Bike Week – Bicycle Tasmania Hobart Rivulet Ride – Historical Notes Based on notes complied by Ken White from data supplied from Consultant Tony Rayner’s Historical Study 1988 to The Hobart City Council, and also on Hobart City Council information boards located along the Linear Park. To understand the Hobart Rivulet it is easier to split it into three sections; being: • The Wapping section up to the present Royal Hobart Hospital in Argyle Street. • The town section south to Barrack Street. • The industrial section above Molle St. All three sections are very much part of the whole as they lap over and intertwine to create a story bigger in many ways than Sullivans Cove or Battery Point. The Hobart Rivulet industrial area predates Battery Point by many years We will be riding on the section of The Rivulet above Barrack Street and especially what we know now-days as the Hobart Rivulet Linear Park. The more one knows about the Hobart Rivulet above Barrack Street the more it is to wonder at the sheer energy of the early settlers to survive and prosper in a foreign land albeit a land that had an abundance of natural resources. The top section of the Hobart Rivulet in the early 1800s has been described as the Silicon Valley of Tasmania and therefore Australia as a whole. One such resource was the water of the Rivulet to drive corn mills and facilitate the working of woollen mills, saw mills, tanneries, breweries, distilleries and a host of other manufacturing enterprises such as those centred around the Female Factory. Corn Mills An explanation of the term, “Corn mills”, ‘Corn’ was a generic term given to all grain but especially to wheat. The term ‘Corn’ is still used in this context in rural England. The first known mill (before 1817) to operate, referred to as The Old Mill, was situated some 150 metres above Molle Street. This was followed in 1818 by a mill called The Waterloo Mill situated near Criterion Street and later in the same year a mill known as The Government Mill commenced operations by the corner of Barrack and Collins Street at the now site of Motors P/L. This mill was to supply the needs of the military, the convict department and to create competition to lower prices. In the case of The Government Mill if you have ever wondered about the old sandstone wall fronting onto Barrack St in front of Motors Service and Used Cars then it comes from the Government Mill of 1818. To get some feeling for the times one has to have some understanding of how these mills worked. The building needed to be stoutly constructed to withstand the vibrations of the machinery and the occasional flood. Most mills had three or four floors so that grain, once hoisted mechanically to the floor above the grinding, could then gravitate down through the whole process. A mill thus constructed could be run by virtually one man operating the water and grain flow. Page 1 of 8 That was the good side. The not so good side was the crippling maintenance costs associated with keeping a mill running. Grinding corn, as it was referred to, created much dust which not only was a health hazard but, could explode if it was ignited from a machinery spark. To minimise this a system had been devised in the 18 century that the two elements involved in the mill workings; stone and iron, did not come in direct contact with each other. Therefore iron worked on wood which worked on stone, but never iron on stone. Then there was the maintenance of the water wheel including the crude bearings of the day, while a major flood manifesting itself about every seven years would wash away weirs, millponds, waterwheels and even at times threaten the very framework of the mill. A waterwheel was a huge structure some eight to ten metres in height. Over its circumference were ‘buckets’ to hold water which was supplied by a weir, millpond and mill race to run over the head of the wheel. As the first bucket filled it fell to be replaced with the next bucket and so on until the wheel revolved at a steady pace which would seem quite slow however by a series of wooden gears, pulleys and ropes the mill grinding stones were able to attain a satisfactory speed. The mill stones being round and flat had internal groves cut into them while the grain was fed into the grinding process by a hole cut into the top grinding wheel. To obtain a constant supply of water required a weir to be built upstream which created a mill pond and lifted the water out of the stream sufficiently to allow it to run in the millrace to the waterwheel. At the bottom of the waterwheel the water was discharged into the tailrace and back into the stream. It depended on the fall of the river and the size of the waterwheel how far upstream the weir was constructed and the suitability of a weir or mill site. The weir and races were mostly built of wood so almost nothing remains of them now. The water source for The Government Mill on Barrack Street was from a weir slightly downstream from Denison Lane, while the millrace ran along the bank between Macquarie Street and the Rivulet. John Walker Thirteen years after The Government Corn Mill was opened in 1818 the authorities offered it for lease and one John Walker contracted to buy it over ten years for three thousand pounds, which Governor Arthur accepted. Walker became a very wealthy man by the time he died in 1874 having mills, breweries and other business interests in several locations such as Richmond together with his prize, a steam powered mill, on the lower reaches of the Rivulet near the now Victoria Dock. Having purchased The Government Corn Mill, Walker in time moved his steam mill from near Victoria Dock to The Government Corn Mill site and later opened a brewery on the site as well. In 1850 he acquired the Dudgeon & Bell Derwent Brewery across the stream and in 1852 pulled the original Dudgeon buildings down and built the attractive stone replacements that still stand between the Rivulet and Collins Street. After Walkers death Cascade took over the former Dudgeon building with the malt house on the south end, and much later it was used as a cordial factory by Cascade up to the middle 1960s. Now restored the building has a new life as a media centre. Take note of the inscription high up on the building; JW 1852. Page 2 of 8 After John Walkers death in 1874 the original Government Mill was run by Gibsons from about 1880, then becoming The Tasmanian Confectionery Company in 1890. By the mid 1950s the buildings were pulled down to make way for the Nettlefold family company – Motors P/L. Crossing Molle Street is the beginning of the Linear Park that runs along the Rivulet almost unbroken up to Cascades. Until the1860s the Hobart Rivulet was the main source of the Colony’s drinking and washing water. But it eventually became a waste disposal and sewer for the inhabitants and industries along its banks. Johnstone Brothers Woollen Mill On the left is an imposing building that was originally built by Johnstone brothers as a woollen mill in 1898 when they moved from an earlier building further up the stream near Gore Street. In 1939 the woollen mill became a factory known as Gadsden’s Can Factory. It was still functioning in the 1960 making what were probably jam cans for IXL. Beyond Johnstone Brother’s Woollen Mill there used to be a collection of tacky makeshift buildings that are marked now by mostly demolished low grade concrete walls. These are possibly the newest industrial ruins along the Rivulet and were mostly car body repair and spray paint shops that effectively cut off the public access to and from the Rivulet walkway. Page 3 of 8 It is only twenty years or less since these buildings were removed. Before that, while travelling north on the Rivulet Track, one had to climb a set of stairs to or from upper Liverpool Street to get around these body and paint shops. The Old Mill A few metres on the left is the site of the Old Mill opposite Denison Lane. It was on ten acres and was granted to a miller named Robert Nash in return for the forced closure of his mill on Norfolk Island when the population was relocated to Van Diemans Land in 1808. In 1818 the Old Mill was in the name of ‘Fisk’ who then built the Waterloo Mill in the centre of town near Criterion Street, and it appears that the Old Mill ceased to operate for a time. Within six months of the Waterloo Mill commencing operations the new Government Corn Mill in Barrack Street was commissioned; followed by many other industrial ventures along The Rivulet. A big motivation was the repealing of the law on the prohibition of distilling and the making of beer. Up to 1820 the currency was rum and to allow other distilling and making of beer was thought to debase the currency. Gore Street Bridge This bridge has a modern concrete road deck, but underneath are two old sandstone pillars. These are the remains of a very early bridge across the Hobart Rivulet. They can be best seen by going a little bit upstream and looking back and under the bridge.