A ramble around Hobart's Queen's Domain

[RooFlyer]

I'm in Hobart for an appointment tomorrow and am staying at the Woolstore Apartment Hotel. Its where I always try to stay when I'm here - 2 minutes to the Hobart docks (right behind the Grand Chancellor), a few minutes more to downtown, big, modern rooms (you'll sometimes get a s/c apartment) and always <$200/night.

Anyway, decided to take a walk on the Queen's Domain and it turned out to be a bit of a ramble in @drron's style, so turned into more than a 'View from my office', so here we are.

The Queens Domain was established in 1860 as a large bushland area over a hill by the city centre. Its still mostly bushland, but has subsequently hosted a couple of sporting ovals, the Hobart Zoo (now gone, but home of the last Tasmanian Tiger), Government House and some memorials and it sits next to the Royal Hobart Botanical Garden (est 1818).

Walk begins in the bottom RH corner of the LH pic, by the Hobart Aquatic Centre ... on the 'railway round about' if you know Hobart. Going to initially follow the 'Soldiers memorial Walk, which is the cleared winding feature heading NW. First thing is a memorial to those who fell in the Boer War - kinda topical, today!!


The Soldiers Memorial Walk was begun in 1918, to commemorate Tasmania's dead in WW1. Trees were planted in 4 ranks either side of a path across the Queen's Domain, but they fell into disrepair and by the late 1900s many had died and it was a bit of a mess. Lots of volunteer effort from the early 2000s has resulted in the trees being replaced where necessary, and a bronze plaque for each of the soldiers. Nice views of the Derwent, too.



Over 550 memorials, including my great-granduncle.

 

[RooFlyer]

About halfway up the walk, is the Victoria Powder magazine - built 1851 to house the colony's gunpowder store .. and having a bit of a reno now. Turn right and down the hill we get to the Royal Hobart Botanical Gardens, 200 years old this year.



Haven't been here for many years. There's the duck pond, of course, seen through some of the pine trees. Some huge sequoias both inside and outside the gardens (see them later). The fern house is tranquil.



Now, before the likes of @JohnM get too excited, let me tell you why these botanical gardens are some of the best in the world



... they understand the importance of geology to the plants and environments!

.. but moving on, some nice Autumn colours on display today. On the RH is a peek to Government House, a very impressive colonial castle.



The conservatory, which is tranquil (and heated!)



... in contrast to the refrigerated sub-Antarctic house , which is not only cooled, but has a sub Antarctic wind howling out of some blowers!

 

[RooFlyer]

RH pic will be familiar to those who watch ABC's 'Gardening Australia' - its the public vege garden that has featured on that show for years. I was looking out for some weeds to pull out, but didn't see any kale.


Past the French fountain, built 1972 to commemorate French exploration:



...and to one of the highlights for me, the Japanese Garden. Now, I'm no expert on Japanese Gardens, but this is very tranquil and beautiful, and seemed to impress a Japanese couple who were pointing out various features and (naturally) taking lots of photos)

 

[dk4]

IMO Hobart and Cairns are the best botanical gardens in Australia - with Honourable mention to SYD & MEL by size (for global cities), and PER for location and content... but "per capita", for population, IMO, HBA (cold climate Australian/Antarctic) & CNS( Tropical) are sublime (and, as you might imagine), sooooo different!!

Luv the pics!

 

[RooFlyer]

200th year. The wall was built in the 1830s and is hollow ... the idea was that fires could be lit and the warm air circulates within the wall, heating it and allowing fruiting plants a longer growing season.



The caretakers cottage from 1845:



I liked the pic of the lady with the leopard in an exhibition in the cottage:



That's Alison Reid, my first cousin, twice removed. I wrote about her in one of my books. She was the daughter of the Hobart Beaumaris Zoo (which was nearby ... closed in the 1930s) and used to walk the zoo leopard, Mike, around the Domain, on a leash, much like a dog . Lions too, but Mike was her favourite. The Hobart Zoo was where the last Tasmanian tiger died. They were always going to go extinct by the 1930s, but it didn't help that the Hobart Council wanted to close the zoo to save money (depression times), so virtually 'starved' it shut. You can still see where the zoo was, and remnants of the cages, just past Govt House on this walk.

Leaving the gardens, is a 'small' sequoia - there are much larger, heritage listed ones in the Gardens. Past the entrance to Government House, which is well concealed behind several ranks of very large oak trees. Our Governor still resides there and its not hard to get an invite to one of the many functions and receptions held there.

 

[RooFlyer]

Still walking back towards the city, you pass a rather modest memorial to the 1975 Tasman Bridge disaster. A bulk ore carrier lost steering going up-stream and collided with the bridge, bringing down 2 spans. If you look closely, you can see a wider than usual gap to the right hand side of the bit that's in shadow. About a dozen people killed - most on the ship, which sunk (and is still down there), but also some motorists who zoomed off the gap. As you can see, its quite a long way down. RH pic shows we are back on the Soldiers Memorial Walk with downtown just beyond the trees.



The end of the Walk, by the Aquatic Centre. Just beyond is the rose garden and the 'railway round-about' and the Royal Hobart Hospital. 'Cranes on the skyline' shows Hobart is creeping ahead, with the new hospital block under construction with two of them, sooooo badly needed.



A small diversion - LH pic is the original University of Tasmania building, uphill of the rose garden. The Uni is the 4th oldest in Australia, founded 1890, but this building wasn't occupied until about 1893. The RH pic is a bit away from the Domain, but adjacent to the Woolstore Hotel and is the Engineers Building, at what in colonial days was the 'Kings Yard', or basically the blacksmithing and stores area for the military. My ggrandfather worked there, somewhat involuntarily, as a blacksmith, at Her majesty's pleasure!



That's all. Hope you enjoyed this little ramble about Hobart.