5. life in clarence 1860-1914 - ccc.tas.gov.au · pdf fileat clarence plains, so corrie was...
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5. Life in Clarence 1860-1914
In 1866 Charles Chipman, a young Clarence farmer, kept a diary, and continued to write it on
and off until his marriage four years later. It gives a vivid picture of rural life at the time. Born in
1841, Charles was the grandson of Joseph and Catherine Chipman, a convict couple who had arrived
from Norfolk Island in 1808. The Chipmans became some of the most successful farmers in
Clarence, and after his education at McArdell’s school at Rokeby, Charles was farming at Clarence
House. This was owned by his father, who lived at Clarendon Vale.
Young though he was, Charles could turn his hand to many farming activities, and worked
hard. Much of his time was spent growing crops, and he ploughed and harrowed, planted and hoed,
reaped and carted, and thrashed and screened wheat, oats, potatoes and hay. He pruned fruit trees and
picked, sorted and packed fruit crops. He doctored animals, setting a cow’s broken leg and taking
out a bone stuck in a heifer’s mouth; he crutched sheep, found sheep which had strayed, drove
bullocks and made sheepwash. He sold loads of wheat, hay, potatoes, gooseberries, wool, meat and
bark. He carted wood and stones, killed pigs and sheep for the house and salted the pigs, plaited a
bullock whip, put down poison for crows, frightened parrots off his oats, cut down thistles and made
bluestone water in which to steep wheat, and as well planting and tending a flower garden. He could
turn his hand to mechanical activity, repairing a cart and fences, mending ploughshares, hooping a
cartwheel, and making an onion drill and a duck yard. By this date some machinery was available,
and Charles mentions using a threshing machine, onion drill, clod crusher, winnowing machine and
weighing machine. Since these machines were rare, people lent them to each other, and there are
many other examples of neighbours helping each other. Charles employed men, one or two full time
on the property, and others for specific jobs such as fencing, reaping or shearing. His sisters helped
him, sewing up bags of oats, obtaining seed, milking and sometimes helping with crops, planting red
currants and sowing barley.
There were some problems. Charles sometimes found sheepskins in the bush, which meant
that someone had stolen and slaughtered sheep. His employees tended to come and go, sometimes
voluntarily due to low wages, sometimes involuntarily due to getting drunk. Sometimes Charles
could not sell his crops for a good enough price. But on the whole he was a hard-working and
successful farmer.
Not all Charles’ life was taken up with work. A churchwarden, he attended church meetings
and went to church at St Matthew’s, though not every Sunday. His main entertainment was visiting
or being visited by friends and family, and he cared devotedly for his mother when she became ill
and died. He attended parties and occasionally a ball, and quite often went to Hobart for business,
shopping or pleasure. He did not play in the local cricket team though he watched several matches;
he himself went shooting kangaroo, possums or wattle birds, enjoyed fishing, and once attended the
local hunt. He was interested in politics; he went to Hobart to hear the declaration of the polls after
an election, voted in council elections, attended meetings about the local road, and eventually cleared
it for Council for £3. He also went to a ‘very noisy’ meeting about the Cambridge Ploughing Match.
The only reading he mentioned was the Farmer’s Magazine.
By this time Charles was feeling like settling down, and his interest in ‘girls’ is clear. He
mentioned seeing girls in Hobart and at church, but gradually his thoughts tended towards Corbetta
Lord. Corbetta came from a wealthy Richmond family, higher up the social scale than the Chipmans,
though she too had a convict ancestor. In April 1866 Charles wrote that he went to Richmond to see
‘–’, for he did not write her name even in his private diary. He tried to organise meetings with her
but failed, and it was not until that December that he was seeing Corbetta regularly. They seem to
have quarrelled, for he commented that on Boxing Day they had a thorough investigation of their
differences. The next night Charles enjoyed himself ‘very much indeed’ at a party with Corbetta.
On 12 January Corbetta’s father told him that he would allow his daughters to choose
husbands for themselves, and the next day Charles and ‘Corrie’ became engaged, or, as Charles
wrote, he arrived home ‘not a free man’. A fortnight later he told his father that he ‘had chosen a
partner for life he said he was glad to hear it’. Corrie’s father was not told for another two weeks.
Now Charles often visited Corrie, and made arrangements for their married life. His father agreed
that he could rent the farm, and he renovated the house with plaster, paint, wallpaper, boards in the
kitchen for hooks, and new linen and furniture. He invited Corrie’s father to the wedding, which was
at Clarence Plains, so Corrie was not married from her father’s house. On 13 June Charles’ diary
entry reads simply, ‘got spliced’.
There were no diary entries for the next month, but they resumed on much the same note as
before, with surprisingly few mentions of Corrie. Charles continued his farm work, though at the
weekend he and Corrie often stayed late in bed, and Corrie accompanied him on various outings,
such as taking ploughs to his father at Clarendon Vale, going to see how the land ploughed, visiting
relations or attending lectures at the Bellerive Institute. At the end of the year, ‘Corrie came to the
Point with the cart to meet me which was all the go as I was very tired’ after selling sheep all day.
Charles’ life was obviously busier, and the dairy stopped early in 1870. Charles and Corrie went on
to have a long life together, bringing up their family of nine children.1
Charles Chipman’s diaries show a different Clarence from the earlier settlement of small ex-
convict farmers who were so often engaged in drinking, sheep-stealing and other nefarious activities.
By the 1860s life had settled down. The convict system ceased in 1854, and by the 1870s, ex-
convicts had either turned respectable and were indistinguishable from the general population, or left
for the gold rush or other opportunities on the mainland, or were becoming elderly and gradually
dying off. As in the rest of Tasmania, there was no longer a large unruly convict element in the
population, inclined to drink and petty theft. Meanwhile more free settlers had arrived and children
had grown up, so there were equal numbers of women and men, which meant that women’s
celebrated and sometimes real ‘civilising influence’ was coming into play. By this time, as in all
areas ruled by the British, Victorian values were gaining in strength, and it was no longer acceptable
for people to come out on the wrong side of the law, be drunk in public, or commit other
misdemeanours – now there was even a fuss when men swore in the blacksmith’s, which no one
would have bothered complaining about thirty years earlier. People wanted to appear respectable, at
least partly to dissociate themselves from any convict taint. Like other areas of Tasmania, Clarence
was becoming respectable.
This is shown in the great reduction in crime. In the convict period petty crime had been
common in Clarence, and there was even some more serious, such as murder, but now crime became
rarer. A series of minor matters engaged the police court. A woman charged another with tearing the
hair from her head and threatening to beat her brains out; a man was found not guilty of stealing
eleven sheep; Thomas O’May tried to recover a smallish debt; people argued over how wood should
be weighed; someone was charged with using abusive language; two men were charged with stealing
267 lemonade bottles from the Horseshoe Hotel at Cambridge.2 The only crime in the month of
March 1890 was that some clothes were stolen from a house in South Arm. The next year a man was
charged with appearing in a garden drunk and stealing onion roots, but the plaintiff said he did not
1 Diaries of Charles Chipman, 1866, 1867, 1870 passim 2 Mercury 4.2.61, 5.12.62, 2.3.68, 31.5.69, 28.2.70, 29.1.86, 27.11.91
want to prosecute.3 One man was charged with neglecting his apprentice, feeding him dry bread,
cabbage, sour cream and hardly any meat, and ignoring his washing so that his shirt was full of
vermin. A workmate had sent a message to the boy’s parents telling them to send for the boy or send
a coffin for him; the bench told the parties to compromise. Serious crime was uncommon, and in
1895 a rare example occurred when a man committed a criminal assault on a young girl at Bellerive.
He was soon captured by the local constable.4
A measure of how times had changed was a headline in the Mercury of 1879 about ‘The
Bellerive Housebreaking Case’. Two boys had stolen food and a hat, cup, spoon and knife from a
house in Clarence Plains.5 Forty years earlier this would hardly have warranted a mention.
A major area of ‘crime’ which took up much of the time of the Council and police was
straying animals, which caused damage to property and sometimes people, and brought endless
complaints. In 1878 a shocking case occurred. According to a newspaper, Mrs Maum had a narrow
escape from death. Over eighty years old, she was standing near her house in Clarence Plains when a
cow knocked her over and horned and butted her about the body and face, so that she became
unconscious. One horn gored her cheek. The cow left and Mrs Maum, recovering consciousness,
managed to get inside her house, where she was found in a weak state by a granddaughter. She
gradually recovered from her injuries. At the next Clarence Council meeting it was decided to take
stringent measures to check the ‘growing evil’ of straying stock. The cow which gored Mrs Maum
belonged to Ben Joseph; soon afterwards his house was broken into, and one can imagine the
neighbours’ comments. But most cases concerning straying stock were minor, such as when James
Free was fined three shillings in 1892 for allowing three cows to stray.6
Allied to the decrease in crime and part of the growth of respectability was a reduction in the
number of hotels, almost directly in proportion to the fall in the number of convicts. Before 1860
there were up to ten hotels in Clarence at any one time. In the late 1850s two closed in Bellerive, the
Devonshire and the Watermen’s Arms. In the 1860s more went: the Golden Fleece at Bellerive, the
Three Trunks at Cambridge, the Bay View at Rokeby and the Risdon Ferry inn, probably reflecting
less use of the Grass Tree Hill road. There were usually only four hotels in Clarence for the rest of
the century: the Horsehoe at Cambridge, the Horse and Jockey at Rokeby, and two hotels in
3 Mercury 26.3.90, 27.11.91; see also TM 24.6.99 4 Mercury 28.1.67; BTB 21.5.95 5 Mercury 4.10.79 6 Mercury 8.5.78, 8.6.78, 4.10.79, 3.3.93
Bellerive. Here the Plough closed soon after 1870, and the two enduring hotels were new, the
Bellerive, reputedly built in 1861 by Richard Morgan junior, and the Clarence, built in 1872.
The first licensee of the Clarence, William Martin, is a good example of the change from the
‘old days’, how a convict could become a respected member of society. Described as ‘bad’, he had
been transported to Tasmania for theft. He was assigned to Dr Desailly’s farm at Clarence Plains,
where he worked for fourteen years before gaining a pardon in 1841, aged 35. He then settled down:
he took up his original trade of shoemaker, married, and with his wife Hannah had two sons. In 1850
they took over the Horse and Jockey inn in Rokeby, where they did well enough to be able to visit
England, but there they put their money in a bank which failed, so they returned to Tasmania and in
1860 were running the Plough at Bellerive. That year Hannah died, and a year later William, now 55,
married seventeen-year-old Sarah Leake. They had four children, and remained at the Plough until
1870. This closed, and William became the licensee of the new, ‘first-class’ Clarence Hotel on the
waterfront at Bellerive. The large sandstone hotel included stables and a skittle alley, and the
Martins flourished there, respected members of the community. William was also interested in
racing, owning racehorses with the amazing names of Zada, Dido-Gaby and Sukie Frizzle, who wore
tartan colours. In 1878 he was talking to friends at the hotel when he collapsed and died, aged 72,
and his obituary praised him highly for his perseverance and industry. ‘His word was as good as his
bond. He believed everyone honest and so he acted.’ He left Sarah and the children comfortably
provided for, and Sarah ran the hotel by herself for several years, but died in 1880, aged 37.7
All hotels were not as modern at the Clarence. In 1858 the Horse and Jockey at Rokeby was
described as an excellent inn, but three years later William Archer, a keen entomologist, went there
for luncheon after spending the morning collecting beetles on the beaches of Bellerive and Rokeby.
A ‘strong woman and rough-looking man’ provided him with a scrappy piece of bread and some
cheese which was as hard as a geological specimen, and when he asked for ginger-beer, the woman
told him that ‘they kept no teetotaller’s stuff’. Archer had been thinking of bringing his family there
for a few weeks’ holiday, but changed his mind.8
Ostensibly all hotels were law-abiding, their owners occasionally sitting on Clarence Council,
but there were hints of underhand activity. In 1890 a letter in the Mercury accused two hotels on the
eastern shore of the Derwent of illegal Sunday trading. Clarence Council leaped to the hotels’
7 Robertson, ‘Clarence Hotel’ pp 15-16; Mercury 1.8.78 8 Mercury 11.9.58; Diary of William Archer, 24.12.61
defence: councillors had not seen any such thing, and there were always bona fide travellers (who
were allowed to buy alcohol) going in and out of hotels on Sundays. The police stated that as a rule
the place was very orderly on Sundays, and the matter dropped.9
Instead of drinking and sheepstealing as in the bad old days, the favourite recreational activity
for young men in Clarence was sport. In previous years people had enjoyed various sports, such as
racing, hunting and cricket, but from the late 1850s these tended to become more organised, as
sporting groups were formed. The first was cricket. People played cricket in Clarence in the 1830s,
but it only became organised in 1858, when a ‘very excellent’ cricket club was formed at Rokeby. It
is now possibly the oldest continually operating community cricket club in Australia (there are
challenges from Sandford, Richmond and Melbourne). Rokeby had an admirable ground, though that
year a reporter did think it needed levelling and rolling. Rokeby had recently lost to the Hobart club
of Derwent, he wrote; Morrisby and Chipman batted well and Weare bowled well, but Derwent were
more practised. In 1859 John Chipman, the nineteen-year-old secretary, issued the club rules. They
were strict. If members missed practice for four consecutive Saturdays, they were fined, and they
were also fined if they indulged in ‘smoking or anything inconsistent with the game of Cricket’.10
In 1868 the Wellington team came from Hobart to play Rokeby. ‘The town men’ caught the
ferry and had a delightful drive through the most romantic scenery, receiving a hearty welcome when
they arrived at the ground at 10 am. ‘The ground is decidedly the best of any of the country districts
with a noble view of Ralphs Bay and Drouthy Point [sic, the old spelling], and picturesque scenery
contiguous’, ran the press report. Rokeby scored 72 runs, Wellington 107, and lunch was deferred
until the game was over. At 2.30 pm Rokeby went back in and scored 71, then Wellington batted,
and won with eight wickets to spare. Rokeby had some good batters and fielders, explained the press
report, but some of their best players were absent, and they did not practise as regularly as town
players (so those fines must have been building up). Finally, at 5 pm, the players sat down to a
‘liberal and tasteful’ lunch at the Bay View hotel. Top scorers for Rokeby were T. Hogg (30 and 8)
and E. Pedder (1 and 23), and John Chipman took five wickets.11
As the years passed, more cricket clubs were formed, in Sandford and Bellerive for example,
and by the 1880s most districts had their cricket team. Clarence teams could not water their grounds,
however, so they never had good enough fields to attract first class cricketers. A keen cricketer like
9 Mercury 30.4.90 10 Chipman ‘The Chipman Story’; Walch 1864-8; Mercury 11.9.58
William Martin, licensee of the Plough in Bellerive, played with a Hobart team. There was also a
good deal of informal cricket, though it is difficult to find many details. The Richardson, Calvert and
Morrisby families were known for their skill, and could field teams just from family members;
several played for Tasmania. Les and Ab Richardson made the Bible of cricket, Wisden, for scoring
525 in an opening partnership against New South Wales in 1906/7.12
Several sports arose from men’s usual activities, such as ploughing. In the middle of the
nineteenth century many areas had ploughing matches – one was held at Bellerive in 1870 – but the
best-known was at Cambridge. In 1860 it was held on McKay’s estate, on strict temperance
principles. Only total abstainers who had signed the pledge could enter. This rule must have been
restricting, and was dropped; three years later the match was held at Neill’s farm and temperance was
not mentioned. There were prizes for ploughing, and for locally made ploughs and harrows; an
excellent lunch with toasts; and a band. Ten years later extra police had to be brought in for the
match (probably due to the change in rules), but no violence was ever reported.13
By 1905 the Cambridge Ploughing Match had become a real occasion, the blue ribbon of
Tasmanian ploughing events, with entrants coming from all over the state to demonstrate ‘the fine art
of ploughing’. There was keen rivalry, and many ploughmen brought special match ploughs,
different from ordinary ploughs. Albert Ward, the Bellerive blacksmith, made his own, and had won
the championship the year before. The match was held at a different farm each year, the host
considering it an honour. In 1905 it was at James Hanslow’s Greenfields, a picturesque setting
bordered by river, hills and trees. The ploughing was exceptionally good, ran the report, with the
straight clean-cut furrows a pleasure to see, and the horses taking as great an interest as the men.
Although most ploughing was now done by the double-furrow plough, the real test was in single
furrow. The champion, Arthur Hibberd, was head ploughman to James Murdoch and had come
second for the last three years, and the runner-up was Hanslow’s ploughman. In the one-horse
ploughing event, William Richardson, a Sandford farmer, used one of Ward’s ploughs, and his
furrow attracted attention for its excellence and straightness. The Governor arrived and showed great
interest, and all enjoyed afternoon tea.
11 Mercury 2.1.68; also TM 10.10.91 12 Mercury 24.8.68, 1.8.78, 13.1.94; Walch 1890-1914; Suburban Junior Cricket Association of Southern Tasmania fixtures list 1913-4; Page p 11; BTB 4.9.93; CC 1.11.06; information from Snowy Calvert and Brian Richardson 13 Mercury 22.11.63 and 22.11.62; CC 30.11.72; HTA 20.10.60; Mercury 28.12.70
Then there was a demonstration of a new tree and stump puller, which pulled a large gum tree
from the ground by its roots in five minutes, with an arrangement of levers, ropes and ‘a machine’. It
was invented by a Richmond man, who had only finished making it that morning, and intended
taking out a patent. Other entertainments were chopping matches and a trial of hunters with
jumping.14
There was an even more entertaining demonstration the following year, when a man
demonstrated a new petrol-driven shearing machine, by shearing not only some sheep but a Sorell
identity. This created ‘uproarious fun’ among the crowd. As well as the ploughing, there were fruit
stalls, a refreshment booth, roundabout, a fortune-teller, chopping matches and jumping trials – a
wonderful day’s entertainment.15
Ploughing was taken seriously, and James Murdoch would not let beginners plough beside
the road at Craigow. Only experienced men like Arthur Hibberd were allowed this privilege.
Hibberd was a champion. Inter Colonial Ploughing matches were held occasionally, at Cambridge in
1872, 1893 – when one contestant came from England, and others from New Zealand, the mainland
and all around Tasmania – and 1906. Arthur Hibberd won this against all comers. He taught his son
Max to plough, ‘straight and neat, with the roll of the furrow just right. It was really serious. It
wasn’t about speed, time didn’t come into it, it was being straight and neat and getting the furrow
right.’16
Another sport which arose from men’s daily activities was rifle shooting, with the Clarence
Rifle Club established in 1865, though it later faded. In 1898 the Clarence Rifle Company was
formed, part of the Tasmanian Auxiliary Force.17 One of its was Andrew Holden, the local doctor’s
son. He recalled that the Volunteers, as they were called, had weekly drills in the Bellerive Institute,
which were poorly attended, and occasional battalion parades at Hobart, but what members liked best
was rifle shooting on Saturday afternoons. At first they used Martini Henry rifles, which ‘kicked
one’s shoulder black and blue’, but then they were issued with modern Lee Enfields, which were
much more comfortable. There was an iron target, and a butt where a red flag hung when shooting
was in progress. Ranges were up to 500 yards.
14 Mercury 28.9.05 15 TM 19.11.06, quoted in MacFie, ‘Oral History...’ p 98 16 MacFie ‘Oral History...’ p 103; Mercury 1, 12, 15, 17, 18-21 October 1872; TM 3.6.93, 8.7.93, 7.10.93; information from Max Hibberd
When the Duke and Duchess of York visited Tasmania in 1901 there was a parade at the
Domain in Hobart for the Volunteers, at which they were to fire a feu de joie, which the locals
pronounced ‘few de joy’, wrote Andrew. They were to do this in two ranks, facing each other. All
was ready, the Duke and Duchess arrived, and the men were about to shoot when someone
remembered that they had not been issued with blank cartridges. These were hurriedly fetched, and
when eventually the feu de joie was fired, it was a very ragged performance. ‘The Duke and Duchess
must have seen some very queer things on their tour’, wrote Andrew – the Mayor and Mayoress of
Hobart did not realise that they should greet Royalty at the door of the Town Hall, but waited for
them in an upstairs room! English people like the Holdens were shocked.18
Meanwhile, another old sport had died out in Clarence – racing. In 1863 the Clarence races
were held under the patronage of the governor, probably at the fine Waterloo course on Ralphs Bay.
They were well organised. Colours had to be worn, and jockeys had to wear ‘strict jockey dress’ of
white neckerchief, clean breeches, clean boots and tops. On the first day the weather was poor and
there were few spectators, but the second day was ‘all that could be desired’ with a bright sun and a
cool breeze. There were more spectators and generally more activity, though betting was languid as
the fields were small and unevenly matched. Some races had only two horses, though the event of the
day, the Shorts, had five starters, and the Clarence Plains St Leger was an ‘amicable little race’.
There appeared to be no local horses.19
After the moderate success of this meet, racing was in the doldrums for some years, but in
1890 the Bellerive Racing Club was formed, and organised races on a picturesque course near Rosny.
Ferries made special trips, the O’Mays erected a landing stage, and about 450 people attended. The
Bellerive police occasionally had to settle disputes between the ‘talent’ and Club organisers, but
otherwise the day was orderly, and the event of the day was the Bellerive Plate.20 The next year the
Clarence Racing Club held a similar meet, and in 1892 the Bellerive Races were held on the
Wentworth course, described as ‘somewhat rough’ – two jockeys were unseated, but continued after
a rest. More than half the entrants were scratched, and some races were amusing, with the winner the
only horse to finish in the pony hurdles, all others running off the course. The crowd was entertained
17 CC 25.11.64, 24.11.66; Weekly Advertiser 6.5.65; Mercury 2.4.66, 18.3.01, 4.9.05; BTB 28.8.05; TM 24.6.99. The Company established a new rifle range in 1905. 18 Holden pp 10-11, 23 19 Mercury 21.11.62, 28.11.62, 13.2.63, 14.2.63; NS 544/2, article dated 29.8.13 20 Mercury 19.3.90, 11.4.90, 14.4.90
by a Sioux Indian, Eagle Elk, who gave an exhibition of contortion, and lassoed a local butcher.
There was much amusement, reported the press, at the Indian worsting ‘the knight of the cleaver’
with a clothesline. Again no local horses were mentioned, and after this day, racing seemed to ebb.
As standards rose, proper grounds were necessary, and activity moved to developed racecourses in
Glenorchy. Roy and Hedley Calvert did own racehorses in the early 1900s, but apparently raced them
outside Clarence.21
By now a new sport was popular, Australian Rules football. This began in Melbourne in the
1850s, and clubs appeared in Tasmania in the 1870s. In 1883 the Mercury wrote of ‘the now popular
game of football’, so it was not surprising that the Bellerive Football Club was formed the next year.
It played other local teams like Forcett, Carlton, and Cambridge, or Hobart teams like Battery Point.
At home it played on Foster’s land near Bellerive beach, which had a definite slope, so teams were
playing uphill or downhill. There was also a junior team. Similar teams were formed in most
centres, such as Cambridge and Sandford, and William Murdoch of Cambridge was a mainstay of the
Richmond team and played for Southern Tasmania.22
Around the turn of the century local football associations were formed, with rosters and
ladders. In 1903 Bellerive were premiers of the Bellerive Football Association, and celebrated by
having its picture taken. The group included players, president, secretary, umpire and trainer (Robert
O’May), but no coach, as the captain did any coaching required, which was not much. Three
members belonged to the best-known football family in Bellerive, the Burtons – Harry (captain),
John, and thirteen-year-old Fred, ‘Brummy’. One young Bellerive player, Gary Luttrell, remembered
Brummy later showing him a few tricks of the trade, like how to ensure that someone running beside
you fell over, without your intervention being seen. The Bellerive Football Association was
shortlived, and Bellerive went on to play in various second-rank urban associations, winning a grand
final in 1907. Bellerive and other country teams suffered because big Hobart teams were always on
the lookout for talent, and took several promising players, like the Burtons.23
With so much of Clarence surrounded by water, it was natural that aquatic sports should be
popular. From early days Bellerive had a regatta, held off and on depending on people’s enthusiasm.
In 1870 it was postponed three times, due to drenching rain, calm, then a boat being swamped, and it
was finally held in May. The big event was a sailing race with seven boats, won by W. Hales’
21 Mercury 24.11.91; Tasmanian News 12.5.92; Mercury 20.3.05 22 TM 22.6.16
Garibaldi – showing that Bellerive people kept up with world news, since the great Italian patriot
was at the height of his career.24 The site was ideal, and a grandstand was built on the esplanade for
good viewing.
Enthusiasm grew with the formation of the Bellerive Rowing Club in 1882, with colours of
blue and white. Under the leadership of Bellerive notables, including Thomas Westbrook, Charles
Featherstone, Henry Lamb and William Benson, the Club built a boatshed on Kangaroo Bay.
Enthusiasm came and went, however, and in November 1896 the Derwent Sailing Club and the
Hobart Rowing Club, helped by many Bellerive people, tried to established a ‘new order of things’,
by resuscitating the Bellerive Regatta. There was excellent competition, with sailing and ‘pulling’
(rowing) races; the O’Mays’ boats, gaily bedecked with bunting, brought over twenty loads of
visitors from Hobart; the Kangaroo brought more; the weather was beautiful; and the boats,
roundabouts, and crowds of people picnicking on the green sward of the esplanade gave a joyous
appearance, reported the Mercury. This time enthusiasm was retained, helped by the formation of the
Bellerive Sailing Club in 1897, and the Bellerive Dinghy Club in 1905; both clubs faded, though in
1907 the Bellerive Times reported that interest in sailing races was very keen, with ‘handsome
trophies lying about for all sorts of races’. An attempt was being made to organise a rowing crew at
Bellerive for the many prizes offered by regattas; the sheltered bays of Bellerive and Lindisfarne
were excellent for rowing.25
As Lindisfarne grew, ‘aquatic carnivals’ and regattas were also held there, and in 1905 the
Lindisfarne Rowing Club was formed. At its second annual regatta, in 1907, there were rowing and
sailing races, swimming races (for boys only), afternoon tea, stalls, a brass band, a duck hunt, and a
greasy pole competition, and special ferry services brought hundreds of visitors to the ‘very pretty
bay’. In 1913 Lindisfarne Regatta included a ladies’ fours rowing event, in which a Lindisfarne crew
came second.26
From earliest times Clarence people had enjoyed a day at the beach, and children went
paddling, but whether they swam was rarely mentioned. In 1869 Signor Vertelli competed in a
swimming match in Kangaroo Bay, with Ambrose Harrington of Kangaroo Point. They swam from
23 Alexander You’re In Roo Country! pp 2-6 24 Mercury 2.5.70 25 Walch 1882-1901; Bellerive Times 1.2, 14.12.1907; Dakin pp 48-9; TM 29.6.11; H O’May p 30; Mercury 18.4.90, 27.2.94, 5.3.94, 2.11.96, 10.11.96 26 Mercury 2.12.05, 25.2.07; TM 2.9.05; CC 12.2.13
the wharf, around a boat in the bay and back. Harrington swam ‘in the ordinary style, face and chest
foremost’, but Vertelli ‘adopted the professional mode...with one arm and side in front’. He steered
wildly so had to swim an extra few yards, and he lost ground because he had to turn his head to see
where he was going; Harrington won.27
By 1887 swimming was popular, and Thomas Dawson mentioned at a meeting that bathing
accommodation was necessary in Bellerive – a man had to get up early in the morning if he wanted
to bathe, and sometimes ladies got up for the same purpose at an early hour. (Swimming costumes
did not exist.) In the 1890s Dr Holden and his son Andrew used to go for an early morning swim,
apparently instead of a bath. They knew a secluded place where they could dive from the rocks,
where no one could see them. By this time some daring people were suggesting that bathing
costumes be introduced so that everyone could take to the water, as happened in France.28
Bathing accommodation meant baths, which enclosed a piece of sea or river and provided
dressing sheds and privacy. There were suggestions that baths be built at Bellerive, but nothing
happened. The Board did not have enough money, and there were disagreements about a site – the
beach or Kangaroo Bay, and which part of either? A few bathing sheds, where people could gain
some privacy, were built.29
By now bathing suits were becoming common, but this created problems. Should mixed
bathing be allowed, men and women bathing together? Some people considered bathing suits
indecent, and so great was the discussion that the Bellerive Board threatened to prosecute any
swimmers, whatever they were wearing. Bathers complained, and Bellerive resident AJ Nettlefold
called a public meeting, raised money and set up a committee to build baths. They were finished in
March 1905, and were built on the northern side of the railway jetty, with a spring-board for diving, a
pole for teaching children to swim – by having them put an arm over it and ‘striking out’ – and
changing rooms for thirty bathers. Although it was a cold, cheerless day, there was a great crowd at
the opening, with a band playing, and 29 diving, rowing and swimming events. But little more was
heard of the baths; perhaps, with bathing suits becoming common and beaches open to mixed
bathing, these were preferred.30
27 Mercury 10.4.69 28 Holden chapter 4; TM 2.7.87, 10.10.91, 16.1.92; Mercury 18.10.70 29 BTB 4.11.95, 16.12.95, 30.12.95, 24.2.96, 9.3.96, 23.3.96, 16.11.96, 12.4.97, 3.9.00, 19.8.01 30 Winter ‘The Bellerive Baths’ pp 17-20; H O’May p 112; Mercury 9.3.05, 13.3.05
At Bellerive, bathing shelters were built, with a tank for water for picnickers. A springboard
was built in a nook in the second bluff, though rough weather later carried it away.31 Complaints
about bathers being insufficiently clad surfaced again in 1913. After cases were reported of indecent
behaviour from persons coming to Lindisfarne to bathe, Councillor Allwright moved a motion that
neck-to-knee bathing costumes should be worn, and after leaving the water people should not loiter
about the beach in bathing costumes. The police should force those not decently dressed or using bad
language to dress at once. They must stop bathing being interfered with by ‘immodest or reckless
people’. If it were not checked, Bellerive and Lindisfarne would get a bad name. ‘There’s no harm
after a swim in lying round in the sun for a while’, objected Councillor Mathers. ‘The Victorians call
that smoodging’, answered Councillor Hume. The motion was passed, and notices warning bathers
to wear neck-to-knee costumes were erected, but the law must have been difficult for the solitary
policeman to enforce. There were more complaints, and Council set aside parts of the beach for sun
bathing, for men and women respectively. Letters and an article in the press ridiculed this.
Sunbathing was a healthy pastime, sunbathers wore bathing suits as provided for in the Police Act,
and a better class of clean-minded young men could not be found; if Bellerive was to progress, its
residents ‘must not taboo sun baths’. But the enclosures went ahead.32
Other sports were played spasmodically. In the 1860s a prize fight was held at the Rokeby
race course, to avoid the Hobart police. Fights normally last 15 rounds, but this lasted 84 rounds and
took 2 hours and 10 minutes, and at the end both contestants were unrecognisable. The winner was a
local man, ‘Brummy’. Prize fighting died out, not surprisingly.33
Meanwhile, new sports were introduced. In 1898 the Bellerive Bicycle Club was formed,
running its first road race that year. The Lindisfarne Golf Club bought land at Geilston Bay and in
1904 established a nine-hole course with a club house – the first southern golf club to own its own
course. There were tennis clubs and courts at Bellerive and Lindisfarne. In 1903 Bellerive won a
table tennis championship at Beltana, defeating ‘sister suburbs’. In 1905 a Lacrosse Association
used the Lindisfarne Board room – to play lacrosse? People enjoyed ‘rambles’ and picnics in the
bush, and almost everyone who lived at Lindisfarne mentioned the lovely walks round Natone Hill
with its orchids. Most of the traditional sports – racing, cricket, rifle shooting, ploughing – had been
31 NS 544/2/50, article 1912 32 CC 8.1.13, 12.2.13, 13.2.13, 10.3.13, 11.4.14; Mercury 12.2.13, 13.2.13, 13.2.14; Critic 2.1.14; TM 22.2.08 33 NS 544/2, newspaper article dated 29.8.13
played only by men, but by the turn of the century women were taking part in some sports, like
boating, swimming and tennis.34
Organised cultural and social activities were not as prominent as sporting activities, though
there were many informal activities – weddings, christenings, birthdays, public holidays, when
families and friends gathered together. They are hard to document as they often left little record, but
they must have been the major social activity for most Clarence people. In a similar way, there was
much charitable and community work, which went largely unrecorded. Communities worked
together in churches and sporting clubs, in unofficial ways to help those who were ill or suffered
other problems, and generally supported the good of the community. Some examples are known: the
Calverts of South Arm provided the Calverton Hall for community use, and the biography of David
Calvert, born in 1848, states that he ‘was always actively connected with beneficial works’. His son
David took a leading part in building the pubic hall at Rokeby in 1914, serving on the committee who
organised it, helping with fund-raising, supervising the building and choosing the piano.35
There were some organised groups, and the first were friendly societies of different types,
which provided social and insurance benefits for the artisan classes. Established in Hobart in the
1840s, they spread round the island, and in 1873 the Bellerive Lodge of the Oddfellows, Manchester
United, was established. Fred Ward, wheelwright, was secretary from 1893 until after 1914. It was a
stable group, with 17 members in both 1903 and 1914, and a smaller number of registered wives,
who could also receive benefits. The Good Templars, on the other hand, came and went, with no
lodge lasting more than a couple of years. They were a newer group, only established in Hobart in
1873, and they set up a Bellerive Lodge, the ‘Missing Link’, the next year, with ferry owner James
Taylor as secretary. This soon faded, but in 1879 ‘Our Hope’ lodge was established at Clarence
Plains. The ‘Missing Link’ reappeared briefly at Bellerive in the early 1880s, then 1889 saw the
‘Emblem of Peace’ lodge at Bellerive.36
A different sort of society, providing much the same benefits as friendly societies, was the
Australian Natives’ Association, known as the ANA. Its members had to be born in Australia and it
aimed to promote Australia – it called itself a National and Patriotic Society. It attracted young
34 Walch 1904-14; Hudspeth p 12; Mercury 21.3.90, 13.3.05; BT&IA booklet, Hobart 1912, p 18; LTB 2.10.05; TM 18.8.03, 28.5.03, 24.8.98 35Cyclopedia of Tasmania 1931 pp 264, 248 36 Cyclopedia of Tasmania 1931 pp 264, 248; Walch 1873-1914, Friendly Societies sections; Statistics of Tasmania 1903 p 508, 1914-5 p 444
middle-class men, and by 1903 there was a branch in Bellerive. By 1907 it ran the Bellerive ANA
Orchestra and the Bellerive ANA Comedy Company, and published the Bellerive Times. In 1907 the
Comedy Company put on a play, ‘The Three Hats’, which attracted a large audience and was
performed with ‘vim and precision’. Nita Wertheimer, Eileen Allwright, Gilbert Lamb and several
Bensons were the stars, and Ernest O’May was billed to take the role of constable. On the night he
was unable to come, but luckily, when an actor uttered the line, ‘Police!’, to the relief of the
performers and the hilarity of the audience, the local constable stepped smartly into the hall. The
ANA Orchestra provided the music, the scenery was well painted, and altogether the evening was an
‘unprecedented success’, according to the Bellerive Times.
The Times, describing itself as ‘Bellerive’s Newsy Paper’, provided social gossip, garden
notes, jokes, news about progress on the recreation ground, election information, yachting and
rowing news, and urged readers to buy Tasmanian-made goods. It also ran a limerick competition,
and published the winning entry of the most recent competition, a poem about Beltana:
There was a young man of Beltana,
Who once met an old iguana;
When the youth would have fled,
The beast gulped him, and said,
‘He went down like a juicy banana’.
The next issue was to give the result of competition for a limerick about on Lindisfarne, but sadly the
issue is missing – the rhyme would have been challenging. The Times folded but the ANA
continued, and in 1911 had 12 members.37
With the largest population, Bellerive was the cultural centre of Clarence. This was partly
due to the Westbrook and Benson families. Thomas Westbrook had built the Institute, which by
providing a venue gave encouragement to those giving concerts, lectures, magic lantern shows, plays
or any other form of entertainment. Westbrook’s wife Fanny was a talented singer, and their
daughter Lucy, born in 1860, had not only a magnificent voice but wonderful ability as an organiser.
She learnt singing in Hobart, and during her life sang in many concerts, ran a choir, managed,
directed and conducted light operas, and was possibly the first female conductor of opera in
37 Bellerive Times vol 1, no 2; Statistics of Tasmania 1903, 1911
Australia. For half a century there were few musical occasions in Tasmania in which she did not take
part, as manager, conductor, soloist, director, accompanist or costume designer.
Most of Lucy’s activities took place in Hobart or on the mainland – in 1905 her choir won the
championship of the Commonwealth at the famous Ballarat competitions – but she continued to live
in Bellerive, where she had married William Benson in 1881. William, Lucy and/or one or more of
their six children were involved in almost every activity of Bellerive life; for example, in 1897 Lucy
organised a concert at the Institute for the Oddfellows’ Lodge, as usual a crowded and successful
evening of music and singing. She organised many other concerts, and took a leading part in general
life. She ran the Band of Mercy, she called a public meeting about building baths, and she was
involved in almost all public activities in Bellerive open to women – and some, like calling public
meetings, which were unprecedented for them. The family moved to northern Tasmania in 1913, a
loss to Clarence, but later they returned to the south, and Lucy was still playing the organ at St
Mark’s when she was 83, just before her death in 1943.38
Several musical groups were formed. For some years there was agitation for a band, and this
eventuated in 1897 with the Bellerive Brass Military Band, under conductor Signor E. Bajo. He is
not mentioned as a resident of Bellerive, so presumably came from Hobart to conduct. The band was
part of Bellerive life, playing at such community occasions as a concert to raise money for the
Jubilee Clock in 1897, and the inauguration of the new O’May steamer Silver Crown in 1899. In
1902 Fred Easton, a Bellerive resident, was the conductor, but the band faded shortly afterwards.
Later the Bellerive Orchestral Society was formed, and lasted for three years, from 1910 to 1913.39
There was little such activity outside Bellerive, especially before districts had that pre-
requisite, a hall, since other buildings were not usually large enough, or in the case of churches
suitable, for public functions. Some cultural activities did take place; in the 1890s, to raise money
for prizes for schoolchildren, concerts were held at Rokeby, presumably in the school; and in 1897 a
huge crowd filled the Sandford Congregational church to hear a lecturer talking about his travels in
Russia, illustrated with magic lantern slides. There were several groups for children, and the first
official Girl Guide pack in Tasmania was the 1st Lindisfarne, formed in 1912 by Mrs Hume.40
38 ADB 7 pp 272-3; Winter ‘The Bellerive Drinking Fountain’ pp 208-209; TM 16.11.01; Mercury 10.4.97 39 Walch 1898-1904, 1910-1913; Mercury 4.11.89; Post Office Directory 1904, Bellerive; BTB 26.7.97; TM 10.10.91 40 CC 13.12.89, 25.11.90, 28.11.93; Mercury 10.4.97; Robson pp 248-9
In 1866, when the Bellerive Institute was being planned, there was talk about a public lecture
room in Rokeby, but nothing was built until 1905 when J. Green asked Council for a licence for his
assembly room there. This was licensed, but must have been inadequate, for in 1910 the Council
decided to encourage the building of a public hall. A site was chosen, money was raised, and the hall
was opened in 1914. Meanwhile, the Calvert family built the Calverton Hall at South Arm, and this
was used for public functions after it gained a licence in 1893; Matthew Simmons provided a hall in
Lindisfarne at about the same time; in 1911 the Sandford Hall was mentioned; and by this time
Cambridge people were asking for a hall as well.41
A possible use for halls was for political meetings, but interest in politics did not appear
overwhelming in Clarence, though it was the custom for candidates to hold meetings before
elections. There was only one political group in Clarence, the Bellerive branch of the left-wing
Workers’ Political League, led by Fred Ward, a wheelwright, and John Bastick, a tailor. The group
was mentioned in 1912, but its specific activities are unknown. Clarence generally returned
conservative farmers as its parliamentary representatives. In 1916 the Labor premier opened his
election campaign at the Bellerive Institute ‘following the usual custom’ – the reason for this is
unclear as Bellerive was hardly a Labor hotbed.42
Even the Workers’ Political League was not revolutionary, and the patriotism of Clarence
people appeared unquestioned. It was not directed towards the new Australian nation, of which
Clarence became a tiny part in 1901, but the British Empire, still the focus of most people’s
nationalistic feeling. In 1897 Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee celebrated her sixty years on the
throne. Most celebrations took place in Hobart, but Clarence joined other municipalities in a
combined address to the Queen, and along with other areas around Hobart lit bonfires on the night.
Bellerive raised money for a Jubilee Clock on the new post office, and at Lindisfarne sixty elm trees
were planted on the recreation ground.43
Clarence was the scene for some martial activity. Once the batteries on the Derwent provided
protection from invaders who came up the river, the authorities considered how they would deal with
invaders who approached from Frederick Henry Bay. In Easter 1899 a huge encampment of 666
soldiers and reservists from all over Tasmania was held near Bellerive, to assess the best way of
41 CC 24.11.66, 25.7.93, 7.9.05, 6.2.08, 7.12.10, 18.11.10, 4.1.11, 12.4.11, 14.5.13, 10.9.13; LTB 7.8.99; Mercury 28.3.03 42 BT&IA booklet 1912; Daily Post 3.2.16; Robson p 325 43 CC 31.5.97, 22.6.97; BTB 3.5.97, 17.5.97, 15.6.97, 26.7.97; LTB 2.8.97
defending Hobart from such an assault. On Easter Monday the troops fought a mock battle. It was
assumed that the attacking force would reach Rokeby – there was certainly nothing to stop them –
and a sham fight was held there, with the opposing forces 1000 yards (a kilometre) apart, rapid firing,
advances and retreats, and an eventual win by the defenders. There was also a practice using live
shells on Easter Day, with 25 shots fired. It must have been most exciting, and possibly irritating, for
Rokeby and Bellerive people.44
Later that year the Boer War broke out. In the wider British Empire there were some people
who felt it was unjustified, but there was no hint of such feeling in Clarence, where patriotism
prevailed. There were fairs, patriotic concerts and fetes to raise money for various funds, and normal
events could also be suffused with patriotism. For example in 1900 the Congregational church fair in
Bellerive had decorations ‘of a patriotic character’ and Miss Craddock exhibited a figure called ‘Mrs
Kruger’ and did good business, in a way not described. (Kruger was the Boer leader.)45 Union Jack
Societies being formed around Tasmania to support soldiers, and Bellerive had its group, with a
Ladies’ Branch, the first women’s group recorded in Clarence. The Branch sent comforts to the
troops, in 1900 a consignment of 150 lbs (68 kg) of tobacco, 720 tins of jam, 5 cases of tinned milk
and 10 cases of chocolate – an enormous effort. Private Herbert Facy wrote to his mother, a member
of the group: ‘It is kind of the Bellerive ladies to think so kindly of the needs of those who are so far
away’.46
Seventeen men from Clarence were among the 860 who enlisted from Tasmania. They left in
October 1899, saw a good deal of fighting, and arrived back home in December 1900 to a huge
welcome. Among the seventeen soldiers was Frank Morrisby, son of the council clerk. Born in 1874,
he grew up in Bellerive in a close family, and attended John McArdell’s school at Mornington, then
Scotch College in Hobart. He worked as a clerk at the Hobart gaol, and enjoyed playing football.
His genial nature and quick wit made him a general favourite, and he was nicknamed ‘Sancho’.
Frank found returning to civilian life humdrum, and in 1901 enlisted again. He was made a
quarter-master sergeant, and his battalion arrived in South Africa early in 1902 for the final months
of the war. Frank was in charge of a regimental depot. Peace was declared in May, and there was
much celebration, but at some stage Frank was kicked by a horse and developed an abscess on his
liver, and died. His death was a ‘great surprise and shock’ to everyone at home, and there was great
44 Sargent p 5, quoting Mercury 4.4.99 45 BTB 22.1.00, 5.2.00, 10.12.00; LTB 12.3.00; Mercury 4.10.00
sympathy for his family. A fund was opened, and a memorial was built to him in front of the
Bellerive Post Office. For years family and friends laid wreaths there on the anniversary of his
death.47
Meanwhile, Queen Victoria died in early 1901, and the black-bordered Bellerive Town Board
minutes noted that the death of the late beloved sovereign was a great grief to the whole British
Empire. Sadness vanished later that year when Tasmania had the thrill of a Royal Visit. South Arm,
Rokeby and Bellerive residents were able to watch the Duke and Duchess of York sail up the
Derwent, and that afternoon they paid an unexpected visit to Bellerive. It cannot have been entirely
unexpected, for the Clarence Council and the Bellerive Town Board had enough notice to hurriedly
buy a flagpole and acquire a Union Jack, which was hoisted a mere two hours before royalty arrived;
but it was all a great thrill. The august visitors landed at Bellerive, strolled along the esplanade to the
Bluff Battery, then along the beach and back by the road. As they left, the ferry Victory followed
them ‘at a respectful distance’, full of passengers cheering; in response His Royal Highness took off
his hat and the Duchess bowed.48
By this time loyalty was wearing somewhat thin, or at least funds to support it were; Bellerive
refused to join other municipalities in providing an arch in Hobart along the royal route, and was also
wary of paying for a bonfire to celebrate Edward VII’s coronation. Finally the Board agreed to a
small one, and Lindisfarne lit a bonfire on Natone Hill for the occasion. The next patriotic occasion
did not occur until George V’s coronation in 1911, when again all celebrations took place in Hobart,
but bonfires were lit in the evening in various parts of Clarence.49
Community groups, patriotic activities and other forms of respectability were encouraged by
the development of churches, which was rapid in this period. By 1860 both the Anglicans and the
Congregationalists were established in Clarence. The Anglicans, the largest denomination, ran the
church of St Matthew’s at Rokeby, where the clergyman was based, and the smaller chapel of St
Mark’s at Bellerive. The minister was the Rev. Robert Wilson, who had arrived in 1854. In March
1867 the parish held its second harvest festival. The whole district co-operated with this sort of
function, wrote a journalist, and a good, neighbourly feeling was engendered. Many people came
from Hobart and Bellerive, and it was a day of general cheerfulness and ‘real enjoyment of all
46 TM 28.4.00, 19.5.1900 47 Robertson Not for Self passim; BTB 20.7.03; Sargent passim 48 CC 6.6.01, 11.7.01; BTB 4.2.01, 13.5.01, 27.5.01, 24.6.01, 8.7.01; Mercury 3.7.01 49 BTB 26.5.02, 23.6.02, 4.8.02; LTB 5.6.02; Mercury 23.6.11; CC 14.6.11, 14.5.13, 8.4.13
classes’. St Matthew’s was decorated with wreaths of wheat, ferns and flowers, and its recent
renovations looked excellent – a new shingled roof, an oak-panelled ceiling instead of dilapidated
lath and plaster, and much paint and varnish. After the service, lunch was served in a large tent
which flew the Union Jack, while a string band played, and a gold watch was presented to Miss
Chipman, organist for the past seven years. Sunday school children were entertained with fruit and
cakes, there was a cricket match between Rokeby and Somerset, and in the evening a dance was
held.50
As the years passed Rokeby declined and Bellerive grew, helped by the work of devoted
layman, ‘that well-known friend of childhood’ Thomas Westbrook, who in 1863 started a Sunday
School at St Mark’s. The bishop made him a lay reader, and he took services and did other parish
work in outlying areas of Rokeby and South Arm. Wilson took exception to Westbrook’s activities
and in 1870 denied his right to officiate in the parish. This caused a huge furore, with enthusiastic
public meetings held at South Arm, Rokeby and Bellerive in support of Westbrook, but eventually it
died down. Westbrook, a true Christian, was much praised for never complaining about Wilson’s
treatment. Wilson left in 1881 and there was a succession of short-term ministers until the Rev.
Frederick Sharland, 1898-1914. Westbrook continued to support the church, and ran a branch of the
British and Foreign Bible Society from 1869 until 1910.51
Some ministers lived in Bellerive, but Sharland preferred Rokeby, and St Mark’s Bellerive
was largely run by Judge McIntyre’s family. Sharland only took services once a month, and when he
was not there – which the congregation preferred – McIntyre, a lay reader, took the services. His son
Allan played the organ, and his five children, with Mrs Holden and her son Andrew, formed the
choir. Mrs McIntyre also sat in the choir, not to sing as much as to prevent squabbles among her
children. The old church was by now in disrepair, and after a huge amount of fund-raising over
fourteen years, a new one was built in 1904.52
When a school was built at South Arm in 1856 services were held there, and a burial ground
was established; the first person buried was Joseph Wilmore that year. For four years in the 1860s the
area had its own minister, when the Rev. Tice Gellibrand lived on the family farm and conducted
services. After Wilson stopped Westbrook’s services, David Calvert was lay reader, until he moved
50 Mercury 20.3.67 51 Mercury 20.3.67, 21.2.1870; Arnold passim 52 Holden p 14; Lock pp 53-56; Mercury 6.3.1905
to Sandford in 1883. Sometimes the minister from Bellerive came to take services, though how often
this happened is not known.
Great efforts were made to raise funds for a church. The Calverts were prominent, with
Robert and Henry lending sails from their boats to their sister Hannah for tents for a large fete. An
excellent site was donated on a prominent hill overlooking the Derwent, and the church of St
Barnabas was opened in 1892. By the next year it was free from debt, due to interest-free loans from
William and Robert Calvert, and assistance from Henry Alomes. St Barnabas’ church had fine Huon
pine furnishings, and as time went by was enhanced with beautiful stained glass memorial
windows.53
In the 1890s Lindisfarne started developing, and services were held in the recreation pavilion
from 1895. Again the Westbrooks were supportive, and Thomas’s son Hedley started a Sunday
School three years later. St Aidan’s church hall was dedicated in 1904 and services and the Sunday
School were held there, but no church had been built by 1914.54 By 1914 the Anglicans had three
churches in Clarence and four centres of church activity.
The Congregationalists were also active, particularly in the 1860s when they built three
churches. These were small wooden buildings on land donated by a local benefactor, for the
Congregationalists believed that the presence of a church, however small, was more important than
its appearance. In the 1850s services were held in Bellerive in the state school, the Waterman’s Arms
hotel and the court house, and a church was built in 1860. Joseph Dawson gave the site and money
was raised with the help of wealthy Hobart businessman and devoted Congregationalist Henry
Hopkins, who also helped to build churches at Sandford in 1861 and Rokeby in 1866. The three
churches formed one parish, which sometimes had a resident minister, and at other times relied on
local lay readers taking services. From 1890 there was always a minister who lived at Bellerive.
Perhaps because of this the congregation grew in Bellerive especially, and a new, larger church was
opened in 1910.55
In Lindisfarne the generous Simmons family were Congregationalists, and Matthew Simmons
donated land where a ‘pretty little church’ was opened in 1903. The Congregational church at
Cambridge was part of the parish of Richmond, and under the much-loved Rev. Tinning flourished
so much that a gallery had to built to accommodate the congregation. From about 1890 Cambridge
53 Walch 1863-1914; information from Ted Bezzant; Robb pp 40, 41, 52, 69, 65, 67 54 Arnold p 37; Mercury 3.3.93
was part of the Bellerive parish. Another small church was built at Risdon, but this struggled as
Risdon never became a population centre. The church was used by the Congregationalists then the
Anglicans, then fell into disuse. Congregationalists generally were enthusiastic about holding social
events, and newspapers often contained descriptions of jumble sales, tea meetings, harvest festivals
and the like in Clarence churches. 56
There were no church buildings for the Presbyterians or Catholics in this period, but from the
1860s both held services in the public buildings (Council or police offices) in Rokeby and Bellerive.
For over forty years from 1870 the saintly Irish priest, Father Phillip Hennebry, came from Hobart to
run Catholic services in Clarence.57 Presbyterian services appear to have ceased, and devoted
Presbyterians like James Murdoch went to church in Hobart. Methodists usually went to services in
Hobart as well, though for a period around 1867 there was a Wesleyan chapel at Kangaroo Point
where services were held. There were some members of smaller denominations in Clarence – it was
said that Captain Taylor and his large family were Plymouth Brethren – and even some free-thinkers,
like sub-inspector Murray, but Clarence Council felt that most people found his radical ideas
obnoxious.58
Schools also developed in this period, particularly government schools. Education became
compulsory from 1868, and by 1900 it was free. The government wanted every child to be able to
attend a nearby school, and from the 1880s the number of schools increased enormously. Standards
were rising as teacher training improved and examinations and inspection were introduced.59
These changes meant more and better schools in Clarence. The well-established schools at
Bellerive and Rokeby ran continuously from 1860 to 1914. Teachers came and went, often in rapid
succession, but some stayed for relatively long periods and became well-known inhabitants. In
Bellerive, in 1858 an area in Chapman Street was declared a school reserve, and a building
containing one classroom to hold forty pupils and the headmaster’s house was erected. As the
population grew, a second school building was erected in 1913.60
55 Mercury 10.11.1866; Robertson, ‘A Church for the Community’ pp 28-30 56 Sharples pp 32-3; Walch 1863-1914, Clarence section; undated newspaper clipping among LTB; Weeding p 2; Mercury 4.10.00, 21.3.90, 18.3.90, 4.10.00, 13.3.05 57 Walch 1863-1914; CC 31.3.66, 28.4.66, 26.5.66, 31.7.75; Southerwood pp 97, 116 58 Andel pp 61, 63; see chapter 4 of this book for Murray 59 Sprod p 22; Robson pp 249-253 60 Houghton p 17
The South Arm and Sandford schools, serving smaller population centres, did not run
continuously, but mostly did, sometimes under local teachers like Mrs Morrisby at Sandford and
Miss Musk and Mrs Calvert at South Arm. At other times teachers were sent out by the Education
Department, and boarded with local families. Three new schools started as the population grew.
Cambridge School began in 1864, and the first headmaster, John Hobden, was a former convict.
Beltana started in 1899, under Miss Okines who remained until 1913. A small school began at
Risdon in 1905, with a new teacher every one or two years. Over two-thirds of Clarence teachers
were female, but by 1914 more were male, as the New Education favoured male teachers, especially
in larger schools like Bellerive.61
From 1893 to 1914 the number of pupils at Clarence schools nearly doubled, increasing from
211 to 404. As in all districts, far fewer children actually attended school than were enrolled. In
1914, the average attendance was only 260, two-thirds of those enrolled, as many children either
played truant or were kept at home to help in the family business, or with the housework or child
care.62 Still, in theory every child received a primary education.
Private schools were greatly affected by these changes. As before they continued to come
and go, though two were longer-lived, John McArdell’s at Mornington, which closed only with his
death in 1886, and Mrs Bignell’s at Bellerive, which ran from 1870 to at least 1886. Mrs Bignell also
ran the post office, and combined her two roles very successfully. Usually there was at least one
small private primary school in Bellerive, and occasionally one elsewhere; in the 1860s Mrs Barber
ran a school in Cambridge, for example.63 Most were small primary schools competing with state
schools, providing about the same level of education and charging about the same fees.
The growth in number and standard of government schools, and the fact that they became
free, meant that many of these schools found it hard to compete – Mrs Barber’s school in Cambridge
closed at the same time that the government school opened. Then in 1906 the government introduced
registration of non-state teachers and schools. Teachers had to have qualifications (minimal) or
previous experience, and what was more difficult, schools had to have adequate access, ventilation,
sanitation and fire precautions. No longer could anyone open a school in his or her home, and soon
there were far fewer private schools, especially small ones. The first registration list, published in
61 Information from Cambridge Primary School; Alexander thesis pp 7-10 62 Statistics of Tasmania, 1893; 1903 p 482; 1914 p 417 63 Holeywell p 7; Walch 1863-1914, Clarence section, though private schools are not listed in every year, notably stopping for some years in 1886
1910, included 196 schools, three in Clarence. Alice Shepherd and Annie Stevens were head
teachers of primary schools in Bellerive. The title was grand, but both schools contained only one
room, with Annie the only teacher and Alice having an assistant. At South Arm, Alice Watson ran a
similar school, herself the only teacher in one room. These schools probably taught only a dozen or
so children.64
By 1914, when the next registration list was published, only 96 schools operated, and the
three in Clarence had all vanished. The one private school there was Esther Elliot’s primary
establishment, held in the Congregational school room in Bellerive, with Esther the only teacher.65
Another educational area was teaching music from home, and there were several music teachers in
Bellerive from the 1890s. A few families had governesses to educate their children at home, like the
Murdochs at Craigow, and in 1912 the Watson family of York Grove, Sandford, had a tall elegant
English lady, Emily Westrope, who left them to marry elderly William Calvert.66 Some Clarence
children, especially those in Bellerive and Lindisfarne with easier access to the city, attended private
schools in Hobart.
Medical attention was limited in this period. From the 1850s it was frequently stated that
Clarence was particularly healthy; for example, in 1866 Bellerive was described as a healthy and
delightful retreat, and a few months’ residence there brought about a ‘cure in individuals whose
complaints baffled the skill of their medical attendants for years’. At the launch of the O’Mays’ new
ferry in 1889, James Murdoch of Craigow said that if people only knew the benefits of the climate of
Clarence, there would be a greater call for steamers.67 Or, as the ‘Poet of the Ferry’, H. Jephson
wrote:
When tired nature seeks relief,
From toil and care, or pain and grief,
What more charming can be found
Than a trip to Kangaroo Point?68
64 Alexander thesis pp 2-26; TGG 12.7.1910, p 735 65 TGG 25.8.14 p 1557. Annie Stevens’ school is not registered in 1914, but she is included in the list of registered teachers, and shown as teaching in a primary school in Bellerive, which could only be her old school which she was actually still running. One entry or the other must have been incorrect. 66 Walch 1896-1914, Clarence section; MacFie ‘Oral History...’ p 96; Robb p 41 67 Walch 1866; Mercury 4.11.89 68 NS 544/2/50, 1912 newspaper article
In 1912 the Bellerive Improvement Association reported that a man had just died at the age of 95,
wonderfully vigorous and active almost up till the last. This was not surprising, it continued, as the
climate of Clarence was appreciably warmer in winter than in Hobart, and the summer heat was
tempered by sea breezes. Sea bathing, plenty of good walks, and an absence of infectious disease
made it an excellent place for ‘anyone in search of health’. Such praise had an effect. The Victoria
Convalescent Home moved to Lindisfarne in 1899, and the Cox family moved from Hobart after Dr
Benjafield advised them that this would be good for their baby’s constitution. She grew up very
healthy.69
There was little infectious disease in Clarence, though there were some cases of diphtheria in
1880 and 1910, and the odd case of scarlatina and ‘fever’. In 1908 Hobart City Council built an
infectious diseases hospital to serve the south, and Clarence patients were nursed there, while for
other illnesses they went to the Hobart General Hospital or a private hospital in Hobart, or were
nursed at home. Accidents were a problem, and when John Rossington of Lindisfarne was severely
injured by a horse falling on him, he had to be taken in a dray to Bellerive then across in the ferry to
hospital in Hobart, an agonising procedure.70 There was generally a doctor in Clarence, first at
Rokeby and then at Bellerive. Babies were often born at home, with the doctor or a local midwife in
attendance; Berenice Morrisby was born at home in Bellerive in about 1914, with Nurse Percy, the
Rokeby midwife, in attendance. Midwives were rarely trained but learned through experience, and
were often local farmers’ wives who would go to help other women in childbirth. Maternity
hospitals existed in Hobart from about 1900, and sometimes women went there for childbirth, or had
a doctor come from Hobart. The O’Mays knew where every doctor lived, and they would go over,
fetch the doctor, and return, for a fee of 20/-, and ‘if the resident was not able to pay, well he was one
of us’. When it was known that a woman was expecting a birth, a boat was always ready with an
extra heavy banked fire at night, until the baby was born. All residents knew at which window to
knock, said Harry, and he would dress and reach the wharf in five minutes.71
The doctor from 1894 to 1907 was Dr Holden. He became a believer in the health benefits
even trips to Bellerive could bring, and when a Hobart friend of his was ill, advised him to go to
Bellerive and back by ferry every morning before work, to catch a breath of sea air. His surgery was
69 BT&IA booklet 1912, Tas Lib NS 1640/63 (thanks to Basil Cox who alerted me to this reference) 70 CC 29.1.80, 9.2.10, 2.3.10, 7.12.10, 8.2.11, 11.3.14, 6.2.08, 18.6.08, 6.10.09, 6.7.10; Murfet p 17
held in his house, and he made up his own medicines. A rather reserved Englishman, Dr Holden was
obviously not a soft touch. When he left Bellerive in 1907, the Bellerive Times wrote that though he
was ‘not a man of the “hail fellow well-met” order, yet his kindness and gentle courtesy, coupled
with his ready sympathy in any case of real trouble, have won for himself many true friends’.72 After
he left there was no doctor for a period, and in 1914 the only doctor in Clarence lived at Lindisfarne,
and practised in Hobart. Most Clarence people had to go to Hobart for medical care – which
encouraged them to try and cope at home unless there was an emergency.73
With less crime, less public drunkenness, more sporting and cultural activities, and the spread
of churches and schools, not to mention the healthy situation, life in Clarence sounds pleasant, if a
little primitive by city standards. Starting in the south, South Arm, which was almost totally free
from frost, had developed into a prime fruit-growing area, with almost all its inhabitants farmers or
fruitgrowers, though two men worked as carpenters, and there were also two men working at the Iron
Pot lighthouse. The small township had a school, an Anglican church served from Bellerive, a post
office and a shop. Members of the Calvert family ran the post office for 52 years, Christopher, Annie
then Hannah, who held the job for 29 years. A minor industry was tourism, as steamers brought
excursionists down from Hobart to enjoy South Arm’s beaches, and they often patronised the shop –
though some farmers found them a nuisance, as they trespassed, left gates open, and pulled more fruit
from trees than they could eat or carry away. Prominent names were Alomes, Calvert, Gellibrand
and Musk, all descended from settlers of the 1850s or earlier, and the 1914 electoral roll shows 43
employed adults living in South Arm, almost all farmers and orchardists (22) or labourers (14). In
1905 a reporter visited the area, ‘perhaps the most interesting peninsula in Tasmania’, where farmers
had turned ‘a wilderness of bush and sand’ into thriving orchards, nice houses, packing sheds and
magnificent plantations.74
Lying off the coast was Betsey Island, which in the 1870s was used by J. Groves to try and
acclimatise European animals like pheasants to Tasmanian conditions. A couple lived on Betsey
Island to look after it for him, and made a living by shooting the silver-grey rabbits which still
overran the island, and selling the skins. By 1914 it belonged to the trustees of the Tasmanian
71 Morrisby et al p 22; H O’May pp 84-5 72 Bellerive Times 14.12.07 73 CC 2.7.08, 7.1.09; Bellerive Times 14.12.07; Clarence Electoral Roll 1914 p 7 74 Clarence Electoral Roll 1914; Post Office Directories 1890, 1894, 1899, 1910; Robb p 65; Walch 1860-1914; Mercury 20.3.05
Museum and was uninhabited, and three years later a visitor described the island as dreary and
windswept with no shelter.75
The traveller crossed the sandy neck of South Arm, then went along the ‘fairly-well made’
road, over Goat Hill with its wonderful views of Storm Bay, and past the large lagoon, which ‘lies
romantically amid the woodlands’. This was Calvert land, where sheep were raised and fruit and
potatoes grown. Then came Sandford, which stirred the 1905 reporter to great enthusiasm. From the
road he caught glimpses of the Derwent to the west and the sea east and south, but his main
rhapsodies were kept for the bush. ‘There are trees and bush on both sides, music in the woodland
breezes harmonising with the breaking of waves on the sandy shores, and a gorgeous garlandry all
along the roadway, consisting of the ti-tree in full bloom, and more profusely flowered than the
writer has seen it in any other part of Tasmania. In places the wild heaths of pink, white, and yellow
form gorgeous carpets amid numerous other bush flowers. There are here miles of wild, flowery
solitudes, and waters welling away in sunshine and shadow. Many varieties of beautiful butterflies
flit about, and the birds are numerous. Glade after glade and thicket after thicket is passed,
alternating with deep recesses of forest lands, where there are tree growths of every imaginable
form.’76
Sandford too was a centre for fruit-growing, and the small township centre housed a school,
shop, post office and Congregational church. A succession of six Morrisby women worked as
postmistresses, occasionally interrupted by a Richardson, and some were also registrars of births,
deaths and marriages for the Sandford-South Arm district. Sandford had 62 employed adults in 1914,
again almost all farmers and orchardists (42) or labourers (16). Prominent names were Bowden,
Calvert, Lazenby, May, Morrisby, Pearsall, Reardon, Richardson and Watson; some were
descendants of pioneer families, some were more recent arrivals.77
The traveller continued along the road, crossing the causeway Charles Chipman had made
across a lagoon of water, ‘which has proved such a boon to the residents’. There was no township at
Ralphs Bay Neck, though there were plans to build a canal across it to improve transport. The
traveller turned west and continued to Rokeby, which in 1864 had a population of 180. By 1900 it
was described as once a prosperous settlement but now only a village, and twelve years later Rokeby
75 Mercury 20.3.05; Critic 13.1.17; Clarence Electoral Roll 1914 76 TM 19.11.04; Mercury 20.3.05 77 Clarence Electoral Roll 1914; Post Office Directories 1890, 1894, 1899, 1910; Walch 1860-1914; Cyclopedia of Tasmania 1900 p 436
people were probably insulted when a booklet published by the Bellerive Tourist and Improvement
Association described it as a pretty village, ‘a place by the world forgotten’ – there was rivalry
between Rokeby and Bellerive, which Rokeby had lost. More kindly, the traveller complimented
Rokeby on its English character, with farmhouses and cultivated fields on every hand, picturesque
scenery and charming marine views. Rokeby had a school, post office with telephone, blacksmith,
shop, and two churches, Anglican and Congregational, and some fine old stone houses. In 1914 it
had 66 employed adults, almost all farmers (33) and labourers (24). Prominent names were
Chipman, Free, Joseph, Percy, Stanfield and Young.78
A traveller going east from the Neck would pass Single Hill, where farms had been newly
established and a road built in 1911. The next stop was Cambridge. The area was dominated by
farms, with more wheat and sheep and less fruit grown than in the south, so it had more in common
with Richmond to its north than the rest of Clarence. Cambridge was one of the most prosperous
rural districts in the south. Farms were usually large and well-established, some calling themselves
the grander name of ‘station’, and there were more men working as labourers on these farms than on
smaller properties further south. Cambridge’s town centre had never really crystallised into a village,
but by 1914 it had a school, shop, post office with telephone service, Congregational church, the
Horsehoe hotel, railway station and annual ploughing match. Several transport routes ran through
Cambridge – the railway to Sorell, and the main road east to the Sorell causeway and beyond. In
1914 Cambridge had 89 employed adults, almost all farmers or labourers (41 of each). The best-
known family were the Murdochs of Craigow, well-to-do community leaders who sat in parliament
and were often wardens of Clarence. Other prominent names were Hanslow, Johnson, Lewis,
McKay, Salmon and Wright.79
The final, and smallest, farming area of Clarence was Risdon. In convict times the ferry and
rode over Grass Tree Hill had been a major route and there were inns at Risdon, but with the
improvement of the road and ferry via Bellerive the Risdon route was not much used, the hotels
closed and the ferry declined. A few farming families continued to live at Risdon, but it languished
until about 1900, when people started to take up holdings of 30-40 acres along Risdon Creek, though
78 Clarence Electoral Roll 1914; Post Office Directories 1890, 1894, 1899, 1910; Walch 1860-1914; Cyclopedia of Tasmania 1900 p 43; BT&IA booklet; TM 19.11.04; Mercury 20.3.05 79 CC 8.11.11; Clarence Electoral Roll 1914; Post Office Directories 1890, 1894, 1899, 1910; Walch 1860-1914; NS 544/2/50 newspaper article in 1912; Cyclopedia of Tasmania 1900 p 436; TM 9.11.03, 29.9.06, Mercury 28.9.05
water was a problem. At the township on the Derwent there was a school from 1905 and a post office
from 1912. The post office was called ‘Gregson’, but the name never caught on and the authorities
were forced to revert to Risdon. By 1914 there were 20 families there, farmers and orchardists (13),
labourers (6) and a sailor. The main family were the Sargents, with four farms and several hop
grounds on the banks of Risdon Creek.80
Living at Risdon for sixty years were the Cleburnes, wealthy Hobart merchants. By 1900
only the two old Misses Cleburne lived in Cleburne House, with several local girls working as maids.
One recalled that the Misses Cleburne wore white gloves and would brush their fingers along skirting
boards to make sure there was no dust. Excitingly, they employed a Negro servant called
Hansborough, who wore a suit and top hat and white gloves, and rode a bicycle, though then he tied
paper bags around his trousers to stop them getting dirty. The bicycle was ancient, and he could only
stop it by running it into a tree. The Misses Cleburne relied heavily on him, and when they were old
and feeble he slept on the end of their bed. He was an important part of the little Risdon community,
for he recited poetry at dances, and added a touch of rare glamour – his sister was a ‘beauty doctor’
in America. How Hansborough had ended up in Risdon on the other side of the world is a complete
mystery.81
South Arm, Sandford, Rokeby, Cambridge and Risdon, the agricultural, pastoral and
fruitgrowing areas, took up almost all Clarence’s land. In 1860 Clarence had a population of 1552,
of which 250, or 16%, lived in Bellerive, so 84% of the population lived in the country.
At the 1911 census, Clarence had a population of 2482, a rise of 60%. By now, Bellerive
accounted for a third and Lindisfarne for a quarter, and only 40% of the population lived outside
these areas. So their share of the population had fallen from three-quarters to well under half, and
from 1122 to 999. Rokeby had decreased from a township nearly as big as Bellerive, to a backwater.
By now Bellerive and Lindisfarne were described as suburbs of Hobart, since so many people
living there commuted to work there. In 1860 Bellerive had 250 people, and in 1911, it had 872, the
largest town in Clarence. By 1914 it had a school, two churches, a post office with a telephone
exchange, as well as a Savings Bank branch, the Bellerive Institute, the ferry service, two hotels,
80 Mercury 23.7.74; Post Office Directory 1890; Walch 1860-1914; Clarence Electoral Roll 1914; Royal Commission on the Municipal Government of Hobart and suburbs, MCC 16/93, 1901, p 42; information from Max Walker. ‘Risdon’ presents difficulties as the western shore of the Derwent was also called Risdon. 81 Information from Alma Pocock, collected by Jan Clear
shops, businesses, baths, boarding houses, a railway station and tea rooms. It was the centre of
administration and transport for Clarence. Compared with most of Clarence, Bellerive was urban and
progressive. People built fashionable Federation style houses, and called them by fashionable
Aboriginal or even Maori names, such as ‘Kaoota’ (1896) and ‘Kumara’ (1907). In 1897 a visitor
praised Bellerive highly, writing that it had all the advantages of the seaside such as health and
beautiful views, and was a convenient distance from the city; rents, rates and taxes were low; and the
Town Board was making improvements wherever possible, with good streets and footpaths, street
lights and pretty esplanades, and good accommodation for visitors. Even the separation from Hobart
was an advantage, as the morning and evening crossing formed a most invigorating constitutional for
‘the business-worried man’.82
Lindisfarne had even more rapid growth, from a few farmers in 1889 to 611 inhabitants in
1911. With fewer local enterprises it was even more a commuter suburb, and tended to be more
middle-class than Bellerive, with many professional workers and city businessmen. In 1914 it had a
school, two churches, several shops, a few farmers and orchardists, a convalescent home, a golf
course, and, further north, the lime quarries and bone mill.
From 1894 to 1902 Andrew Holden grew up in Bellerive, and in his recollections described
life there as ‘a very happy care-free time’.83 In the family were Dr and Mrs Holden, Andrew, his
younger sister Ursula, and Nurse. The family were well-to-do English gentlefolk; Andrew’s older
brother had been sent to England to school at an early age, and the parents tried to prevent Andrew
and Ursula from growing up as ‘colonials’, by giving them as good an education as possible. Despite
this opinion Andrew had only praise for growing up in Bellerive, and the happy family life he lived
there with his ‘perfect parents’.
The Holdens lived in Wyvenhoe, built in the 1850s, a large stone bungalow with a paddock at
the back for their horses and a number of sheds in the backyard. Lighting was by oil lamps, which if
neglected smoked and filled the room with smuts. There was an outside earth closet. Mrs Holden
did little housework, which was done by Nurse, a German servant employed by the family for years,
and ‘sundry females from the township’, such as Mrs Thompson who came on Mondays to do the
weekly wash, in the boiler in one of the sheds. The boiler was stoked with wood and the water was
charged with soap and soda, recalled Andrew, and when it had cooled the horses loved to drink it.
82 Luckman p 9; Novy p 31; TM 15.5.97 83 Holden passim; see also Robertson ‘Wyvenhoe’ pp 4-8
The clothes dried on a line in the backyard and were ironed in the kitchen, with flat irons heated at
the kitchen fire. Nurse or possibly sometimes Mrs Holden did the cooking: the family’s main meal
was dinner in the middle of the day, for which the children returned home from school in Hobart.
They had porridge for breakfast, afternoon tea at about 4 pm, and a light supper in the evening.
Services to householders were minimal. At first people collected their post at the post office,
but later it was delivered to houses. Small shops sold meat, bread and groceries, but clothes and
ironmongery had to be bought in Hobart. Water drained from the galvanised iron roof into tanks, and
they were careful not to waste it, but they lived near the sea and on most mornings Dr Holden and
Andrew went for an early swim.
Andrew enjoyed many games. He and Ursula taught their ponies to do circus tricks, and
played with bows and arrows until Andrew accidentally shot Ursula. There was a dancing class in
the Bellerive hall, but Andrew did not enjoy this. He liked photography and stamp-collecting, and
when ping-pong was invented the family played on the dining-room table. He does not mention
playing any sports.
Andrew wore sailor suits until he was about thirteen, in 1898, when he was bought his first
proper suit. The family sent a photo to an aunt in England, who replied that men were now wearing
their trouser cuffs turned up – the fashion had not yet arrived in Tasmania. Men wore shirts with stiff
starched fronts and stiff detachable collars. Turn-down collars arrived in about 1902, and much later
soft shirts and collars appeared.
Mrs Holden spent much of her time bookbinding in an old coachhouse in the backyard. She
was an excellent bookbinder, but Andrew did not say whether she did this as a hobby or
commercially. When the Duke and Duchess of York visited Tasmania she was asked to bind a
collection of Tasmania views for them, which she did in a leather case ornamented with eucalyptus
leaves and seed pods in gold.
There was not even the suggestion that the Holden children attend the Bellerive school. Until
they were ten Mrs Holden taught them at home, then they attended private schools in Hobart. Ursula
went to a girls’ school where Sarah Bignell, the postmistress’s daughter, was a teacher, and Andrew
went to Hutchins with some other boys from Bellerive, sons of the minister and Judge McIntyre. By
English standards Hutchins was poor, the Holdens thought, but both children did well, and went on to
the University of Tasmania. Their education involved catching the ferry four times a day. The
ferries were very efficient and were kept spotlessly clean, Andrew recalled, and were hosed down
every day. He spent the trips playing knucklebones with other boys on the top deck, and became
expert. Other family members hardly ever went to Hobart. Later the Holdens returned to England
where the parents presumably felt more at home, but Andrew was happy at Bellerive, and there is
little hint in his memoirs of looking down on the locals; instead he saw Bellerive as a wonderful
place for a child to live.
At the other end of the social ladder were small farmers, often descended from convicts, who
lived by subsistence farming on their small properties. Homes were built from local materials – split
slabs, palings, wattle and daub, with thatch or shingle roof and often an earth floor. These farmers
largely worked by hand as they could not afford machines; they would plough with a horse or two,
sow by hand, mow hay with a scythe, reap wheat with reap-hooks, then tie it and stack it. Many such
farmers and their families had to work seven days a week to get ahead. They would have a small
orchard, and take on jobs for larger farmers, like picking fruit. There were still some ex-convicts in
Clarence, and Ted Bezzant’s grandfather said when he was a boy, in the 1880s and 1890s, a number
of ex-convicts lived in huts around South Arm and did seasonal work, like reaping and threshing by
hand.84
There were some people in Clarence who needed poor relief. In 1901 the warden mentioned
Ellen Atkins, a widow with a large family of children, who was receiving the tiny sum of 1/6 a week
in charitable aid. She had recently been ill, and if her neighbours had not helped her, her children
would have starved. The warden intended to apply to the state government for more aid for her, but
even if her aid had been doubled she would still have had a very difficult time.85
There were only a few well-to-do families like the Holdens, and Council several times said
that there were few really poor people in Clarence. Most people lived reasonably comfortably
though not lavishly, and the general atmosphere of Clarence at the time seemed to show a quiet,
contented place, where people worked hard but did have time for relaxation, visiting friends and
relations, or attending some local activity like a cricket match or a dance in the local hall.
Boxed Items
Accidents on land and sea
84 MacFie, ‘Oral History...’ pp 97-98; information from Ted Bezzant 85 CC 3.10.01
Several reports of accidents show some conditions of life in Clarence. In 1878 Frank
Edwards, who had recently bought the fine stone villa of Howrah, was watering his horse in the yard
when a neighbour told him that the house was on fire. Other neighbours tried to help, but there was
no fire-fighting apparatus and no hint of a fire brigade, and the house was destroyed.86
In 1905 and 1906 two drownings in Clarence made headlines. In the first case, seventeen-
year-old Robert Wheeler was carting water from a disused quarry in Bellerive when his horse backed
over a bank into deep water. Robert was on the cart and could not swim; bystanders dragged him
from the water, which was hard since there was no equipment, and by the time they got him to land
he had died. A fence was built to make the quarry safer, and a pole and hook were provided.87
The next year Mr Wilson took a friend and his sixteen-year-old son Alan yachting on a
Saturday. They anchored off Howrah, and the friend and Alan rowed in a punt to set nets. Alan
either slipped or made a misstroke, and the punt capsized. The friend seized Alan, but waves were
breaking over their heads. Alan tried to climb further up the punt but fell in and drowned. His father
was trying to help, but once again there was no suitable apparatus. After this, a life buoy, boat hook
and grappling irons were provided at Bellerive.88 So there was little or no life saving equipment
anywhere, and when accidents did happen the worst could occur.
Jim the Poet
An identity around Bellerive was ‘Jim the Poet’, Jim Carroll, a tall, thin, quiet man who would join
the group of ‘lads’ who met on the footpath outside the Clarence Hotel. Curves on the corner stone
where they ground their pocket knives can still be seen. They would stop talking and listen if ‘old
Jim’ wanted the floor, to quote a few lines of doggerel to suit some local event. For example, when
Charlie Hales married Hannah Purcell in 1886, Jim came out with:
‘The children of Israel cried for bread. God sent them manna.
Charlie Hales wanted a wife, so Jimmy Purcell gave him Hannah.’89
Mabel Hookey, artist and historian
86 Mercury 9.8.78 87 CC 4.12.05; Mercury 2.12.05; 88 BTB 5.6.06, 27.8.06; Mercury 5.6.06 89 H O’May p 114
Mabel Hookey (1871-1953) was the granddaughter of early settlers George and Hannah Stokell of
Rokeby House. She never married and lived at Rokeby House with her sister Dora; they had enough
family money to live comfortably without having to earn. Both were well-known personages around
Rokeby, and like many people in early settlers’ families who lived safely through the dangers of
childhood, both lived to a good old age.
Though Mabel did not study art to any great extent, she was a gifted artist, and her oils and
watercolours, often of Clarence scenes, were frequently exhibited. But art was not her only interest.
She studied woodcarving and enjoyed carving decorative items such as mirror frames and chairs; she
did lacework and leathertooling; she was an enthusiastic photographer; she wrote several books
about early Clarence history, particularly about Robert Knopwood; and she also wrote poetry. A
cultured, outgoing woman, she was a member of the Royal Society and the Art Society. She was
also an enthusiastic traveller, around Tasmania and overseas.
Mabel Hookey was also one of the first women journalists in Tasmania, writing many articles
for local papers. In 1914, for example, she often contributed paragraphs about Rokeby to the Daily
Post, sometimes showing a terse streak. An influential resident was complaining about the roads, but
why had he supported a candidate for Council who did not live in Rokeby? she asked sternly. Locals
should sink ‘petty differences’ and work together for ‘the honour of old Rokeby’.90
Celebrating the First Centenary, 1903
As the centenary of Tasmania’s settlement in 1803 approached, the government decided to build an
obelisk at Risdon to commemorate Bowen’s landing there. The memorial was not unveiled until the
next year due to fear of a smallpox outbreak, but the eventual ceremony on 22 February 1904 was
superb. The Governor, the Premier and many other dignitaries came from Hobart in a fleet of ferries,
yachts, boats and anything else that sailed, with bands playing and refreshments on the way. As they
landed at Risdon there was a salute of guns, and several thousand spectators watched as the obelisk,
of rough-hewn rock, was unveiled with due pomp and several long speeches. Everyone important
was then entertained to afternoon tea at Mount Direction House by its owners, the Misses Cleburne,
and as people returned home there was a ‘regular aquatic carnival’ with so many boats on the river,
the largest number of sailing craft ever seen at one time on the Derwent, according to the Mercury.
90 Collins p 49; Johannes and Backhouse pp 30-31; Daily Post 11.8.14, 19.8.14, 25.8.14, 2.9.14, 8.9.14,
One group missing from this ceremony was anyone from Clarence; the long newspaper report
of the event did not mention the warden, any councillors or anyone else, though there were a few
residents on the large Centenary Celebrations Committee.91
A childhood at Acton
The Rumney family came to the Acton area in the every early days of settlement, and built a
sandstone home in 1828. Mary Rumney married Joseph Salmon from Colebrook, and they brought
up their six children at Acton. In about 1898 a jackeroo, Ulric de Salis, came from Switzerland to
learn farming on the property. He didn’t learn only farming; on a wall near the cellar was written,
‘Vergie Salmon and Mr de Salis locked in the cellar, 1899, for half an hour by Ida Salmon’. Five
years later, Ulric married Ida, and they had two sons, Rudolf and Alric; but Ida died in childbirth, and
Ulric returned to Switzerland.
The two boys were brought up by their loving grandparents and aunts, recalled Rudolf. He
remembered being taken to see Halley’s comet with its long white tail; warships from the English
navy in Frederick Henry Bay for gunnery practice, their searchlights sweeping across the sky;
shearers with their hand blades, the fleeces pressed into bales and transported by bullock teams to the
Cambridge railway station; black wattle bark stripped from trees and taken to Hobart to be used in
tanning hides; Light Horse members training at the rifle range at Acton before the First World War,
and fat sheep being taken along country roads then across on the Risdon ferry to the abattoir at
Derwent Park, a two-day journey from Acton.92
Clarence’s first cremation
When Dr Bill Young arrived in Clarence in 1948 he was told various tales of the past, including this
one of Clarence’s first cremation. It was told by Tas Jordan, who was born in 1886, and said it
happened when he was a small boy. Old Mr Gordon of Gordon’s Hill was a ‘very modern fellow’
who wanted to be cremated, something quite radical at the time. He owned a quarry on the
Lindisfarne side of the hill, and he had an iron coffin built. After his death his sons lit a fire in the
quarry, and in front of a crowd of about two hundred, including two policemen, they put the coffin
91 Mercury 23.2.04 92 Rudolf de Salis memoirs, copy lent by Doug Chipman
with the body inside on the fire. The fire wasn’t hot enough to consume it, so they took it to a boat,
sailed to the Iron Pot and tipped him in the water. Then they vanished to Sydney.93
A holiday at Kangaroo Point
In the summer of 1866/7, public servant Hugh Hull hired a house at ‘the Point’ as he called it, and for
almost a month stayed there with his family – his wife Margaret, their six children, Margaret’s
mother and a servant girl. Hugh’s diary shows that they enjoyed swimming, walking and fishing and
often went for picnics. They also went to church locally, went to see work at the stone quarry, visited
caves, picked cherries, and collected mussels and cooked them over a fire. On New Year’s Eve, the
family walked along the Richmond Road ‘and got some gum and manna’ (from gun trees), caught
sixteen fish and went bathing. After all this, Hugh and Margaret were too tired to stay up and hear
the city bells ring in the New Year.
Water was a problem as it was ‘very scarce on the point, where everyone is dependent on rain
water for their supply’. When it rained, they filled all the buckets and tubs with water. But they
enjoyed their holiday, and it was well situated for Hugh, as if necessary he could easily go row or sail
across to Hobart to his office.94
93 Information from Bill Young; Pioneer Index, birth of Frederick Tasman Jordan 94 Andel pp 60-66