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Hobart is the state capital
and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania.
Founded in 1804 as a penal colony, it is Australia's second
oldest and twelfth largest city, with a metropolitan population
of 206,000. The city is the financial and administrative heart
of Tasmania, and also serves as the home port for both Australian
and French Antarctic operations.
The first settlement was started
in 1803 as a penal colony at Risdon Cove on the eastern shores
of the Derwent River, amid British concerns over the presence
of French explorers. In 1804 it was moved to a better location
at the present site of Hobart at Sullivan's Cove. The city
was named after Lord Hobart the Colonial Secretary. The area's
original inhabitants were members of the semi-nomadic Mouheneer
tribe. A series of bloody encounters with the Europeans and
the effects of diseases brought by the settlers forced away
the aboriginal population, which was rapidly replaced by free
settlers and the convict population.
Charles Darwin visited Hobart Town in February,
1836 as part of the Beagle expedition. He writes of Hobart
and the Derwent estuary in his Voyage of the Beagle
...The lower parts of the hills which skirt
the bay are cleared; and the bright yellow fields of corn,
and dark green ones of potatoes, appear very luxuriant...
I was chiefly struck with the comparative fewness of the large
houses, either built or building. Hobart Town, from the census
of 1835, contained 13,826 inhabitants, and the whole of Tasmania
36,505.
But since the Derwent River was one of
Australia's finest deepwater ports and was the centre of the
Southern Ocean whaling and seal trade, it rapidly grew into
a major port, with allied industries such as ship-building.
Hobart Town became a city in 1842, and was renamed Hobart
in 1875.
Hobart is located on the estuary of the
Derwent River in the state's south-east at 42°52'S 147°19'E.
The central business district is located on the western shore,
adjacent to Sullivan's Cove, with the inner suburbs spread
out along the shores of the Derwent and climbing up the hills
at the foot of Mount Wellington (1270 metres). The Port of
Hobart occupies the whole of the original Sullivan's Cove.
The Greater Hobart Metropolitan area consists
of three self-governing cities, Hobart, Glenorchy and Clarence,
plus the urbanised areas of the Municipalities of Kingborough
and Brighton. The suburban areas cover a significant amount
of both the western and eastern sides of the river. Apart
from the city, the main commercial centres are Glenorchy (the
northern suburbs) and Rosny (the eastern shore). The satellite
town Kingston, south of the city, is fast becoming an outlying
suburb of Hobart. Other surrounding towns such as Sorell,
Margate, Brighton and New
Norfolk are popular residential areas for commuters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobart
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