Page 8 - 1977 NAB CalendarMaritime Life in early Australia Part One
P. 8
OLD WHARF, HOBARTON
MARCH
retain an air of affluence in this view, although by this date the focus of port
This lithograph of the Old Wharf, Hobarton, appeared in Captain H. Butler activities had moved to the southern and western shores of the Cove.
Stoney’s 1856 publication “A residence in Tasmania” in which he
attempted “to make known the advantages offered by this colony as a The artist was standing where the present-day Morrison and Murray Streets
field for emigration”. This tranquil and prosperous-looking scene, after a meet, looking towards the south side of the causeway. Behind him lay the
drawing by A. Wood, must have appeared very enticing to prospective Customs House, which is now Parliament House. It gave its name to the
immigrants. Nothing is known of the artist. building on the left, which still stands- as the Customs House Hotel, one of
When Hobart’s founder, David Collins, arrived in the Derwent estuary in the few waterside hotels remaining in Hobart, and a reminder of the time
1804, he was impressed by the potential of Hunter’s Island, the small when the merchants deserted the Old Wharf for the New, and publicans
island offshore in Sullivan’s Cove; ships could anchor there “within half a moved in to take their place. The warehouses in the background are in use
Cable’s length of the Shore” and stores could be transported to the today as factories and offices in Hunter Street. Although many of the early
mainland across a sandbar linking the island to the shore at low tide. In buildings remain, the area has been greatly altered by the reclamation of
1820 a causeway was built along the spit, and port facilities were sections of the foreshore, and the construction of the Macquarie No. 1 Wharf
developed on the south side of the island, which later became known as where the Old Wharf once stood. attempted “to make known the advantages
the Old Wharf. The “Gazette” of August 1822 mentions a stone jetty, a offered by this colony as a field for emigration”. This tranquil and prosperous-
wooden wharf opposite the Commissariat stores, and the new King’s looking scene, after a drawing by A. Wood, must have appeared very enticing
Wharf on the outer extremity of the island. The warehouses and other to prospective immigrants. Nothing is known of the artist.
impressive buildings which sprang up along the causeway and the wharf
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