HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF 23 OLD WHARF

DEPARTMENT OF SEA FISHERIES , HEAD OFFICE

On 20th February, 1804, when Lieutenant Colonel David Collins sailed up the Derwent River to found , he dropped anchor in one of the estuary's attractive bays which he named , after Mr. John Sullivan, Under-Secretaryfor the Colonies ofthe Imperial Government. Sullivans Cove was then enclosed by rocky headlands, now Battery Point and Macquarie Point. The stoney foreshore running up to nearby cliffs was broken by the mouth of a small stream, later to be known as the Hobart Town Rivulet, and a stone and mud spit jutting into the bay with a small island at the end made an ideal landing place for men and supplies. Known as Hunter Island, it was the site of the landing and encampment by Collins and soon became the focal point of white settlement in Tasmania following the transfer of the first settlement established by Lieutenant Bowen at Risdon. Collins recognised the potential of Hobart as a trading port with Sullivans Cove as its hub. By 1816, Captain Cairns had constructed the original Old Wharf and by 1820 Bethune hadformed a causeway to the island permitting several warehouses to be built. The causeway was built of masonry wide enough for two carts to pass. Retaining walls were also constructed along the mud flats on Hunter Island's Northern shore. Part of the Island, including the land recovered from the mud flats along the new causeway, was divided into twenty sites for merchant houses. "Walters Angus Bethune and Reid entered into partnership and built on the last block, next to "The Rocks" in 1822. William Bunster is credited with opening the first store and both A.F. Kemp and the Australian Shipping Company erected buildings around this time. The Commercial Inn was licensed in 1826 next door to Bunster's store." (FINTAS VOLUME 8, SEPTEMBER 1985) ("The Fishermen's dock has a long and intricate history" By D. Wolfe) Whilst these buildings no longer stand, the existing sandstone buildings along Old Wharf, or Hunter Street, date back to around 1826/27, and are features in many early prints and photographs ofthe area. George Peacock, the fruit processor and jam manufacturer, progressively occupied the Old Wharf area and by 1861 had establish a large viable jam making operation. The new industry was manpower intensive and great activity was generated. By the mid 1860's most of the significant buildings in the Sullivans Cove area had been built. Reclamation of land in lower M acquarie Street opened the way for new buildings for Colonial authorities and other commercial purposes. The Customs House and market place were established and merchant stores and warehouses were built by convicts from hand hewn local stone. The present Town Hall datesfrom 1864. Henry Jones joined George Peacock in 1874 at the age of 13, and by 1885 becameforeman when W. D. Peacock resigned. Both Henry Jones and George Peacock lived on the premises for many years. In 1889, Henry Jones formed an association with Earnest A. Peacock and A. W. Palfreyman and the business became known as H. Jones IXL. The business prospered and in time additional buildings were added, including Tasmania's first reinforced concrete building at the eastern end ofHunter Street. Meanwhile, W. D. Peacock had re-established the jam manufacturing industry in the New Wharf area (). H. Jones died in 1926, leaving Palfreyman to take over the reins. In the late 1960's economic circumstances began to change. A decline in the fruit industry and the profitability of jam manufacturing and fruit processing, led to the closure of the works. The State Government subsequently purchased the defunct premises with a view to re­ development. At this time the buildings were a nightmare jigsaw of steel, stone, brick and wood. However, with such a history it is not surprising that the H. Jones and Co. complex is considered to be one of the most important historic industrial sites within the Commonwealth of . The Department of Sea Fisheries occupied the building on the 1st December, 1977. Due to the extremely poor condition of the building, the State Government decided to carry out rehabilitation work to provide offices to meet regulatory standards. This work commenced in 1979/80 and was completed in May 1982. Attachments include: Map ofHobart Harbour 1804 Map ofHobart Harbour 1824 Section ofWood Engraving Published in 1879 Map ofHobart 1890

DEPARTMENT OF SEA FISHERIES APRIL 1986 HOBART

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\\ The Fishermen's dock has a long and intricate history

TO describe the history of that end of Sullivans Cove now occupied by is to WITH a multi-storey hotel soon describe the earliest history of thecityof Hobart, the development of commerce and the very to cast a deep shadow over viability of the young settlement. Here, in close Hobart's Victoria dock, ques­ proximity to Victoria dock, it all started, the first tions are being asked about how landing, the first wharves, the first warehouses; trade commenced around it. much longerthedock will remain a dedicated workplace for the When Collins moved the Risdon settlement down river to Sullivans Cove on February 19 fishing fleet. In this, the first of 1804, the two ships were brought to anchor on two articles, the Department of good holding bottom in a cove vastly different Sea Fisheries' DES WOLFE from today's. To the south, deep water continued close inshore under Mulgrave Point traces the evolution of Victoria where steeply wooded slopes led to present day dock, originally Fishermen's Battery Point. In the south west corner of the dock, from the first days of white cove was a swampy area where the Rev. settlement. Knopwood reported wild fowl abounded. Along thewestern shoreswerewooded slopes and a prominent bank in the vicinity of the deep water - a typical riverfeaturestill found off museum with shallow tidal flats extending some Sandown beach, Sandy Bay, to this day. This distance offshore at low tide. In the north west line of demarcation between navigable water corner of the cove, the siteof today's dock, a very and mud flats began close insho re on the south­ shallow indentation led further inland towards west side of Hunter island and ran at first the but was separated from it by westerly and then south westerly around the the southern bank of the rivulet which formed a bay. Off the southern tip of the island, waterof2­ spit extending 200 metres out to Hunters island. 3 fathoms could be found close inshore. The island has been described as a low Thus Collins had little choice of a landing site. wooded island approximately 150m by 40m with Going to the south would have necessitated a two humps that were soon levelled for building steep climb to level land on Battery Point. to the sites. Beyond the island to the east was an area of west the boats would have grounded well shallows with reef exposed at low tide that later offshore. The island had the added advantageof became known as The Rocks. To the north of the being easily guarded to protect stores. island, tidal mud flats crossed to Macquarie Point with the rivulet running through the The people were rowed upthe rivulet to land at middle. a point behind the present Hope and Anchor Hotel. Here a small landing was built and the first Soundings on an early chart by Captain Welsh track cut uphill tohigherground,laterbecoming show shallow mud flats extending well outfrom Collins street. The stores were landedonHunter the western shore and terminating abruptly in island.

35 On February 25,1804 a Mr William Collins was The Rocks. Perhaps the island proper was still appointed harbour master. pilot and superin­ reserved for Government use. In any case, tendent of construction of a wharf. He resigned permission wasnotgranted. HoweverSorell was the position to go whaling in August of that year, keen to promote trade and commercial but by February 29 a small wooden jetty had enterprise and he had plans drawn up for been constructed off the southern tip of the development in the area. There were increas­ island and "boats could deliver stores at any ingly vocal complaints about the lack of proper tide". access to the wharves. In 1820 Lloyd repo rted shallow water and soft mud separating the two By March 1 Willam Collins had issued land masses. instructions for vessels entering the Derwent and by June 24 general orders were issued that "no boat is to land at Hunter island or enter the THE CAUSEWAY creek after Tattoo had been sounded". During 1820-21 Sorell had "a substantial causeway of masonry built to the island. wide As late as July 1814 further orders were given enough fortwocartstopass.andagood path for that boats other than government boats would foot passengers". He also had retaining walls be allowed to land only at Hunter island or that built along the mud flats on Hunter island's part of the creek in front of the Guard House. northern shore. Part of the island, including the Thus all harbour activities remained concen­ land recovered from the mud flats along his new trated in the island area. By the end of 1804 stone causeway, was divided into twenty sites for buitdrngs for government stores had been merchant houses. erected on the island and the commissary officer lived there. The development of the harbour and the increase in shipping has been adequately When Sorell took over as governor in 1817 he described elsewhere. For the northern area had a new wharf built outside the Commissariat around the dock it is sufficient to say that with Stores but it was useless at low tide. In August Sorell's encouragement the limited land and 1822 the Gazette mentions 3 jetties. Thewooden wharf area available was soon taken up. Walter one had been extended and converted to a Angus Bethune and Reid entered into permament one called the Colonial Wharf, for partnership and built on the last block, next to local trade. Sorell's stone jetty. now had been The Rocks, in 1822. William Bunster is credited extended for the landing of merchandise from with opening the first store and both A. F. Kemp ships. A new jetty outside the Kings Magazine and the Australian Shipping Company erected was called the King's Wharf. buildings around this time. The Commercial Inn In 1819 Captain George Frederick Reid was licenced in 1826 next door to Bunster's . applied for permission to build a warehouse on store.

• Hobart harbour 1804 • Hobart harbour 1824

36 In 1888 the residents of Old Wharf complained committee was "that a road from the Market about the offensive cond itions of the shore at the Place should be formed to pass in front of the head of Fishermen's dock and passengers on the Commissariat Stores and thata landing placefor river ferries dreaded winds off the area. In 1896 Colonial Produce coming by boat to the Market the admiral of a visiting squadron blamed the be built" and "that Murray Street be continued death of one of his men on the unhealthy down to the waterfront" and a road be formed conditions of the port. Typhoid outbreaks were along the shore to join the two. common. This fill to the south of the dock and along the Both harbour authorities and the city fathers foreshore may have begun about 1830 under blamed each other. But after passage of the Governor Arthur. It certainly continued under Public Health Act of 1885 things began to Governor Franklin who took office in June 1837. improve. The Hobart City Council desired the Franklin's map printed in London in '839 and area for commercial development and the probably prepared the year before shows a gradual enforcement of the health regulations straight harbour edge of fill extending along the along with a big fi re atOldWharf in January 1890 foreshore from Dunn to Murray street. caused the abandonment and ultimate destruc­ tion of the crowded lanes and tenements. In 1840 moles were begun from this fill, across the shallows to the edge of the deep water and THE DOCKS along it to enclose bodies of water for This then was the backd rop against which the reclamation. By November' 2, '840the northern Fishermen's dock and the fishing fleet and longest of these is shown extending to the developed in the port of Hobart. Dock outer edge of the flats or just beyond. This wall construction was piecemeal but could be said to formed a southern boundary and gave begin with the widening of the causeway to protection to a body of water that began to be Hunters island. A committee set up by Governor referred to as The Fishermen's Dock. Arthu r recom mended "that a sixty-foot roadway be built from Macquarie Street to King's Wharf The filling of the area later known as Franklin on Hunter Island." wharf stopped in , 843 for financial reasons but began again in , 844 to give employment to Sorell's aIlotments gave title up to the northe rn probation pass-holders who were paid sixpence edge of the causeway, and its line of buildings a day and their keep. Again it lapsed and little probably approximate its edge. Thiswidening of more was done until the arrival of Governor the approaches to Kings Pier would have Denison on January 25 , 847. Denison was an extended south from the causeway and formed engineer with experience in English dockyards the first edge to what later became Fishermen's and under his direction the fills were completed, dock. A second recommendation of the the docks formed.

• 1839 view from Old Wharf towards the future city site.

39 • Section of a wood engraving published In the Australasian Sketcher in 1879. A supposed view from a balloon, it indicates clearly the relative sizes of Victoria and Constitution docks and shows the Hobart rivulet still discharging into Sullivans Cove, bottom right, upstream of what used to be Hunter island. From 1825 onwards plans were discussed and Packet, 1844; Fisherman's Arms, 1846; Sailor's drawn up to develop the more sheltered Return, 1847. southern shore of the cove. Work began on the From the 1830s the area around the Old Wharf new quay in 1830 and by April 1831 ships had became associated more with the fishing begun to use part of the wharf and by 1836 it was industry, jam and timber trade. substantially finished. The effect of this development on the area under consideration With the increasein noxious trades both atOld was that merchants began to desert the Old Wharf and nearby Wapping, described in detail Wharf for the New Wharf area. As the merchants by A. Hudspeth and frequent flooding of the left. the hotels moved in, along with residentials, badly silted rivulet, the area declined in down the narrow lanes off Old Wharf. importance. It became home to a substantial number of the poor. Narrow lanes of tenements THE HOTELS ran between the warehouses. From Amy Rowntree we learn of the Commercial with a wharf on the Creek at its rear, By the later part of the 1800s there were 1826; Paul Pry, 1833; The Talbot, 1833; The tanneries. slaughter yards, dairies, bone works, Whale Fishery, 1834; The Shades, 1935: The gas works, domestic animals, including pigs, in Maid and Magpie. 1837: The Isle of Wight, 1839: back yards, fish cu ri ng, and a sanitation or night Land of Cakes, 1839; Sailor's Home: 1840: soil wharf with holding shed on the rivulet's Phoenix, 1840; The Beehive. 1841; Steam entrance. The stench can be imagined.

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l~, Constitutfon dock was opened by T. D. , .. ::::...-.-..:}.... t::::.t;) i. ·.'r j' Chapman on December 1850. While a -' . ": '1 ,I ';.. ' ., ','w"''''I' substantial number of people favoured calling it elLwnnr,JJllfJlli~lIiliir F~~:M~~~~; Denison dock, itwasnamed in honourof the new ., Tasmanian Constitution to be released that \ ~ "., \ ' \ ,~ .'" same week. In March ofthatyearthefirstofmany \j \ . bridges across the entrance was completed by .' \ DA~ ~ Mr Ross at a cost of £40. . , \ <\~f. FISHERMEN'S DOCK In 1864 the Hobart Marine Board employed a ,...~ 1",\ '. Mr Watson as superintendent of works and the ~ ~~: \) on. Inch 10 one chain entrance was rebuilt and the upper works ~ '\ \;~ ~ replaced all around the dock. Thirty-five years ~ \ ',2 ~1 -z: \ .ji.~ later the dock entrance was again rebuilt. ___ oj l'l! I --:=) /1 \ I :::::--'\' ~ =:J \. DAVEY STREET .-'-- "l \ \ ! .. ­ • A plan based on an 1889 marine boardworking drawing. The old diagonal dam followed the reclaimed~~~:,.l original bottom contour. The lanes off Hunter \ \,\ I street led to Wapping tenements and the 'line of \ "~-' Ii - I the present bank' near Davey street Is thought to original shoreline coincide with Governor Arthur's 60ft roadway to King's wharf. t

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• An 1838 sketch of Old Wharf. showing substantial bUildings and a broad esplanade.

40 • The Hunterstreet wharf previously known as MyallwharfIn 1907, with HenryJones'lXL factory at left rear.

The Courier, on May 10 1848, had discussed recompense, 5,324 square yards from the head plans to complete Franklin wharf, form a dock of the old dock to be reclaimed to street level. (Constitution) with the space between it and Old Davey street then was extended across this area Wharf to be filled except for a canal. Instead of to join Hunter street. As well, the council filling the corner in, Denison had walls received £4,000 and retained control of the fish constructed to form anotherdock (Fishermen's) market to be rebuilt on the south west corner of that remained open to the east until about 1860. the new dock. In a letteron February191852, Denisonsays that his proposal for the additional dock was warmly BUILDING OF THE NEW DOCK received by the merchants, and adds that every To build the dock, a dam was constructed effort should be made to increase the amount of diagonally across Fishermen's dock from the accommodation for vessels of all classes. eastern corner towards the northern corner of . Constitution dock. The unusual direction of the dam is understandable when compared with CONTROL CHANGES Captain Welsh's early chart. It followed theedge In December 1857, The Hobart Corporation of the shallow mud flats of the original harbour, Act created the city council and another act only a few metres in from that edge. With the dam created the marine board to take overcontrol of in place, the water was pumped out. retaining the wharves. This management had previously walls built and piles driven around the entrance. been in the hands of government port officers. A The material excavated was used as fill for the third act gave the city council power to control reclaimed land between the dock and Macquarie the waterfront market, the market wharf and to street and along Hunter street, which was then levy charges for boats lying at Market wharf. In extended further into the old dock area. 1885 the marine board approached the council to hand over control of certain waterfront areas. Work began in 1891 and was completed in Eventually the council agreed that all water 1892 at a total cost of £27,348. but there does not frontage would be vested in the marine board. appear to have been an opening ceremony. Iron rings were installed and gas lights. The Council As a result. on October 16 1888. Act No. 24 was notified by the marine board that its new fish transferred to the marine board, the Old Market. market was finished and ready foroccupation on Market wharf, and the Fishermen's dock in the October 22 1894. At a meeting of the Marine form of a new and reduced dock of 2,941 square Board in 1891, itwasagreedthatthe newdock be yards. The council received by way of called Victoria dock.D

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