to the early 1800s.
The same "what if" around Risdon Cove could also be presented with both "Elizabeth Town" (New Norfolk) and also for Launceston. Most of these early colonial settlements were set up in pairs with a 'port town' and a 'farm town' (think Sydney and Paramatta, Fremantle and Perth, Hobart and New Norfolk, George Town and Launceston, Adelaide and Port Adelaide, etc.). In these pairings, it was often fairly random chance which of the two became the principal settlement and it could easily have been that Hobart went the way of Perth with the principal settlement being the inland with the port settlement serving it and as such, would have seen New Norfolk being the southern capital and Hobart as it's port. But to look at Tasmania as a whole, history was easily 50/50 on which of the island's main colonies became dominant. With only 2 years between them and very evenly balanced pros/cons, Launceston and Hobart for about the first 10 years or so were both 'capitals' (self governing of each other, administering their own half of the island along the 42° latitude just north of Ross). Launceston lost capital status during a dodgy event involving a crazy rich man with a ship load of tea pretending to be royalty, and under colonial rule, royalty could take direct control of a colony. With Patterson away on an expedition, Patterson's second in command bought the ploy and Launceston was run into madness until Patterson's return and the situation was sorted. The government in Sydney rathered to not deal with it in the future and handed Launceston's administration over to Hobart. By sheer bad luck, this ship sailed into Launceston and Hobart has remained de facto capital since, but had it gone the other way, things could have been wildly different with how population was distributed on the island.
The lack of permanent water was the main demise of Risdon Cove but it was plentiful when they first landed but they were yet to learn of the drought, fire, flood cycle of the Australian climate. Bowen was reprimanded for his poor choice of settlement but coming from England he was not to know that the water would dry up. Another great presentation, thank you.
As a child during the '60s we were never taught anything about the colonial history of Tasmania, let alone the genocide of it's original inhabitants. I learned it with horror and shame in subsequent years.
I've only just stumbled upon your channel. I am a mainlander, born and bred in Melbourne. Your channel is what ever other location/livestyle program aspires to be. I am guessing this is not your day job. Yet. Keep going ! You have a style and you have a message. We need more of this!
Well done Angus. I sometimes ask the same about Melbourne too. What would have happened if Victoria didn't seperate from the colony of N.S.W in mid 1851 before gold was officially announced. All the wealth of Gold would have been sent to Sydney. Melbourne would definitely have been a very different place than what we see today. Great work, great video.
The same alternative could have been presented regarding Geelong. As both were founded within a mere 2 days of each other, it seems almost by fairly random chance in many ways that Melbourne became the principal port for the goldfields. Had Geelong happened to have overtaken Melbourne as the principal port, the massive population imbalance between the two cities could easily have been in reverse with Melbourne being fairly small and obscure to the point of being viewed by some as a 'remote suburb of Geelong'.
My mother told me that when they were in the planning stages for Wrest Point, the Mercury ran a front page with an artist's rendition of the casino and a Coles Thermos flask (with a plaid pattern) to see if people could pick them apart ...
New to your videos but I find them great. Haven’t been to Hobart for well over a decade (possibly two), Launceston with the last ten years. But I remember many of the areas to do in Hobart.
@@angusthornett It's hard to even find photos of it... however, as it was built with public funds for such a national purpose, I suspect there's a good chance a library or archive will hold a wealth info about it... I imagine the schematic, list of builders and materials are all jotted down somewhere. Anyway, I hope to see something about it one day! Thanks mate
I love the area of alternate history and architecture (Der Welthauptstadt, Pleasure Hotel in New-York, the idea to put a dome over Paris). It's nice to know that there is some of that locally (naturally, being Tasmania much of it is smaller).
The world capital - as a history buff I find that fascinating. I often do wonder if they had won how much actually could have been built. That dome alone would be a massive job even with todays tech.
Awesome to see someone putting our history out there for generations to come. Loving your videos. My mum told me some of this history, but some is new to me. Going to show my daughter. Thankyou 🤗
Hi, as a kid we lived near the Sandy bay Rivulet and swam at the beach or snuck under the pier to the swimming baths if the caretaker wasn't looking. We would also walk barefoot along the rocks to Wrest Point and climb up a pipe and into the window of the change rooms at their pool. In bathers, no one could tell us urchins from them posh kids in the hotel. On a slightly different note, as I remember the Casino was granted its licence conditional on no poker machines being installed. Some 20 years later I had to set up a projector in the Green Room for a conference and was slightly lost looking for it. I asked a staff member for directions and was told he was going there and would take me there. We passed through a corridor full of gambling machines and I queried as to how come poker machines were now allowed. I was well and truly trounced upon most forcefully and told they were NOT poker machines but were Fruit machines and did not display any playing cards. And that my friends is how I think it all started. Cunning as funny rats. (Feel free to edit this if it is a bit too uncomfortable) Cheers
The so called “Grosvenor Expressway” would have passed 58’ under the existing level of our property, Highbury, at 136 Davey St. it resulted in a massive devaluation of the property and this was reflected in the eventual sale price. The purpose was to divert traffic through the Gadsden’s factory in Mole St, under Davey st and connect with Grosvenor St. Gosh knows what was going to happen after that. The whole concept was a design disaster.
No mention of Tartarian Building's, with time line dated constructions & materials, impossibly built in those apparent, limited technologically, poverty times ??????????
I loved the video but I just thought some more infomation on the Tasmanian Aborignal Peoples is needed when you talk on the histiry of Hobart. Here is an exert from a research paper I conducted (including reffrencing) "The Risdon Cove massacre in 1804 marks both the official invasion and the start of the genocide in Tasmania. Tasmania also had the first abducted child and human remains taken and shipped to the mainland. On May 3, 1804, an estimated 200 - 300 Aboriginal men, women, and children were murdered by the British (Ryan, 2012). A British settler Mount-Garrett had yelled out to "shoot the black devils down" when starting the advance (Ryan, 2012). Mount-Garrett abducted a three-year-old boy from this massacre site. A week later, they christened the child and renamed him 'Robert Hobart May'. It is said that what happened was that the settlers were worried about the large number of Aborignal people that had gathered. Now it is know that they were doing a large hunt with many other Tasmanian Aborignal groups which was annual. The settlered did not care who they shot at or who was dead at there feet as long as they were gone. It is also known that the women and children were the first to be shit at and were unarmed and the men were no match for loaded guns." It is just if you talk of it then be one to called it what it was and that is the start of the genocide in Tasmania due to the settlers and not due to the Tasmanian Aborignal poeple.
It's an horrific blood stain on our history...the time, the ignorance, the fear & the belief.. it's ours (settlers) for the taking.... Thank you for sharing this relevant & painful part of our Tasmanian history..
I lived in Risdonvale until 1990 and visited the Bowen Site many times. Pity you didn't show Bowen's Landing site and the area that was the Bowen Pyramids. There used to be replica building's of the original settlement. I believe that the Government handed back the site to the indigenous community to allow erasure of dark history. Pity that. The past cannot be erased. Another great presentation Angus. Hey your dog looks like its putting on weight. ???😁
