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Brief encounters

Charles Darwin

"Farewell, Australia! you are a rising child, and doubtless someday will reign a great princess in the South: but you are too great and ambitious for affection, yet not great enough for respect. I leave your shores without sorrow or regret.” – Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology.

While returning homeward from a survey voyage to South America, Darwin and the crew of the H.M.S. Beagle docked in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) on the River Derwent.

The twelve day stop proved to be a geological and sociological visit for Darwin, giving a detailed account of the subjugation of the local Aboriginal people.

It is rumoured that in 1836 Darwin stopped to enjoy a meal at the Black Snake Inn while exploring the River Derwent terrain.

During his visit of Hobart, he also climbed Mount Wellington, visited New Norfolk on a stage-coach and celebrated his 27th birthday. The night after his birthday, he enjoyed a dinner hosted by the Attorney General, Alfred Stephen, at ‘Stephenville’, a building still standing in the grounds of St. Michael’s Collegiate School.

When Darwin first arrived in Hobart, his diary suggest he seemed unimpressed with the local scenery and settlement. However, later into his visit, he wrote that he had ‘the most agreeable evening since leaving England’ and stated that ‘If I was obliged to emigrate I certainly should prefer this place…the climate and the aspect of the country almost alone would determine me’.

Continuing the voyage, the Beagle travelled around the south-western coast of Australia to King George Sound, on the south coast of Western Australia.

Owen Stanley HMS Beagle, 1841
Owen Stanley HMS Beagle, 1841. Source: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, PAD8969

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Louisa Ann Meredith

Born in Birmingham in 1812, Louisa Ann Meredith, was a highly skilled writer, artist, botanist and naturalist. She published her first book of poems, illustrated by her own hand, when she was in her early 20's.

Louisa was married in 1839 and moved to Oyster Bay in Tasmania, continuing her writing and painting, publishing Notes and Sketches on New South Wales in 1844 and My Home in Tasmania in 1852.

Louisa was the first woman to write a description of Australian life in Tasmania and was an active member of the creative arts scene in Hobart participating in plays, concerts and poetry readings.

Louisa was a conservationist with a deep love of flora and fauna, lobbying parliament to pass an act to protect Tasmania’s wildlife and was involved in the founding of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Clearly her love of animals extended to her published works, Some of my Bush Friends in Tasmania in 1860, Tasmanian Friends and Foes, Feathered Furred and Finned in 1880 and Bush Friends in Tasmania in 1891.

Louisa visited the River Derwent in the 1860s where she sketched Dromedary from the Road to New Norfolk, which clearly shows the Black Snake Inn on the left bank.

Louisa was a highly accomplished author with many varied publications currently residing in the State Library of Tasmania. In 1895, Louisa passed away in Melbourne at the age of 83.

Louisa Ann Meredith, Tasmanian friends and foes, 1880, pg. 33
Louisa Ann Meredith, Tasmanian friends and foes, 1880, pg. 33. Source: National Library of Australia, nla.obj-1096269

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Governor Lachlan Macquarie

"We got up rather late – the morning being very dark and foggy – and did not Breakfast till 11, O’clock. —The Fog continued heavy till ½ past 12, O’clock; and having resolved on going by Water to Hobart Town, we set out in the Naval Officer’s Boat at ¼ before 1. P.M" – Lachlan Macquarie, 9 June 1821

There has been much speculation about the name ‘Jerry’. The most likely explanation is that it came with convicts from London, where it was local thieves’ slang for ‘fog’ or ‘mist’. The natural phenomenon ‘Bridgewater Jerry’ is the local name given to a unique giant snake-like fog which affects the Derwent estuary during autumn and winter.

In 1821 Governor Macquarie was one of the first to record this phenomenon while staying at Austins Ferry and couldn’t travel to Hobart due to a thick fog.

John Opie (1761-1807), Lachlan Macquarie c.1805-c.1824
John Opie (1761-1807), Lachlan Macquarie c.1805-c.1824. Source: State Library of New South Wales, a128471

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