featured article
Detail of pen & ink sketch, artist unknown, of the first house erected in Hobart, 1804
At first glance, you wouldn’t think this simple little pen & ink sketch anything too remarkable.
The paper is slightly yellowed & the ink a dark coffee shade of brown. A frame of stiff cardboard encloses the edges. It lies inside its little glass case on the far end of the Colonial Art Gallery of the Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, or the TMAG as it is lovingly known. A red velvet cloth is draped over the top to protect it from unnecessary exposure to light.
I first found out about this priceless pen & ink sketching on Sunday afternoon. Strolling around, camera in hand, through the TMAG, I idly wandered into the Colonial Art Gallery. There I struck up a conversation with Francisca, a TMAG staff member, with whom I shared my passion for Hobart’s early colonial history.
Upon hearing this, she led me across to the far end of the Gallery to two little glass cases draped with red velvet. As she folded the cloth back, my eyes caught sight of the heading, “The first house erected in Hobart town, 1805″ & nearly popped out of their sockets.
Read the rest of this entry »
Photo of the Tue 27 Oct 2009 article in The Mercury
David & I were enjoying a quiet afternoon hanging out at the Museum Courtyard Café. I was organizing material in my trusty UMPC, while David browsed through that day’s edition of The Mercury. Suddenly, he flipped the paper over to me & said, “This may be of interest to you.”
Being pretty preoccupied with what I was doing, I intended to give it a quick once-over, assuming it would probably be nothing much, but not two lines in, I was captivated by the story.
Unfortunately, this particular article was not included in The Mercury online, so I haven’t the actual article to link to. I managed to get a copy for myself by paying for it on Newstext but I’m not allowed to reproduce it here.
St. Margaret’s Church & Cemetery is situated near the start of Saunderson Road in Risdon. That places it less than a kilometer away from the Risdon Cove Historic Site, site of the first British settlement in Tasmania.
Read the rest of this entry »
October 29th, 2009 | Books
A Walk in Old Hobart book cover
I bought this highly recommended book to old Hobart about 2 weeks ago but hadn’t gotten round to actually reading it properly yet. At that time I was still too busy training for my new position as ghost tour guide.
Titled ‘A Walk in Old Hobart: Your official guide to 2 wondrous hours with Charles Wooley & Michael Tatlow’, this book is a self-guided tour through some of the oldest parts of Hobart, starting at the now buried Hunter Island, through the first wharves in front of Hobart, to the warehouses at Salamanca Place, once called the New Wharf & finally into a small section of Battery Point before looping back again.
Read the rest of this entry »
Mural, Kent & Kent Antiques (date & artist unknown at this point)
Welcome!
I am Silver & I live here in Hobart, Tasmania together with my partner David & our beloved Munchkin cat Cooper. We are Singaporeans but we moved to Hobart in 2004. I am a ghost tour guide for the Ghost Tours of Hobart & Battery Point.
I created this blog in order to share my on-going research of Hobart’s exciting history, as well as stories of the many colorful characters that make up its history.
I intend to focus only on the city of Hobart, along with its surrounds in the greater Hobart region, within the time period between 1803 to the early 1900s.
Read the rest of this entry »
