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Tasmania had been the home of the Aboriginal people for thousands of years when the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted the mountains of the West Coast in 1642 and gave the name of Van Diemens Land to the island. Over the next two hundred and fifty years, the island was visited by French and English explorers including Captain James Cook. English gaols were overcrowded and the practice of sending convicts to the American Colony of Virginia had to stop after the American War of Independence. New South Wales was chosen as a suitable destination for convict exiles and transportation of convicts began when Captain Arthur Phillip arrived at Sydney Cove in 1788. At the start of the nineteenth century, the Governor of New South Wales feared that the French were about to claim Van Diemens Land. To prevent a French claim, Lieutenant Bowen landed at Risdon Cove on the eastern shore of the Derwent River in command of a small party of convicts and soldiers and a few free settlers early in the Spring of 1803. Remarkably, Lieutenant Bowen was only eighteen years old at the time and the convicts in his charge had all been convicted at least twice. Just under six months later, in February 1804, Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins arrived with more convicts and settlers; he moved Bowen and his charges to the other side of the river to Sullivans Cove and named the new settlement Hobart Town. The Reverend Robert Knopwood, affectionately known as "Bobby" Knopwood, arrived with Collins on that windy and wet summer's day nearly two hundred years ago. One of Collins' first duties was to erect a small artillery battery overlooking the entrance to the Sullivans Cove to protect the fledgling settlement against possible invasion by French ships. The point where the battery was sited has lent its name to the small peninsula now known as Battery Point. Today, the battery is gone and the site is occupied by Princes Park, a quiet garden which is a favourite of local residents. Bobby Knopwood was granted land which stretched from St Davids Park to the site of the artillery battery and down to Sullivans Cove where Salamanca Place now stands. Knopwood cleared the land and developed a farm where he was to grow wheat, barley, potatoes, onions, peas, sheep and cattle. The English settlement of Battery Point had begun. As the settlement grew, land on "The Point" which was close to the centre of Hobart Town, became too valuable to be used for farming and during the next century Battery Point was to gradually grow into the village which we now know. All architectural styles from the Georgian, through Victorian to Federation are well represented in Battery Point. There are few examples of more recent, more modern styles scattered amongst the older buildings which give Battery Point its nostalgic character. |
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Cromwell Cottage
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