Part 1.
When considering the history of a city, it’s easy enough to point to a building or a landmark and tell the story of that very visible, tangible place – as long as you have your facts straight. With an excellent library right here in the middle of town, plus an easily accessible university library things have an even better chance of being accurate. Add in the judicious use of the internet and you can come up with some pretty good information about the city to keep people entertained for a couple of hours while you walk them around the streets of Hobart’s CBD.
Once you’ve become acquainted with how the physical city grew it’s a natural progression to ask: but who was behind all the laws and regulations that kept it all going?
That’s where the really interesting, non-tangible stories come up: the history of the politics of the place.
What will follow is a series of stories about the politics of Tasmania, that takes us – in roughly chronological order – from 1804 with British settlement in Hobart to December 2021 and perhaps a bit further, if anything of political interest occurs.
To start with, here is a list of politics related terms with glossary links that will be used in the series. Any time one of these words is used, hover over the glossary link for the definition.
cabinet, division, electorate, executive council, franchise, government, governor, Hansard, House of Assembly, judiciary, Legislative Council, legislature, minister, opposition, parliament, parliamentary privilege, politics, premier, responsible government, Tasmanian government.
Click here for Part 2
