City of Clarence
Clarence City Council is a local government body in Tasmania, and one of the five municipalities that constitutes the Greater Hobart Area. The Clarence local government area has a population of 61,531, covering the eastern shore of the Derwent River from Otago to the South Arm Peninsula and the smaller localities of Cambridge, Richmond, and Seven Mile Beach.
The administrative centre and main commercial district of Clarence is Rosny Park, approximately 5 kilometres from the Hobart central business district. Bellerive Oval lies immediately to the south, and Hobart Airport is located further north-west along the Tasman Highway.
The area that now constitutes the City of Clarence was once part of the traditional land of the Moomairemener, a Tasmanian Aboriginal sub-group. In 1803, the island of Tasmania was colonised by United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, who subsequently established the settlement of Hobart. By the 1820s the settlement had spread to the 'Clarence Plains', but the area remained primarily agricultural until the mid to late 20th century, when it experienced a residential development boom. Since then Clarence has grown rapidly to become a self-sufficient city.
Etymology
The City of Clarence is named indirectly after King William IV. From 1789 until 1830, when he ascended the throne, he was titled His Royal Highness The Duke of Clarence and St Andrews. It was during this period that the British settlement of Hobart was founded in 1803.Prior to the establishment of the British colony there, Captain John Hayes of the East India Company had sailed up the Derwent River, with the vessels Duke of Clarence and the Duchess of Bengal in 1793. Relieved at making landfall following an arduous crossing of the Indian Ocean, Hayes named the region around Rokeby as 'Clarence Plains', in honour of the vessel having delivered them safely to a sanctuary. The vessel in turn, had been initially named in honour of the then future King. Almost immediately following the exploration of the region following the settlement of Hobart in 1803, Hayes name of 'Clarence Plains' fell into common use.
For over half a century, this was the name of the entire eastern shore of the Derwent River south of the Meehan Range. When it was first incorporated as a municipality in 1860, the region became referred to as the 'Clarence Municipality'. This was to remain the name of the region until 1988, when Clarence was officially declared a city, and the name changed to the 'City of Clarence'. It is not usual for Clarence residents to be referred to by a gentilic, and if so they are usually given the title Hobartians along with all other residents of Greater Hobart, however locally they are usually identified as being 'from the eastern shore'.
History
Pre-history
It is believed the indigenous Aboriginal Tasmanians have lived in Tasmania for at least 35,000 years. Aboriginal middens can often be found along the coastline of the City of Clarence such as at Shag Bay, indicating that they hunted, and searched for seafood and shellfish in the region.Prior to the arrival of the British, there was nine distinctive 'nations' or 'tribes' within Tasmania. The eastern shore seems to have been home to the Moomairemener. It is not known if they were a separate nation, or a sub-group of the Oyster Bay Clan whose territory stretched from the Tasman Peninsular to St Patrick's Head, just south of the modern Tasmanian township of St Mary's.
For the Moomairemener the area along the eastern shore of the Derwent was known as 'Nannyelebata'. They valued the region for its rich variety of birds, animals, seafood, and vegetation. The Coal River Valley, Flagstaff Gully, Risdon Vale, Risdon Cove and the southern Meehan Range were all regions that were within the traditional spring and summer hunting-grounds of the Moomairemener people, bringing them into conflict with the British invaders within five months of the establishment of the camp at Risdon Cove. This initial conflict grew into the Black War, which devastated the population of the native Tasmanians. The descendants of the indigenous Tasmanians now refer to themselves collectively as 'Palawa'.
European settlement
Clarence was the site of the first European settlement in Tasmania in 1803 at Risdon Cove. At the time Napoleonic France and Great Britain were at war with each other. Fearing the arrival of French explorers who may have wished to make a rival claim to the island of Van Diemen's Land, the then Governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King dispatched a young 23-year-old Lieutenant by the name of John Bowen to establish a colony there. The first vessel of his party, arrived in the Derwent on Wednesday, 8 September 1803, and Bowen arrived five days later aboard Albion.Bowen selected the inlet at Risdon Cove, as when he had arrived in Spring the nearby stream was in full-flow. However within months it had dried up, and his camp was in despair for want of water. The site at Risdon Cove was badly affect by inconsistent water supply, and stagnation of the inlet during the late summer.
King was insecure about Bowen's juniority and inexperience as a young commander, and when he was contacted by David Collins, who had been dispatched directly from England aboard with as a supply vessel, to establish a colony at Port Phillip, he redirected Collins' expedition to the Derwent.
Collin's party arrived on the Derwent River on 16 February 1804, and immediately became becalmed in Storm Bay. Collin's dispatched troops to row ashore off what is now Rokeby to march overland to the camp at Risdon and announce their arrival. The party found navigating the thick Australian bushland hard-going, but did gain useful intelligence as the nature of the area. In the end, they only arrived shortly before the ships were able to navigate up-river.
Upon his arrival, Collins discovered the camp in such a state of despair for want of water, it was threatened with collapse. He immediately set about his first task of relocating the colony to the mouth of the Hobart Rivulet on Sullivans Cove. From there, the city of Hobart grew.
The relocation of the colony did not end the desire to settle the eastern shore of the Derwent though. Within the first few years following the establishment of Hobart Town, difficulties in growing crops led to difficulties providing food. The initial intelligence from the soldiers that had marched overland from Rokeby to Risdon Vale, and subsequent explorations suggested the plains on the eastern shore of the Derwent were more suited to agriculture.
The successful establishment of crops on Clarence Plains was vital to the survival of Hobart Town. When new settlers arrived from Norfolk Island in 1808, some were granted land in the Derwent Valley, and others upon Clarence Plains. Very soon a mixture of mansions and fine houses, cottages, inns and churches began to be built in the area. However the population growth on the eastern shore was much slower than that of Hobart Town, despite the close proximity of the young town. By the 1810s, a ferryman was making regular crossings of the Derwent between Sullivans Cove, and 'Kangaroo Point', near where the ferry still arrives at Bellerive Quay. The point was so-called due to the large numbers of Kangaroos that would be seen grazing there in the first few decades after European arrival. By the late 1810s, farmers, timbermen, and pioneers had begun settling on the eastern shore of the Derwent River.
19th century
By the early 1820s a small village was growing around Kangaroo Point, that was soon to become Bellerive, making it the first site of permanent settlement in Clarence Plains. Bellerive was well fed by a freshwater stream that emptied into Kangaroo Bay, and it still exists running parallel to Rosny Park Public Golf Course as a storm water culvert.The next areas within Clarence Plains to be settled on the eastern shore of Hobart's Derwent River, were Rosny, and its neighbours Montagu Bay and Lindisfarne to the north. Private properties had been built in each of these localities by the late 1820s, commanding excellent views across the Derwent to Hobart Town and Mount Wellington. All three suburbs are named after the three fine houses established. Although private estates and farms began to spring up throughout the district, settlements were generally isolated, with Bellerive, Cambridge, Lindisfarne, and Richmond the only major settlements of note. In 1836, Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land, George Arthur divided the island into administrative counties, and Clarence Plains fell into Pembrokeshire. Despite this, the Clarence Plains region became a municipality in its own right in 1860. In 1862, Bellerive also became the administrative centre of the municipality, and the Eastern Police District, but for much of the late nineteenth century, Clarence Plains experienced little development, remaining primarily agricultural.
A review of colonial defences in the 1870s saw a complete overhaul of the coastal defences of Hobart, and a new fortress called Kangaroo Battery was constructed between 1880 and 1888 just to the south of Bellerive. An industry that flourished throughout Clarence Plains was fruit growing, and by the 1880s several prosperous orchards were located within the region. A rare attempt at commercial opportunism was the short-lived Bellerive to Sorell Railway line which had its terminus on a long jetty extending into the Bay on reclaimed land that now makes up part of the Bellerive Boardwalk. It was hoped that is could eventually be connected to the Tasmanian Main Line at Brighton, thus providing rail access to the south of Clarence Plains, Sorrell and the Tasman Peninsular, but engineering difficulties and economic problems led to its abandonment.
20th century
At the beginning of the twentieth century the eastern shore of the Derwent was still little more than isolated villages, and homesteads. This remained the situation for the next forty years, until on 22 December 1943, the floating pontoon style Hobart Bridge was opened.Despite soon developing a reputation of being treacherous to cross in stormy weather, and suffering delays caused by its lifting span opening to allow maritime traffic to pass, it created previously unprecedented access to the eastern shore. Almost immediately demand for residential property there increased. By 1947 the population of Clarence Plains had reached 5,000 for the first time.
In the 1950s, post-war demand for housing led the State Government to create a public housing programme, providing cheap accommodation to cope with returning servicemen, and the boom in migrant labour. Suburbs such as Bellerive, Lindisfarne, Montagu Bay, Mornington, Rosny and Warrane all expanded dramatically throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and housing from the period still often bears the distinctive design patterns of former government housing. For many parts of the city electricity supply only arrived in the 1950s, and sealed roads, mains water, and sewage only began to be provided in the 1960s.
The eastern shore housing boom had highlighted the inadequacies of the Hobart Bridge. Bad weather made it difficult to cross, and the massive increase in traffic in the 1950s led to severe congestion. The traffic problems, delays caused by the raising of the navigation section for maritime traffic, and the toll all proved extremely unpopular. The government announced plans to build a new bridge at a cost of £7 million, and in 1960, construction commenced on the Tasman Bridge. It opened on 18 August 1964, and greatly increased the volume of traffic capable of crossing the river. The opening of the new bridge also saw the development of two new major connecting highways, the east-heading Tasman Highway, and the north-heading East Derwent Highway, greatly improving access both to, and through Clarence.
An increasing variety of services opened on the eastern shore. The Metropolitan Transport Trust supported the expansion into the eastern shore, by opening up an excellent network of bus routes into the municipality. In 1963 the Clarence War Memorial Pool was constructed, and in 1965, Eastlands Shopping Centre opened in Rosny Park, being further expanded in 1971 and 1978. The shopping centre proved a commercial success, and helped drive growth on the eastern shore. By the mid-1970s the population had passed the 40,000 mark at an incredible post-war rate of growth.
But the late twentieth century also saw two terrible disasters occur with Clarence. Much of the municipality suffered terrible damage and many homes were lost during the infamous 1967 Tasmanian fires. A second disaster occurred in the city in 1975 when the bulk carrier, Lake Illawarra collided with the Tasman Bridge collapsing a section of roadway in the Tasman Bridge disaster. Ironically, this event, which severed 'The Eastern Shore' from Hobart for nearly three years, was responsible for considerable infrastructure growth on 'The Eastern Shore', leading to it being largely self-sustaining, and being declared a city in its own right by 1988.
In the 1970s and 1980s the expansion of the Municipality of Clarence continued. Many previously rural areas developed into residential areas. New suburbs arose, such as Flagstaff Gully, Geilston Bay and Old Beach to the north, and Cremorne, Howrah, Lauderdale, Rokeby and Tranmere towards the south of the city. At the same time, Rosny Park continued to grow in importance as the administrative centre of the city, with the Clarence Council Chambers, Bellerive Police Station and Bellerive Post Office all relocating there. Banking services also relocated branches, and many new retailers opened, complementing the prosperous Eastlands Shopping Centre. Commonwealth government offices soon also began opening with services such as Centrelink, the Australian Taxation Office and the National Archives of Australia. The growth was such that the municipality was officially incorporated as a city on 24 November 1988, with the population having grown beyond 50,000. In 1993, the nearby town of Richmond was absorbed into the city of Clarence.