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AN ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE PETER UNDERWOOD
AC, GOVERNOR OF TASMANIA TO MARK THE
BICENTENARY OF THE FOUNDING OF GEORGE TOWN BY
GOVERNOR MACQUARIE, GEORGE TOWN 18TH DECEMBER
2011.
It is a great pleasure for me as the Governor of the State of
Tasmania in the year 2011 to welcome you all here today to this
ceremony to commemorate the bicentenary of a former Governor’s
tour of the State, then called the colony of Van Diemen’s Land,
during which he founded the settlement of George Town.
The Governor in question was a military officer; Major-General
Lachlan Macquarie. The year was 1811; the year after Macquarie was
appointed Governor of the Colony New South Wales. He was also
the Governor of Van Diemen’s Land for although it is not well known
today the fact is that in 1811 the colony of Van Diemen’s Land was a
dependency of New South Wales. It is also not a well-known fact
today that there was not one but two Governors of Van Diemen’s
Land in those early years, both of whom were answerable to the
Governor of New South Wales.
They were Lieutenant-Governor
Colonel David Collins who founded the town of Hobart in 1804 and
Lieutenant Colonel William Paterson, the commandant of a British
garrison that set up a camp here in George Town, then called Outer
Cove, although a few weeks later the garrison moved across the river
to York Town and a year later settled in Launceston.
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The reason we had two Governors was because in 1804
Governor Philip King instituted a political dividing line between the
north and south of Tasmania along the 42nd parallel, which passes
through the State just north of Ross. Strangely, however, this fact
seems to be particularly well known today because even though
Governor Macquarie abolished this political divide in 1812, a year
after he had returned to Sydney from his tour of Van Dieman’s Land.
Indeed, it might be said that many Tasmanians still believe that the
State is divided into the North and the South at the 42nd parallel!!
Perhaps as part of these bicentenary celebrations I should re-issue
Governor Macquarie’s declaration and declare Tasmania to be a
united entity.
Governor Macquarie, born on an island off the Scottish Coast
was a man of humble beginnings who rose through the ranks in the
Army and made powerful friends as he did so. Throughout his
career he was a man of integrity and probity. And he was a man
with a great interest in public buildings. On the 4th November 1811
Governor Macquarie and his wife left Sydney on board the Lady
Nelson and landed near Hobart town 18 days later.
The aim of the tour was to correct any abuses in government
and to establish new regulations for improving the settlers’
conditions. His visit has been described in these terms:
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“Colonel Lachlan Macquarie strode around the
settlement on his first visit in 1811 much in the manner
of a landlord supervising his new tenants. With a lordly
disdain for the problems of gaining a toe hold (in a new
country) in less than 10 years, he ordered buildings to go
up.”1
“Bertram Stevens, the literary and art critic writing
at the time of the centenary of Macquarie’s departure
claimed that the Governor himself had done much to
ensure that he was widely remembered.
[He wrote],
‘With the vanity that frequently accompanies greatness’
… he has ‘scattered his name all over the map.’”2
However although he had his critics Governor Macquarie was a
major influence on the island. His support for emancipists, public
buildings and the development of the economy saw growth in both
[the north and the south] of the Van Diemen's Land settlements. He
has been called "The Father of Australia," and this term applies in
Tasmania as well as New South Wales.3
1
Patsy Adam-Smith Hobart Sketchbook page 40
Lachlan Macquarie by Brian Fletcher published in “The Governors of New South Wales 1788 – 2010
Federation Press 2009 at page 107.
3
http://www.macquarie2011.com/html/macquarie.html, accessed 17 November 2011.
2
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In just under a month he travelled from the south to the north
of Van Diemen’s Land and on 18th December 1811 – exactly 200 years
ago to the day– he set up camp here at George Town.
The following are edited entries that Governor Macquarie made
in his diary for 18th December 1811.
“… we took our departure from [York Town] at ½
past 1PM … and bent our course for Outer Cove where
we arrived and landed on a very pretty bank on the
West Side, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and had our Tent
immediately pitched on a fine level spot, open to the
Cove and near the River that falls into the Head of it;
distance from York Town being about Five miles.”
His Excellency then wrote about his exploration of the area
finding fresh water and good soil and continued:
“On a review of all these circumstances, the
contiguity of Outer-Cove to the Sea, and the safety of its
Harbour for Shipping, I have come to the resolution of
removing the Chief Settlement of Port Dalrymple hither
as soon as such an important measure can conveniently
be carried into effect. — In pursuance of this Plan, I have
resolved to erect a new Town here according to a well
digested regular Plan, and to name it "George-Town" in
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honor of our beloved Sovereign; and to name this Cove
(which has hitherto been called. Outer Cove) York-Cove
— and the Rivulet York-River — in honor of His Royal
Highness the Duke of York. — The Town to extend to
both sides of the Cove, but the larger Portion of it to be
on the West Side of the River, on account of the Ground
there being so much superior to that on the East Side. —
I gave orders to the Surveyor to make a Compleat
Survey of the Ground for a mile on each side of YorkCove, explore it minutely, and endeavour to discover
whether there be any freshwater Lagoons or more
Springs within that distance; reporting to me early
tomorrow the result of his researches. here.”
The entry for the day concludes with a reference to his tent
being pitched “on the future scite [sic] of the new intended Town,
and probably on that part of it in which the principal Square will be
erected and formed.”
And so it came to pass …