Name/TitleHobart Town from Kangaroo Bay Van Diemen’s Land
About this objectAbel Tasman’s ships HEEMSKIRK and ZEEHAEN were the first Europeans to sight Tasmania in November 1642 and named it Van Diemen’s Land, in honour of the Dutch governor of the Dutch East Indies, Anthony van Diemen. The next visit to the River Derwent was by Frenchman Marion du Fresne in 1773. In 1777 James Cook described the shores of Derwent as a suitable location for resupplying and watering ships. In 1798 George Bass and Matthew Flinders circumnavigated Tasmania aboard NORFOLK, being the first Europeans to prove that Tasmania was an island.
Nicholas Baudin’s presence there in 1802 caused alarm at the prospect of the French establishing a rival colony and the Governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King, dispatched an expedition under the command of the 23-year-old Lieutenant John Bowen to establish a colony. He arrived in September 1803, thereby creating the first presence in Van Diemen’s Land for the British.
At the same time, David Collins had been dispatched from London in command of HMS CALCUTTA, with orders to establish a colony at Port Phillip. Collins arrived at Port Phillip in October 1803. Due to dissatisfaction with the location, he relocated the settlement to Derwent River, arriving on 16 February 1804 and immediately taking command from Bowen. The settlement at Risdon Cove was relocated 5 miles down the river to a better site at Sullivan’s Cove in 21 February 1804. This created what was to become Hobart, making it the second oldest established colony in Australia.
Thomas Gardiner was captain of the Hobart whaling ship MARIANNE. Gardiner’s known work is all in the form of copies of the work of other artists. This scene is based upon a lithograph that appeared in the Illustrated London News in January 1847, a view of Hobart by John Skinner Prout. Gardiner’s dates of birth and death are unknown, but he was whaling in New Zealand and Australian waters as early as 1808 and copying from the Illustrated London News as late as 1856.
MakerThomas Gardiner - Artist
Maker RoleArtist
Date Madec1840
Period19th century
Medium and MaterialsPaper and watercolour
Place MadeTasmania, Australia
Measurements175mm x 280mm
Object TypeLandscape Paintings
Object numberSF001446
Copyright Licence
Attribution - Non-commercial - No Derivatives (cc)
Explore by category
Maps and Charts
Date range: 1541-1836
Ship Models
Date range: 1629-1890
Maritime Paintings
Date range: 1793-1849
Manuscripts and Ephemera
Date range: 1768-c1850
Medallions & Convict Tokens
Date range: 1619-1880
Indigenous History
Date range: c1800-1959
Landscapes
Date range: 1768-c1850
Books
Date range: 1694-c1850
Currency and Shares
Date range: 1624-1823
Printed Material
Date range: 1541-1836
Maritime Archaeology
Date range: 1629-1854
Curator's corner
New acquisitions, staff favourites and curios
The mug is decorated with an underglaze and a blue transfer print. On the body, it is titled ‘Emigrants to Australia’. This type of body and glaze was discontinued by 1840. Comparison of the handle shape and the profile of the foot, point to the attribution of manufacture by the Davenport Factory.
Delta was a ship-rigged vessel with two decks and three masts. It was built in Dordrecht, Netherlands in 1839 at the shipyard of Jan Schouten and registered in the same port. Its hull was constructed of oak and sheathed in ‘yellow metal’. Delta was owned by H. van der Sande at the time of its loss and was engaged as a cargo trader.
The Delta carried 29 crew and passengers, while sailing from Melbourne to Batavia in ballast when wrecked at Kenn Reefs on 30 May 1854 whilst under the command of Captain J.G. Kunst. This vessel loss supports the pattern of shipwrecks located on a well-travelled shipping route that was poorly charted until the mid-nineteenth century. The crew of the Delta could see four other shipwrecks at Kenn Reefs at the time of their vessel’s loss.
Important image of a ship associated with Matthew Flinders, that would shortly become one of the most famous early shipwrecks in eastern Australian waters. This is a fine ship’s portrait, by one of the great exponents of the art