In 1803, the British established a settlement on the Derwent River as part of a wider imperial design: securing territory, countering French expansion, and deploying a convict workforce to lay the economic foundations of a new colony. Neither purpose left Read more
Marcus Clarke was confident. In the preface to For the Term of His Natural Life, he addressed his readers directly: “I do not think, however, that you will discover any exaggerations.” That sentence has been quietly doing damage ever since. Read more
On 2 March 1841, a woman named Sarah Nicholls stood before the Supreme Court of Van Diemen’s Land and was convicted of bigamy. She received seven years — the maximum the law allowed. It is the earliest bigamy conviction in Read more
The Impossible Contract A young man arrives in Van Diemen’s Land. Within weeks he is sent to a distant paddock to watch a flock of sheep. He has no dog, no weapon, and no experience with livestock — he is Read more
Norfolk Island — a brief timeline ~1200 CE: People from Polynesia were the first to inhabit Norfolk Island, arriving around 1200 CE. By the time the British arrived in 1788 the Polynesians had gone. 6 March 1788 – 15 February Read more
When the British established a penal colony at Sullivan’s Cove in 1804, they brought with them not just convicts and soldiers, but the full apparatus of British criminal justice — including its most visible instruments of punishment and deterrence. Among Read more
On the morning of Wednesday 16 April 1834, a young man named Joseph Greenwood was hanged in Hobart Town. He went to the scaffold with his back not yet healed from the 100 lashes he had received less than a Read more
“She Will Do Very Well Where She Is”: The Grim Case of Ellen Wilson and her lousy husband James, 1859 In February 1859, the Liverpool Street neighbours of a Hobart carpenter named James Wilson* began to notice a smell. Not Read more
‘Hobart at War 1939–1945’ is a striking and thoughtful visual history of Tasmania’s capital during the Second World War. Compiled by Col Dennison, the book gathers hundreds of black-and-white photographs originally published in The Mercury newspaper throughout the wartime years. Read more
Click on these links for Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 In August, 1851, when the English Parliament passed the Australian Constitutions Act it confirmed legislative powers on VDL. A blended legislative council could now be Read more