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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 ... more »
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Airports 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.
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.
Hobart is a busy seaport, notably serving as the home port for the Antarctic activities of Australia and France. It supports several other industries, including a high-speed catamaran factory and a zinc smelter, as well as a vibrant tourist industry. Visitors come to the city to explore its historic inner suburbs, to visit the weekly craft market in Salamanca Place, as well as to use the town as a base from which to explore the rest of Tasmania.
Events Hobart is internationally famous among the yachting fraternity as the finish of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race which starts in Sydney on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas Day). The arrival of the yachts is celebrated as part of the Hobart Summer Festival, a food and wine festival beginning just after Christmas and ending in mid January. The Taste of Tasmania is a major part of the festival, where locals and visitors can taste fine local and international food and wine.
Hobart is the finish point of the Targa Tasmania rally car event held annually in April since 1991.
The annual Tulip Festival at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens is a popular Spring celebration in the City.
Hobart also hosts the bulk of the Ten Days on the Island festival (http://www.tendaysontheisland.org/) a biannual international arts festival.
Entertainment Australia's first legal casino was the 17-storey Wrest Point Hotel Casino in Sandy Bay, opened in 1973. It is still the tallest building in the city, despite being several kilometres out of the CBD, and is a nationally recognised icon.
The Hobart nightlife normally revolves around Salamanca Place and the waterfront area, but there are also many suburban pubs and bars (as well as the Wrest Point Casino). Major national and international music events are usually at the University of Tasmania's Unibar, or the Casino.
Popular restaurant strips include Elizabeth Street in North Hobart, and Salamanca Place near the waterfront. These include a large number of ethnic restaurants including Chinese, Thai, Greek, Italian, Indian and Mexican. Several pubs and nightclubs can be found concentrated in the city and waterfront area.
Hobart is home to Australia's oldest theatre, the Theatre Royal. It also has three Village Cinema complexes, one each in the city, Glenorchy and Rosny.
Hobart is home to the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, which is resident at the Federation Concert Hall on the City's waterfront. It offers a year-round program of concerts.
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.
Most public transport within the city is via an extensive network of public and private bus services. The main arterial routes within the urban area are the Brooker Highway to Glenorchy and the northern suburbs, the Tasman Bridge and Bowen Bridge across the river to Rosny and the Eastern Shore, and the Southern Outlet Road south to Kingston and the Channel.
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Leaving the city, motorists can travel the Lyell Highway to the west coast, Midlands Highway to Launceston and the north, Tasman Highway to the east coast, or the Huon Highway to the far south.
Hobart is serviced by Hobart International Airport, and the smaller Cambridge Aerodrome (which mainly serves small charter airlines offering local tourist flights).
Like many large cities, Hobart once operated passenger tram services, a Trolleybus network consisting of six routes which operated until 1968. However, the tramway closed in the early 1960s and rail services closed in 1980.
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Hobart has a mild temperate oceanic climate, with four distinct seasons. The highest temperature recorded was 40.8°C on 4 January 1976 and the lowest was -2.8°C on 25 June 1972.
Temperature - Yearly Average
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Distances are calculated as the crow flies, and are provided as an aid in planning only.
* This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Source wikipedia.
