Tag Archives: England

A new milestone marking the 13th stage of my walk along the Derwent River: I reached the mouth on the western shore. Whoppee Doo!!

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Yesterday, I completed the first part of my walk along the Derwent River: an exciting achievement.

Last August I started walking from the mouth of the River at Cape Direction on the tip of the South Arm peninsula and now, at the end of February, I have completed the distance from that mouth to the Bridgewater Bridge and back on the western shore to Pearson’s Point near the settlement of Tinderbox.

On the 8th stage mid-November, I had the first major milestone when I finished the walk from Cape Direction to the Bridgewater Bridge. This 13th stage was the culmination of walks from the Bridge back to the mouth on the western side of the River.

During yesterday’s walk, I covered about 5km of the length of the Derwent River.  By my reckoning, the total distance of the Derwent River on the western shore from the Bridgewater Bridge to the mouth is 38 3/4 km.

For Stage 13 yesterday, I needed to walk to Pearson’s Point from the bus stop where I finished on Stage 12 and then, on reaching my goal, I needed to retrace my steps back to Blackmans Bay to connect with a bus that could return me to Hobart.  This distance was approximately 17 kms. I have now walked at least 171km not counting getting to and from buses.  But when the walks are staggered over time, this number does not mean much.

The highlights of the walk to Pearson’s Point were mostly small and natural: rosehips, green rosellas, hum of bees, resting sheep, and the taste of delicious ripe blackberries along the way.

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I was surprised how close the northern part of Bruny Island was to the mainland of Tasmania (almost felt like I could swim across the D’entrecasteaux Channel) and I felt overwhelmed by the staggeringly expansive and grand views across and up and down the Derwent River.

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The fun part was singing (including mixing up the words in my excitement) Handel’s Hallelujah chorus (from The Messiah) at the top of my voice when I passed a large sign with the words SING. You can listen to a superb version performed in 2012 by the Royal Choral Society at the Royal Albert Hall in London England at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUZEtVbJT5c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUZEtVbJT5c

Over the next few days I will write up the journey and the discoveries of Stage 13’s walk.  Then I will be looking towards a long main road walk from the Bridgewater Bridge at Granton to New Norfolk which I expect to undertake in the next couple of weeks.  Once I have reached New Norfolk I will be on the way to Lake St Clair, the source of the Derwent River.

An extra historical morsel regarding Browns River which runs out into the Derwent River

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Browns River separates Tyndall Beach (below the Alum Cliffs) from Kingston Beach. On the Kingston side, a plaque remembers Robert Brown.

According to http://www.rampantscotland.com/placenames/placename_hobart.htm  the township of “Browns River was named after the noted Scottish botanist Robert Brown who explored the area a week after Hobart was founded. “  Apparently Hobart (Sullivans Cove) was established on 21 February 1804 (I shall remember the date because it is my birthday – well not the 1804 bit) and therefore before the end of February this ‘township’ of Browns River was in its infancy. A week – ye gods!  How quickly these pioneering settlers got around.  Nothing could happen so fast these days.  But, is the timing true or simply a legend? I don’t know.

The name was changed to Kingston in 1851 by the Governor of Van Diemens Land, Sir William Thomas Denison.  The website http://tasmaniaforeveryone.com/tasmanias-names-the-suburbs-of-hobart suggests “The name Kingston was advocated by the then Police Magistrate, Mr Lucas. Although his exact reason for deciding on the name of Kingston is unknown, there are many theories. His parents, Thomas and Anne Lucas, the district’s first settlers, lived at Norfolk Island before coming to Van Diemen’s Land and the capital of Norfolk Island was Kingston. Another possible reason is that Thomas was born in Surrey, England in a village close to New Kingston. It had been settled in 1808 by Thomas Lucas and his family, who were evacuated from Norfolk Island. He named his property ‘Kingston’, after the settlement on Norfolk Island. “

The Shot Tower, Taroona, Tasmania

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Was someone shot here?  Was gunshot made here? What is the story of Taroona’s Shot Tower?

The website http://taroona.tas.au/shot-tower provides the full and correct name of what I visited on Stage 12 of my walk: Joseph Moir’s Shot Tower.

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Another website http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=2820, explains “Joseph Moir’s factory, which operated for 35 years from 1870, manufactured lead shot for contemporary muzzle loading sports guns.”  This second website offers background information about Moir: a Scot, he arrived in Van Diemens Land as a free settler in 1829. Details and photographs of some buildings, the choice of the site, the manufacturing process and Moir’s burial are all covered on this website for those who are interested to know more.

The man seems to have been both industrious and enterprising. Wikipedia claims he “issued tokens in his own name during a currency shortage in the colony”.  The Museum of Victoria (http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/themes/2164/joseph-moir-ironmonger-1809-1874) confirms this story and offers more detail.

In relation to shot towers generally, the first one in history was created in 1783 in England, not many years before Moir was born and emigrated half way around the world. The early process involved molten metal being dropped from a great height in order to turn it into spherical shapes, and letting it land in a pool of water which cooled the metal.  Late in the 19th century, a wind method (short fall and blast of cool air) replaced the long drop and water method.

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Rosetta on the Derwent River

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My next walk along the Derwent River will start half way through Berriedale and pass by the suburb of Rosetta before moving onto others. I have tried to discover how Rosetta came to be named and, while I learned a little of its history, I am not certain why it was given this name.  However, I believe that our local suburb of Rosetta is indirectly named after an Egyptian town.

I suspect it all started around the time when the internationally known Rosetta Stone was found in 1799 (note: the first European settlement along our Derwent River started in 1803).  The Rosetta Stone was found by French soldiers, (under Napoleon Bonaparte’s command) who were rebuilding a fort in Egypt, in a small village called Rashid (but known as Rosetta by the Europeans).

Wikipedia offers the following information: “Rosetta (Arabic: رشيد‎ Rašīd IPA: [ɾɑˈʃiːd]; French: Rosette) is a port city on the Nile Delta in Egypt, located 65 km east of Alexandria. Both the Arabic name Rašīd (Interesting unrelated sideline is that Ar-Rašīd meaning “The Guide”, is one of the 99 names of Allah) and the western name Rosetta or Rosette (“little rose” in Italian and French respectively) are corruptions of a Coptic (language from the native Christians of Egypt) word, Rashit or Trashit.”  I can pronounce Trashit, Rashid and Rosette/Rosetta so that they sound similar. Can you?

Read http://www.touregypt.net/rashid.htm#ixzz3NvMb6Iyk for more information about the town of Rashid. Apparently the highly green Egyptian town on the Nile River was typically tranquil with vast gardens, orchards and date-palm plantations, in addition to a multitude of beautiful historical houses, inns and mosques adorned with exquisite decorative inscriptions and woodworks. The town was known as the ‘Rose of the Nile’ by Europeans. I guess the name Rosetta was given to our suburb for the underlying European meaning of rose; a thing of beauty.  Hobart’s Rosetta is located on the southern side of Tasmania’s major river in a beautiful setting within the City of Glenorchy as part of the Greater Hobart Area.  However it is neither a city nor a port.

In 1807 as part of the Alexandria/Fraser expedition to Rosetta in Egypt, British forces led one group of local inhabitants in a civil war against another group led by a local leader.  Britain’s intention was to break the Ottoman-French alliance. As a result, in the first decade of the 1800s, I suggest that Egypt would have been highly visible in English news and the battles would have been known in the colonies.

Irene Schaffer, a Rosetta resident and local researcher offers historical information about the original settlement at http://www.tasfamily.net.au/~schafferi/index.php?file=kop79.php. John Berrisford and wife arrived in Australia from England on the First Fleet in 1788. Then, in 1808 John and his family sailed to Hobart Town. In subsequent years, they settled along the Derwent River in the area now known as Berriedale Bay and which extended to the south-east past Rosetta High School, and they built Rosetta Cottage (later renamed Undine Inn). 140 acres of land, now part of our suburb of Rosetta, was granted by NSW’s Governor King to John Berrisford in 1813.

My last walk along the Derwent River finished at MONA a little to the north of Rosetta. My next walk will start by passing Berriedale Bay. I look forward to seeing the old house – albeit with extensions and renovations since John Berrisford was alive. A photograph of this property, now known as the Rosetta Colonial Accommodation, can be seen at http://firstfleetfellowship.org.au/stories/john-hannah-beresford/. This website also provides more detail about the Berrisford family and their history.

Perhaps, through news from England, John Berrisford heard that Rosetta was the ‘Rose of the Nile’ and, in believing the British intrusion into Egypt was glorious, named his house as a show of support.

As a contrast from the historical background, I have located a contemporary profile for Rosetta. The population is 2567, the median household weekly income is $1050, the median age of residents is 45 years, the average household size is 2.4, almost 60% are married or in a de facto relationship, almost 40% are either under 5 years of age or over 64 years of age, weekly rent is $340, and the median house price is $319,455.

The birthplace of European Settlement in Tasmania (Van Diemen’s Land): Risdon Cove

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The start of my walk along the next stage of the Derwent River will be at Risdon Cove.

Earlier blogs explained how Lieutenant John Hayes, with two ships, entered the River and named it the Derwent in 1793. Twenty six kilometres upstream, while mapping the River, he saw an inlet on the eastern shore and named it Risdon Cove. Risdon, Risdon Vale and Risdon Cove were named after Captain William Bellamy Risdon. Risdon took command of the Duke of Clarence, the second ship that was part of Hayes excursion up the Derwent River.

Another decade passed before European colonisation began.

The Lady Nelson was the first ship to arrive at Risdon Cove in September 1803 when Lieutenant Bowen was sent from Port Jackson (Sydney area) to establish the first settlement at Risdon Cove, and rename it Hobart. As an aside, in the late 1980s a replica was built and the new Lady Nelson became well known on the Derwent River round Hobart. Currently locals and visitors volunteer time to maintain and crew the ship. Short sails are scheduled throughout the year for those who are interested. The website http://www.ladynelson.org.au/ provides further information, and has published the photo which I have reproduced below.

Lady Nelson

Despite the recommendation of the explorer George Bass, Risdon Cove proved to be a bad choice for a settlement site because the soil was poor and fresh water minimal.

In early February 1804, Lieutenant Colonel David Collins arrived from establishing the first small settlement at Sullivan Bay in the state of, what is now known, as Victoria. Quickly Collins realised Risdon Cove was inadequate and ordered the relocation of the settlement to a new site at Sullivan’s Cove, the present wharf-front centre of today’s Hobart. By late February 1804, the military and convicts had been moved to Sullivan’s Cove on the western shore of the Derwent River.

How many settlers were there?

Gathering reliable figures for the numbers of people remaining at Risdon while Bowen was away sailing and exploring and once Collins had moved some of his people to Sullivan’s Cove has proved to be impossible. According to the reputable Australian Dictionary of Biography, Bowen’s landing party in 1803 numbered 49 persons in total including 24 convicts previously transported from England via Port Jackson (Sydney). The site http://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/domino/historyW.nsf/v-all/021976A07261DACBCA256EB400107431 declared that in 1803, 100 people were settled at Risdon Cove, so I assume that further ships arrived after Bowen later that year. The same website refers to “Collins’s expedition of more than 430 people.” Apparently by July 1804, Collins had ‘hutted’ 400 people on the western shore around Sullivan’s Cove and bays further along the Derwent River. Other reports indicate an unspecified number of people stole a boat and escaped from Risdon Cove, thereby reducing the number of people living in that tiny settlement.  I wanted to have a sense of the scale of the residents remaining at Risdon Cove in order to determine whether the settlers might be afraid of the aboriginals simply on the basis of being outnumbered.

The five suburbs to be walked through in Stage 5 of my walk along the Derwent River

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From Rosny Point to Geilston Bay, I will walk as close to the edge of the Derwent River as possible.

In so doing I will pass through five suburbs: Rosny, Montagu Bay, Rose Bay, Lindisfarne and Geilston Bay. Most were settled early in the existence of Hobart Town. In 1793, Lieutenant Hayes sailed up the River naming it and many points of interest. It was only a decade later the first settlement was made and in 1804 the final site for Hobart was established on the western shore opposite Bellerive and Rosny. Possibly Geilston Bay was named in the 1810s, Rosny in the 1820s, Montagu Bay in the late 1820s. Lindisfarne was named a century after the first settlement in 1903.

Rosny

The starting point for the 5th Stage of my walk along the eastern shore of the Derwent River will be Rosny Point. The suburb of Rosny, within the City of Clarence, is located on a narrow peninsula which juts out from the eastern shore at Rosny Point and climbs the rising slopes of Rosny Hill to the public Rosny Point Lookout.

According to one of my favourite information sources Wikipedia, Rosny was named by Walter Angus Bethune, the holder of the original grant of land on Rosny Point, after his ancestor the Duc de Maximilien de Bethune Sully of Rosny-sur-Seine  (a town situated slightly north west of Paris in France).  Bethune, a Scottish merchant, first arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1820 and was a significant player in the early development of Hobart and sheep farming. His descendants have played important roles in Tasmanian history.

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Chateau de Rosny was painted by French artist Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot in 1840

Montagu Bay

This suburb was named after ‘mad’ judge Algernon Montagu, who in the early 19th century lived in Hobart Town before purchasing a property ‘Rosny’ in the Montagu Bay area of the eastern shore of the Derwent River. This small suburb sits on the river edge next to Rosny Point/Rosny and contains the Clarence Aquatic Centre and Montagu Bay Primary School. The Tasman Highway travels over a northern corner section of this suburb, leading to the Tasman Bridge which links the eastern Shore to Hobart and beyond on the western shore.

Rose Bay

The suburb of Rose Bay sits on the river edge next to Montagu Bay.

Rose Bay High School has a permanent camera facing across the Tasman Bridge over the Derwent River towards the centre of Hobart and with the back drop of Mount Wellington. Normally the site operates 24 hours of the day and night. The site is located at http://ozforecast.com.au/cgi-bin/weatherstation.cgi?station=11233&animate=6. Currently the site is being rebuilt, however I recommend you follow the progress and when re-established, save the site as a Favourite. Then you can see what the weather is like over Hobart and how gorgeous it can be to look at regardless of the weather in daylight and with the city lights sparkling at night.

Lindisfarne

While the exact origins of naming our Lindisfarne suburb remain unclear, the main thought is that from 1892 the suburb was known as Beltana. Then it was renamed Lindisfarne in 1903 after Lindisfarne a tidal Island (Holy Island) in Northumberland, a region in the far north east of England. The easternmost part of the middle of the suburb, where the Beltana Bowls Club and the Beltana Hotel are located, is still locally known as Beltana.

It has been suggested this suburb took its name from Lindisferne House, a property built in the 1820s near the suburb of Rosny. From the Clarence City Council website at http://www.ccc.tas.gov.au/page.aspx?u=1601 “Lindisfarne is thought to have been named by Hezekiah Harrison, a free settler, who was granted land in the area in 1823. Harrison had lived just a few miles from Lindisfarne Island, on the Northumbrian coast. Known as the ‘Holy Island’, Lindisfarne was the base from which St Aidan worked to spread the Christian faith through the north of England in the eighth century AD. However, it is unclear whether the area was named by Harrison or the next owner, Thomas George Gregson, a prominent free settler who purchased much of the land between Risdon and Rosny. Gregson grew up in Lowlynn, very close to Lindisfarne Island in England.”

Geilston Bay

Apparently the inlet of Geilston Bay was named after Colonel Andrew Geils who was appointed Commander of the settlement of Hobart in 1812. Colonel Geils lived on a property in Geilston Bay which he called ‘Geilston Park’.

Kangaroo Bluff Historic Reserve and Bellerive Fort

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Near the end of my Stage 4 walk from Tranmere to Bellerive Bluff along the Derwent River, I saw a sign pointing to the Kangaroo Bluff Historic Reserve which I chose not to visit. However, my curiosity was aroused. So the next day, last Saturday, I made a special trip and walked to the Reserve to find out more.

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As I walked toward the entrance, I was puzzled. I could see a narrow road passing between two raised hills. On closer inspection when I discovered a massive deep and long ditch from the left to the right outside the stone edged wall of earth, clearly this site was the remains of a fortification.

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The site was a battery complex with underground tunnels and chambers for magazines, stores, the lamp room, a well and loading galleries. The public do not have access to the underground since these parts were bricked up in the 1920s: I would have been very interested to see the speaking tubes set into the walls used for communication purposes.

However there are many metres of well-preserved channels which can be walked in and around.

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Signage provided useful information. I now understand that the idea of a protective Fort was first discussed in the 1830s as a means to protect the merchant ships travelling up the Derwent River, although I am unclear who might have attacked from the sea because Van Diemen’s Land (now named Tasmania) was very isolated from the rest of New Holland (now named Australia). However, it was not until difficulties were being felt between England and Russia in the 1870s that a renewed push for a Fort was made.

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By 1885 the defensive Fort was built – although I cannot imagine why anyone would think that Russia would believe it useful to send a war ship to the tiny colonial and penal colony in Hobart. It does not surprise me that the two canons were never used as war weapon.

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Tranmere

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Last week I arrived in the suburb of Tranmere, walked to Trywork Point and then retraced my steps back into Tranmere.

Today I have been wondering why this suburb was named so. Wikipedia was my only source of information. If that information is true, then this Derwent River edge suburb in the City of Clarence was named after a suburb of Birkenhead in the Wirral Peninsula in England.  And where is that I wondered. This is the Liverpudlian part of England on the north western coast of England. Home of ‘Gerry and the Pacemakers’ ferrying across the Mersey River. English Tranmere skirted the edge of part of that River in a similar way to our Hobart Tranmere skirting the edge of part of the Derwent River.

In addition, I discovered that South Australia also contains a suburb named Tranmere in its capital city. However, so Wikipedia tells me, that Adelaide suburb was named after a town in Cheshire, England.   These bits of information raised more questions. Good ol’ Wikipedia.  Another of its sites tells me that Tranmere was, before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, a part of the County Borough of Birkenhead within the geographical county of Cheshire. It seems a reasonable guess that Adelaide and Hobart’s suburb are named after the same English town.

Vikings!

Apparently the name Tranmere was given by Norwegian Vikings who settled and colonised Wirral in the 10th century. Tranmere in Old Norse is Trani-melr, meaning “Cranebird sandbank” or “sandbank with the Cranebirds”. So … now I am wondering whether cranes rested on the shores of the Derwent in the area of Tranmere. Australia has only one cranebird: the Sarus Crane lives mostly in the northern tip of the Northern Territory. However Australia has a number of Herons and, despite being considerably smaller and shorter their long necks might have been considered comparable to a Crane. Tasmania welcomes both the White Necked Heron and the White Faced Heron. This former bird is similar to England’s Common Crane in colour. Is it possible that a person from England’s Tranmere area was walking along our river’s edge before the suburb spread, saw the White Necked Heron wandering around, felt the power of our Derwent River providing a separation ribbon from Hobart city on the other side, and remembered standing at Tranmere looking across at Liverpool city?  I don’t know the answer.

Music lovers

A final bit of trivia. Tranmere in England is home to Dave Nicholas the last resident cinema organist in the United Kingdom. You can read more about him at http://picturepalace.org/cinema-staff/organists/. In addition there are some extraordinary videos to be watched.

 

How did Hobart’s Derwent River get its name?

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Dan Sprod’s information for the Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies was a great help in understanding that our Derwent’s (http://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/R/River%20Derwent.htm) European discovery was made during the second (1793) visit to what is now the island of Tasmania, by French explorer Bruny d’Entrecasteaux. The given French name ‘Rivière du Nord’ never took hold. When Englishman Lieutenant John Hayes arrived in April 1793, he was unaware of d’Entrecasteaux’s visit two months earlier, and named the river after the Derwent River in England.

Great Britain’s Derwent River flows through Cumbria, a sparsely populated non-metropolitan county in the north west of England.

Cumbria contains the famously beautiful Lakes District, and presents as a combination of mountains, rugged seashore, parkland and rural landscape. In the early eighteenth century, the landscape and climate similarities between Cumbria and our island’s river backed by the stunning Mount Wellington make it easy to understand how our river came to be named.  In England, the name Derwent is derived from a Celtic word for “oak trees”.  Australia and Tasmania do not have native trees with the same leaf and character as English Oaks. However the heavy thick forests with large stands of trees either side of Tasmania’s Derwent River, would have made a strong impression on Lieutenant Hayes.

The Cumbrian Derwent flows westwards towards the Irish Sea; the city of Workington sits at the mouth. Google Earth includes photos of a mountain, powdered with snow, showing similarities with our Mount Wellington at cooler times.  I imagine Lieutenant Hayes would have been away from England for many months, if not years, and so his ability to make direct comparisons between his English and our river would be based on hazy memories.  Notwithstanding this, when I look at a current photo of the Derwent in Cumbria, the landscape has a character similar to our local environment. Of course, the landscape and its features at both locations will not be the same as when seen in the late 1700s. However and despite the passing of centuries, I can see how and why Lieutenant Hayes chose to name our river, the Derwent.

But what about the man; what was Lieutenant Hayes connection with Cumbria and the Derwent River?

The Australian Dictionary of Biography (MUP Volume 1 1996) notes that Sir John Hayes (1768-1831), naval officer and explorer, was baptized on 11 February 1768, the son of Fletcher Hayes of Tallentire on the River Derwent, England. On 7 December 1781, when 13, he joined the Bombay Marine as a midshipman on the Bombay. By December 1788 he was promoted to second lieutenant and his rise through the ranks continued over the years. Hayes is best remembered for a private voyage undertaken between February 1792 and December 1794. Glowing accounts of New Guinea’s economic potential fired Hayes to lead an expedition financed by some Calcutta merchants. On 6 February 1793 the Duke of Clarence (250 tons) and the Duchess of Bengal (100 tons) left Calcutta, India. Because of adverse winds Hayes could not sail direct to New Guinea, so at the young age of 27 years, he decided to voyage round New Holland (this was the original European name for Australia). He reached Van Diemen’s Land on 24 April and left on 9 June. During that time, he discovered and named the Derwent River, and other features of the terrain. Risdon Cove and Cornelian Basin still bear the names he gave them. According to the publication “British Heritage of Tasmania’, (http://members.iinet.net.au/~rwatson1/britishheritage/BRITISH%20HERITAGE%20OF%20TASMANIA.pdf

Hayes named Ralphs’ Bay (a beautiful bay which I have mentioned during both my first and second stage of walking along the eastern shore of Tasmania’s Derwent River) at Lauderdale, after William Ralph who was in charge of the Duchess of Bengal.

While I would like to think that the City of Clarence (the eastern shore city of the Greater Hobart Area and the one in which I live) must have been named specifically after the ship which Hayes’ commanded, this apparently isn’t true.  It seems that the City of Clarence was named after King William IV of the United Kingdom who as he ascended the throne was titled His Royal Highness, The Duke of Clarence and St Andrews. However, let’s look at this a little more closely. In 1843, Prince William (the future King William IV crowned in 1830) began a career in the Royal Navy by becoming a midshipman at 13 years. In 1789 he was made Duke of Clarence, and then retired from the Navy in 1790.  The elements are: the future king is a naval man who held the title of Duke of Clarence before Lieutenant John Hayes (who started his naval career as a midshipman) set out from India towards Australia. Travelling to Tasmania, Hayes just happens to be in command of a ship named the Duke of Clarence in 1793. How did his ship get the name?  Considering the timing, surely Hayes ship was named in honour of the new Duke of Clarence (the Sailor King or Silly Willy as the future king was known). I would prefer to believe that the name of today’s City of Clarence lying along the eastern edges of the Derwent River, is a reference to the ship of the man who named our River, and only indirectly refers back to the early title of King William IV.