What is better for a retaining wall, timber sleepers or blocks?

Treated timber is approved for in ground use and has a reasonable service life, however block retaining walls and concrete sleeper retaining walls are more durable having a greater life expectancy. This is based on suitable footings & good drainage. Both Blocks and concrete sleepers come in a wide range of colours, sizes and styles to create a more aesthetic landscape. Common styles of retainers walls to consider are timber sleep retaining walls, link wall or link block retaining walls and concrete sleeper walls

Should I pave or concrete?

While concrete certainly has its benefits, pavers give a more aesthetic finish to a landscape area. Pavers area available in range of colours, texture, styles and sizes. Larger format, 400mm and 500mm pavers have become increasingly popular with modern and contemporary landscape designs. Pavers are also commonly used for garden borders and edges for their straight line finish which is widely desired in modern landscape construction.

Do I need landscape design plans before I get a construction quote?

Yes. A landscape design will allow us to discuss the project with enough detail to allow for an accurate price estimate. This design process will also determine whether council approvals are required, which can impact cost and timing.

Call Our Local Landscaping Bligh Park Team

All Green Gardening Services: Your Best Choice for Landscaping Bligh Park. To begin with, reliability and quality work are what define us. Here at All Green Gardening Services, we prioritise your satisfaction. Consequently, we have a long list of happy customers. Simply put, excellence is just a phone call away.

Call 0410 196 069

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Looking for a Local Landscaper in Bligh Park? 🌱

The common search term for finding a local landscaper is “landscaper near me”. Here we are! We excel in landscape garden maintenance, providing services such as retaining walls, outdoor space design, garden creation, and comprehensive landscaping projects.

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No matter the scale of your project, we offer affordable, high-quality landscape design services. Our expert team is your go-to for a complete structural landscaping solution.

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Experience the pinnacle of NSW landscaping with All Green Gardening & Landscaping. Our commitment to paving, tree removal, and more promises gardens of grandeur. Add tangible value and aesthetic to your property. Embark on a transformation; choose us.

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Bligh Park Landscaping Services by All Green Gardening & Landscaping

At All Green Gardening and Landscaping, we’re experts at shaping beautiful, natural atmospheres that elevate both residential and commercial properties through conscientious landscape design. All Green Gardening and Landscaping’s proficiency lies in crafting remarkable, sustainable environments that enhance the charm of homes and businesses through meticulous landscape design. Keep in touch with us on our Facebook Page. Whether it’s enhancing a Bligh Park backyard or tackling a larger project, our focus remains on excellent customer service and top-tier landscaping in Bligh Park. We engage in all aspects of residential and commercial landscaping services, working with our designers and installers, to bring your vision of your project to life.

For your grand design ventures, our licensed landscape designers will be present to create the ultimate design. To get started, our designers will organize a site consultation. It’s a chance to discuss your project and work requirements. Once this task is completed, expect a detailed landscape design consultation.

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We’ve proudly provided top-notch landscaping services in Bligh Park since 2010. With our gardening and landscaping services, we offer a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee, assuring your happiness with our results.

Whenever clients think of the Best Landscaper Nearby, they associate our name with remarkable services provided by experienced landscapers.

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Best Turf Laying Solutions in Bligh Park

Hassle-Free Turf Laying Services in Bligh Park by All Green Gardening Services. Importantly, turf laying can be a complex process that requires proper preparation and installation. Here at All Green Gardening Services, we make the process smooth and hassle-free. To put it simply, excellence is just a phone call away.

Top-Quality Mulching Services: Best in Bligh Park, NSW

Embrace the magic of premium mulching with All Green Gardening & Landscaping. Our expertise ensures gardens inBligh Park, NSW 2756 flourish, benefiting from enhanced moisture, reduced weeds, and enriched soil. Let us redefine your landscaping experience.

Our Paving Bligh Park Experts

In Bligh Park, if you want premium pavers, there’s no better source than All Green Gardening and Landscaping!

Need a Retaining Walls Bligh Park Team

We are dedicated to offering Bligh Park residents premium panel and post concrete retaining walls, a cost-effective alternative to brick and limestone.

Expert Tree Services inBligh Park

For comprehensive tree care inBligh Park, look no further than All Green Gardening & Landscaping. Our dedicated team provides services from pruning to safe tree removals. Prioritize your tree’s health and safety with us by your side.

Top-Tier Weeding Services in Bligh Park

For a garden that’s both healthy and stunning, consider All Green Gardening & Landscaping’s weeding services. Operating in Bligh Park, we ensure unwanted plants are kept at bay. Let us elevate the beauty and vitality of your outdoor space.

Expert Landscaping Services in Bligh Park NSW 2756

Frequently Asked Questions

{We offer a comprehensive range of landscaping services, including garden design, lawn maintenance, tree and shrub care, hardscape construction, irrigation system installation, and more. | Choose from a range of landscaping services, such as garden design, lawn upkeep, tree and shrub care, hardscape projects, irrigation setup, and more.

Our landscaping services are designed to enhance your property’s visual appeal, creating beautiful, well-kept outdoor spaces that boost curb appeal and property value.

Creating one-of-a-kind landscaping solutions is our passion, ensuring your outdoor area mirrors your distinct vision and requirements.

Current Landscaping Jobs in Bligh Park

We are currently looking for a Local Landscaper in Bligh Park who has the right experience and can attend to jobs on the same day.

Blyth, Martin
Name: Blyth, Martin Service Number: 64321 Place of Enlistment: Brisbane, QLD View the original image at the State Library of Queensland: hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/422225 Biographical History: Martin Blyth (also known as Bligh) was born in Kilkivan, to Jack Bligh (1870-1910) and Aggie (1875-1910). In 1913 he married Sophie Mummin, they had daughter Vivienne in 1916, and son Keith in May 1917, sadly his son and wife both passed away in 1917. His initial enlistment was rejected but reconsidered when an enlisting officer wrote to District Headquarters in 1918. Initially assigned to the 6th General Reinforcements, Blyth embarked for Egypt aboard the troopship 'Malta' arriving in the Port of Suez five weeks later, and just a few days after the armistice in Europe had been signed. Blyth was later assigned to the Australian Army Service Corps and mustered as a driver, he worked with the 37th & 38th Army Service Corps Companies until being returned home in September 1919. When Blyth returned to Queensland he was granted permission to marry Maudie Brierty in 1926 at Barambah, but in 1930 he and fellow returned soldier Charley Alley were removed and detained on Palm Island, he passed away in 1956. Personal blog story: Martin Blyth.

YX16 OJR (6545)
ARRIVA Kent & Surrey Alexander Dennis - Enviro 400 MMC - YX16 OJR (6545) is seen at Earl Estate, Bligh Way Shops on 19th March 2024 before departing on route 140 to Chatham Bus Station Ex Arriva Midlands 4516 *please be aware that all buses I drive and take pictures of are made safe before doing so*

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Bligh Madison. Detroit Tigers v New York Yankees. Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. Lakeland, Florida. March 23, 2024. (© Tom Hagerty)

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Bligh Madison. Detroit Tigers v New York Yankees. Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. Lakeland, Florida. March 23, 2024. (© Tom Hagerty)

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Bligh Madris. Detroit Tigers v New York Yankees. Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. Lakeland, Florida. March 23, 2024. (© Tom Hagerty)

Norman Bligh - River Boat Girl (1957, Star Novels #765, cover art by Rudolph Belarski)
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May & Jim, Bligh House, 1958
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Bligh Madris. Detroit Tigers v Pittsburgh Pirates. Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. Lakeland, Florida. March 2, 2024. (© Tom Hagerty)

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Bligh Madris. Detroit Tigers v Pittsburgh Pirates. Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. Lakeland, Florida. March 2, 2024. (© Tom Hagerty)

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Bligh Madris. Detroit Tigers v Pittsburgh Pirates. Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. Lakeland, Florida. March 2, 2024. (© Tom Hagerty)

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Bligh Madris, Aramis Garcia. Detroit Tigers v Philadelphia Phillies. Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. Lakeland, Florida. March 1, 2024. (© Tom Hagerty)

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Bligh Madris. Detroit Tigers v Philadelphia Phillies. Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. Lakeland, Florida. March 1, 2024. (© Tom Hagerty)

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Bligh Madris. Detroit Tigers v Philadelphia Phillies. Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. Lakeland, Florida. March 1, 2024. (© Tom Hagerty)

Bligh Way, ROCHESTER, Kent
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Flying fish in Bligh Water, Fiji
A group of flying fish seen from a ferry between Vanua Levu and Viti Levu , Fiji, on Jan 29th 2024. Image 4I4A9888.

William Bligh memorial
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Hobart. The Art Deco T & G Mutual Insurance building.
Early Exploration. Abel Jansz Tasman of the Dutch East India Company discovered Tasmania in 1642 and named the island after Antony Diemen, Governor of the Dutch East India Company. Van Diemen’s Land was next sighted by the French Captain, du Fresne in 1772 just two years after Cook had sighted the east coast of Australia. Just 16 years later the British settled at Botany Bay and to deter further French exploration and possible settlement on Van Diemen’s Land they established an outpost of NSW on the island in the 1803. Prior to this, explorers like Captain Bligh in 1792 had sighted and named Mt Wellington and George Bass and Matthew Flinders circumnavigated the island in 1798. David Collins began the first island settlement in 1803 at Risdon, but moved it to Sullivan’s Cove in 1804(the wharf area of Hobart). Also in 1804, a northern settlement began at what is now George Town under the control of Colonel Paterson. Paterson moved this settlement to Launceston in 1806. In was not until 1812 that Governor Macquarie acted to bring all Van Diemen Land settlements under the control of the Hobart Town. The settlements all became independent of NSW in 1825 when Van Diemen’s Land with allowed its own judiciary and Governor. What happened to the Aborigines of Tasmania? During the last Ice Age, New Guinea, Australia and Tasmania were joined as one land mass as levels were lower. During this cold period (about 35,000 years ago) Aborigines settled lowland parts of Tasmania. As the world warmed, sea levels dropped and about 12,000 years ago Aboriginal groups were left isolated on Tasmania. When whites began settlement of Tasmania there were 9 tribes on the island compromising between 4,000 and 10,000 Aboriginal people. Conflict between British settlers and military and the Aborigines began almost straight away with the first significant conflict at Risdon in May 1804 just before Collins moved the settlement to Sullivan’s Cove. Once the Van Diemen’s Land Company was formed and began operations in the North West near Stanley in 1826, conflict with Aboriginal people escalated. The biggest known massacre was at Cape Grim near Stanley on lands of the Van Diemen’s Land Company in February 1828. Four shepherds are believed to have located a group of Aboriginal people. They shot 30 of them and threw their bodies off a 60 metre high cliff into the ocean. The massacre was retaliation for the killing of 118 sheep by the aboriginal people. This in turn had been retaliation for the abduction of aboriginal women by the shepherds (although some of this was undoubtedly undertaken by visiting whalers and sealers to the area). Trouble had begun as soon as the Company established grazing properties at Cape Grim in 1826. The magistrate of the area, Mr Edward Curr, a manager of the Van Diemen’s Land Company decided not to investigate the massacre and no charges were laid against the white shepherds. It was two years before another government official visited the area, investigated the reports and concluded that 30 people had been massacred. By the time of the 1830 round up or “Black Line,” only 60 of the estimated 500 Aboriginal people living in the North West area in 1826 were still alive. 1826 was the year when the Van Diemen’s Land Company established itself there! But this terrible massacre is forgotten history, or is it? (Remember we visit Highfield House the headquarters of the 250,000 acre Van Diemen’s Land Company estate near Stanley.) In 1828 martial law against Aboriginal people in settled areas was proclaimed by Governor Arthur. The next step was the famous “Black Line” of 1830 whereby authorities tried to round up all aboriginal people, not already in missions, by forming an impenetrable line. The idea was to round up all Aborigines that might threaten settlers in the central districts and drive them on to the Tasman Peninsula where Port Arthur is now located. Some 5,000 men were involved in the 1830 march at the astronomical cost of £30,000. It was a dismal failure. Only two Aborigines were captured. It was Arthur’s greatest failure as Governor of VDL. But this amazing act was followed by the rounding up of all Aboriginal people known and moving them off Van Diemen’s Land to Wybalenna on Flinders Island. The authorities were determined to have no interference from aboriginal Tasmanians. In 1847 the last remaining Aborigines (47 in all) at Wybalenna were transferred to a new mission at Oyster Cove near Hobart. This was the final act in the subjugation of Tasmanian aboriginals, following the loss of their hunting lands, the capture and enslavement of their women, and the conflict and massacres. So within 50 years of settlement the Aboriginal population had dropped from between 4,000 and 10,000 to just 47. Apart from gun shots and violence, dislocation to Flinders Island, disease, and cultural destruction had almost destroyed an entire peoples. The last full blood Aboriginal to die was Trugannini of bronchitis in 1876. In 2002 the massacre story re-emerged. Keith Windschuttle in his book: “The Fabrication of Aboriginal History” claimed there was very little violence against Aborigines in Tasmania. Only 118 known Aboriginal deaths were ever recorded but around 200 whites were killed by Aboriginals between 1824 and 1831(hence the Black Line episode). Windschuttle believes most Aborigines died of disease. He argued that muskets were slow to reload so it is implausible that four shepherds at Cape Grim could shoot 30 fast running Aboriginal people. Several academics including Ian MacFarlane in his PhD and Josephine Flood in her book: “The Original Australians” have disputed Windschuttle’s claims. The controversy continues. Lithograph from the Allport Library Collection, Hobart. French lithograph of VDL natives (from the Allport Library Collection, Hobart.) Convict Settlement to Colony: 1803-1825. Following Nicholas Baudin’s voyages and charting around SA and Van Diemen’s Land in 1802 Governor King got nervous about the intentions of France. So he despatched naval officer John Bowen to establish a convict settlement on the Derwent in 1803. He arrived there in September 1803. Meantime the British government had sent Captain Collins with a fleet and settlers to establish a new settlement on Port Phillip (where Sorrento is now located.) He arrived there in 1803. He decided the site was unsuitable and moved himself and his settlers on to the Derwent in January 1804. Governor King sent orders that Bowen was to hand over control of the settlement to Collins but Bowen tarried and did not do this until May 1804. Bowen left and returned to England at the end for that year and Collins became Lieutenant Governor. Hobart became the third settlement after Port Jackson, (1788), Norfolk Island (1790) and then Risdon Cove (1803). Governor King was still worried about French intentions of colonising so he also sent Captain William Paterson to form a settlement on the Tamar at Port Dalrymple in November 1804. Thus began the settlement of Launceston in 1806 when he moved to the better location of the junction of the South Esk and Tamar Rivers. Governor Macquarie interfered and had the settlement moved to George Town on Bass Strait. He relented in 1824 as he was about to leave NSW and Launceston was again founded! The Van Diemen Land settlements began as convict outposts of NSW with the first direct shipment of convicts from England only arriving in Hobart in 1812. But the British Colonial Office wanted to make money from these penal settlements so from 1813 the colony was open to international trade and commerce. Most convicts in DVL, as in NSW, were assigned to landowners to work for them or to government building teams. But in 1821 a major convict camp was opened in Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast for the most serious offenders. Conditions here were harsh, bleak because of the incessant rain and cold, and brutal. It was also a costly exercise to provision a penal settlement so far from a major port and agricultural areas. Few convicts could escape as there was no other settlement on the west coast to escape too. Mainly because of its cost Macquarie Harbour penal settlement was closed in 1833 and these worst offenders moved to another isolated penal site surrounded by water on three sides- Port Arthur. The other early penal settlement on Maria Island which had opened in 1821 was closed at the same time in 1832 and its convicts also moved to Port Arthur. The new largest penal community had begun in1830 at Port Arthur. The 1820s saw some fairly rapid growth in Hobart and elsewhere. In 1821 Governor Macquarie of NSW visited VDL and personally named and selected sites for free townships at Perth, Campbell Town, Ross, Oatlands, and Brighton thus opening up the central region between Hobart and Launceston. Van Diemen’s Land and the Norfolk Island Connection. A ship was sent out from the fledgling Botany Bay settlement in 1788 to settle Norfolk Island. A mere seven officials and 15 convicts were sent in 1790. More followed in the early 1790s.It was a strategic but financially burdensome settlement and so the British Colonial Office made the decision to abandon Norfolk Island in 1805. The convicts, guards and free settlers were ordered to move to Van Diemen’s Land. The first Norfolk Islanders arrived in VDL in 1805 and by 1808 a total of 713 settlers and convicts had arrived. The last 200 occupants of Norfolk Island were sent to VDL in 1813. The convicts were accommodated in VDL prisons, and the free settlers moved up the Derwent River to New Norfolk (1808) and in the north near Launceston to Norfolk Plains (1813). This latter settlement had its named changed to Longford in 1833. When the Norfolk Islanders arrived in VDL they increased the Hobart population overnight from 483 people to 1,060 people. Little food was available and accommodation was short so arrivals had to share lodgings with convicts. Any remaining convicts were pardoned and all received land grants. Most of the free Norfolk Islanders had been convicts at some stage. Around 50% were given land grants, usually 10 acres or less around Sandy Bay and Glenorchy, and 30% were moved up the Derwent to New Norfolk. The Islanders mainly had farming skills. However, Lieutenant Governor Collins, head of the VDL settlement found a new mistress among the Norfolk Islanders- a 16 year old called Margaret Eddington. Her parents were convicts but she had been born as a free women. Collins was 53 years old in 1808 when Margaret arrived. Collins had two children with Margaret, one in 1808, the other in 1809. He died suddenly in 1810 and was buried on site that was to become St David’s Cathedral. He had also had two children with a mistress in Sydney in the 1790s. But the saga of the connection with Norfolk Island did not end there. In 1824 Norfolk was re-opened as a convict prison for the worst of the worst prisoners. It gained a reputation for brutally, inhumanity and the harshest of discipline. When transportation to NSW ended in 1840 the British government still kept sending convicts to Norfolk Island. Around 2,000 were there at any one time. In 1842 the control of Norfolk was transferred from NSW to VDL because VDL still had convict transportation. Just before self government was granted to NSW in 1856 the British government transferred control of Norfolk Island back to NSW and the convicts on Norfolk at that time were evacuated to Port Arthur in 1855. This occurred even though convict transportation to the soon to be self governing Tasmania had ceased in 1852. One final point: after closing down Norfolk Island for a second time in 1855 the British government then re-opened it in 1856 by settling 194 Pitcairn Islanders, mainly descendants of the Mutiny of the Bounty sailors, to Norfolk Island. Some Tahitians moved with the Pitcairn islanders. Penal Colony to Self Government in Tasmania: 1825-1856. This period began in 1825 with VDL being separated from NSW and becoming a colony in its own right. In that same year the Richmond Bridge, Australia’s oldest, which was begin in 1823 was finally opened to traffic. In 1826 the Van Diemans Land Company began its operations on the North West coast near Stanley. The period of the 1830s and 1840s saw VDL grow in population and settlement spread across the northern plains near Launceston, through the centre of the island, and around the Hobart area. It was a period when grand houses, fine churches and small villages were settled usually with much of their wealth coming from wool. Perhaps one sign of the maturing colony was the arrival of the first Anglican Bishop in 1843, the Rev. Francis Nixon who lived in Bishopsbourne, now called Runnymede in North Hobart which we will visit. By then the Aborigines had been subdued but Bishop Nixon found plenty of missionary work necessary to improve living conditions for the Aborigines. This was also the period when libraries, hospitals, newspapers, sailing clubs and sport teams were established. In 1836 (the year when SA was founded) when Governor Arthur, the first VDL Governor, left the colony to be the Governor of Upper Canada the population had reached 43,000 of which 24,000 were “free” settlers. But most of these free settlers had been convicts at some stage and had been pardoned. In 1849 the first anti-transportation (of convicts) meeting was held in Launceston. Shortly after this the British Colonial office announced that transportation to NSW, Queensland and Van Diemen’s Land (but not WA) would cease in 1853. The last convict ship from England arrived in Hobart in May 1853 (but convicts arrived from Norfolk Island in 1855). Partial self government was introduced in 1850 by the British Colonial Office. Full independence was not granted until 1856 when the colony’s name was change from Van Diemen’s Land to Tasmania. Later the name of the capital, Hobart Town, was changed to Hobart in 1881. But the convict heritage of Tasmania was not simply wiped away with the cessation of transportation in 1853. Convicts at Port Arthur were not released and the British did not withdraw its last militia forces from Port Arthur and Tasmania until 1870. Port Arthur finally closed as a prison in 1878 just a couple of years before the beautiful church at Port Arthur church was destroyed by fire. There were almost 900 prisoners at Port Arthur in 1863 including 100 who were serving life sentences. When it closed in 1878 it had 200 inmates (prisoners, convicts, paupers and lunatics.) But the convict built heritage of Tasmania survived for us to see and admire today.

Hobart. 172 Macquarie Street. Macquarie Manor built around 1880 in local sandstone. .Architect Henry Hunter.
Early Exploration. Abel Jansz Tasman of the Dutch East India Company discovered Tasmania in 1642 and named the island after Antony Diemen, Governor of the Dutch East India Company. Van Diemen’s Land was next sighted by the French Captain, du Fresne in 1772 just two years after Cook had sighted the east coast of Australia. Just 16 years later the British settled at Botany Bay and to deter further French exploration and possible settlement on Van Diemen’s Land they established an outpost of NSW on the island in the 1803. Prior to this, explorers like Captain Bligh in 1792 had sighted and named Mt Wellington and George Bass and Matthew Flinders circumnavigated the island in 1798. David Collins began the first island settlement in 1803 at Risdon, but moved it to Sullivan’s Cove in 1804(the wharf area of Hobart). Also in 1804, a northern settlement began at what is now George Town under the control of Colonel Paterson. Paterson moved this settlement to Launceston in 1806. In was not until 1812 that Governor Macquarie acted to bring all Van Diemen Land settlements under the control of the Hobart Town. The settlements all became independent of NSW in 1825 when Van Diemen’s Land with allowed its own judiciary and Governor. What happened to the Aborigines of Tasmania? During the last Ice Age, New Guinea, Australia and Tasmania were joined as one land mass as levels were lower. During this cold period (about 35,000 years ago) Aborigines settled lowland parts of Tasmania. As the world warmed, sea levels dropped and about 12,000 years ago Aboriginal groups were left isolated on Tasmania. When whites began settlement of Tasmania there were 9 tribes on the island compromising between 4,000 and 10,000 Aboriginal people. Conflict between British settlers and military and the Aborigines began almost straight away with the first significant conflict at Risdon in May 1804 just before Collins moved the settlement to Sullivan’s Cove. Once the Van Diemen’s Land Company was formed and began operations in the North West near Stanley in 1826, conflict with Aboriginal people escalated. The biggest known massacre was at Cape Grim near Stanley on lands of the Van Diemen’s Land Company in February 1828. Four shepherds are believed to have located a group of Aboriginal people. They shot 30 of them and threw their bodies off a 60 metre high cliff into the ocean. The massacre was retaliation for the killing of 118 sheep by the aboriginal people. This in turn had been retaliation for the abduction of aboriginal women by the shepherds (although some of this was undoubtedly undertaken by visiting whalers and sealers to the area). Trouble had begun as soon as the Company established grazing properties at Cape Grim in 1826. The magistrate of the area, Mr Edward Curr, a manager of the Van Diemen’s Land Company decided not to investigate the massacre and no charges were laid against the white shepherds. It was two years before another government official visited the area, investigated the reports and concluded that 30 people had been massacred. By the time of the 1830 round up or “Black Line,” only 60 of the estimated 500 Aboriginal people living in the North West area in 1826 were still alive. 1826 was the year when the Van Diemen’s Land Company established itself there! But this terrible massacre is forgotten history, or is it? (Remember we visit Highfield House the headquarters of the 250,000 acre Van Diemen’s Land Company estate near Stanley.) In 1828 martial law against Aboriginal people in settled areas was proclaimed by Governor Arthur. The next step was the famous “Black Line” of 1830 whereby authorities tried to round up all aboriginal people, not already in missions, by forming an impenetrable line. The idea was to round up all Aborigines that might threaten settlers in the central districts and drive them on to the Tasman Peninsula where Port Arthur is now located. Some 5,000 men were involved in the 1830 march at the astronomical cost of £30,000. It was a dismal failure. Only two Aborigines were captured. It was Arthur’s greatest failure as Governor of VDL. But this amazing act was followed by the rounding up of all Aboriginal people known and moving them off Van Diemen’s Land to Wybalenna on Flinders Island. The authorities were determined to have no interference from aboriginal Tasmanians. In 1847 the last remaining Aborigines (47 in all) at Wybalenna were transferred to a new mission at Oyster Cove near Hobart. This was the final act in the subjugation of Tasmanian aboriginals, following the loss of their hunting lands, the capture and enslavement of their women, and the conflict and massacres. So within 50 years of settlement the Aboriginal population had dropped from between 4,000 and 10,000 to just 47. Apart from gun shots and violence, dislocation to Flinders Island, disease, and cultural destruction had almost destroyed an entire peoples. The last full blood Aboriginal to die was Trugannini of bronchitis in 1876. In 2002 the massacre story re-emerged. Keith Windschuttle in his book: “The Fabrication of Aboriginal History” claimed there was very little violence against Aborigines in Tasmania. Only 118 known Aboriginal deaths were ever recorded but around 200 whites were killed by Aboriginals between 1824 and 1831(hence the Black Line episode). Windschuttle believes most Aborigines died of disease. He argued that muskets were slow to reload so it is implausible that four shepherds at Cape Grim could shoot 30 fast running Aboriginal people. Several academics including Ian MacFarlane in his PhD and Josephine Flood in her book: “The Original Australians” have disputed Windschuttle’s claims. The controversy continues. Lithograph from the Allport Library Collection, Hobart. French lithograph of VDL natives (from the Allport Library Collection, Hobart.) Convict Settlement to Colony: 1803-1825. Following Nicholas Baudin’s voyages and charting around SA and Van Diemen’s Land in 1802 Governor King got nervous about the intentions of France. So he despatched naval officer John Bowen to establish a convict settlement on the Derwent in 1803. He arrived there in September 1803. Meantime the British government had sent Captain Collins with a fleet and settlers to establish a new settlement on Port Phillip (where Sorrento is now located.) He arrived there in 1803. He decided the site was unsuitable and moved himself and his settlers on to the Derwent in January 1804. Governor King sent orders that Bowen was to hand over control of the settlement to Collins but Bowen tarried and did not do this until May 1804. Bowen left and returned to England at the end for that year and Collins became Lieutenant Governor. Hobart became the third settlement after Port Jackson, (1788), Norfolk Island (1790) and then Risdon Cove (1803). Governor King was still worried about French intentions of colonising so he also sent Captain William Paterson to form a settlement on the Tamar at Port Dalrymple in November 1804. Thus began the settlement of Launceston in 1806 when he moved to the better location of the junction of the South Esk and Tamar Rivers. Governor Macquarie interfered and had the settlement moved to George Town on Bass Strait. He relented in 1824 as he was about to leave NSW and Launceston was again founded! The Van Diemen Land settlements began as convict outposts of NSW with the first direct shipment of convicts from England only arriving in Hobart in 1812. But the British Colonial Office wanted to make money from these penal settlements so from 1813 the colony was open to international trade and commerce. Most convicts in DVL, as in NSW, were assigned to landowners to work for them or to government building teams. But in 1821 a major convict camp was opened in Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast for the most serious offenders. Conditions here were harsh, bleak because of the incessant rain and cold, and brutal. It was also a costly exercise to provision a penal settlement so far from a major port and agricultural areas. Few convicts could escape as there was no other settlement on the west coast to escape too. Mainly because of its cost Macquarie Harbour penal settlement was closed in 1833 and these worst offenders moved to another isolated penal site surrounded by water on three sides- Port Arthur. The other early penal settlement on Maria Island which had opened in 1821 was closed at the same time in 1832 and its convicts also moved to Port Arthur. The new largest penal community had begun in1830 at Port Arthur. The 1820s saw some fairly rapid growth in Hobart and elsewhere. In 1821 Governor Macquarie of NSW visited VDL and personally named and selected sites for free townships at Perth, Campbell Town, Ross, Oatlands, and Brighton thus opening up the central region between Hobart and Launceston. Van Diemen’s Land and the Norfolk Island Connection. A ship was sent out from the fledgling Botany Bay settlement in 1788 to settle Norfolk Island. A mere seven officials and 15 convicts were sent in 1790. More followed in the early 1790s.It was a strategic but financially burdensome settlement and so the British Colonial Office made the decision to abandon Norfolk Island in 1805. The convicts, guards and free settlers were ordered to move to Van Diemen’s Land. The first Norfolk Islanders arrived in VDL in 1805 and by 1808 a total of 713 settlers and convicts had arrived. The last 200 occupants of Norfolk Island were sent to VDL in 1813. The convicts were accommodated in VDL prisons, and the free settlers moved up the Derwent River to New Norfolk (1808) and in the north near Launceston to Norfolk Plains (1813). This latter settlement had its named changed to Longford in 1833. When the Norfolk Islanders arrived in VDL they increased the Hobart population overnight from 483 people to 1,060 people. Little food was available and accommodation was short so arrivals had to share lodgings with convicts. Any remaining convicts were pardoned and all received land grants. Most of the free Norfolk Islanders had been convicts at some stage. Around 50% were given land grants, usually 10 acres or less around Sandy Bay and Glenorchy, and 30% were moved up the Derwent to New Norfolk. The Islanders mainly had farming skills. However, Lieutenant Governor Collins, head of the VDL settlement found a new mistress among the Norfolk Islanders- a 16 year old called Margaret Eddington. Her parents were convicts but she had been born as a free women. Collins was 53 years old in 1808 when Margaret arrived. Collins had two children with Margaret, one in 1808, the other in 1809. He died suddenly in 1810 and was buried on site that was to become St David’s Cathedral. He had also had two children with a mistress in Sydney in the 1790s. But the saga of the connection with Norfolk Island did not end there. In 1824 Norfolk was re-opened as a convict prison for the worst of the worst prisoners. It gained a reputation for brutally, inhumanity and the harshest of discipline. When transportation to NSW ended in 1840 the British government still kept sending convicts to Norfolk Island. Around 2,000 were there at any one time. In 1842 the control of Norfolk was transferred from NSW to VDL because VDL still had convict transportation. Just before self government was granted to NSW in 1856 the British government transferred control of Norfolk Island back to NSW and the convicts on Norfolk at that time were evacuated to Port Arthur in 1855. This occurred even though convict transportation to the soon to be self governing Tasmania had ceased in 1852. One final point: after closing down Norfolk Island for a second time in 1855 the British government then re-opened it in 1856 by settling 194 Pitcairn Islanders, mainly descendants of the Mutiny of the Bounty sailors, to Norfolk Island. Some Tahitians moved with the Pitcairn islanders. Penal Colony to Self Government in Tasmania: 1825-1856. This period began in 1825 with VDL being separated from NSW and becoming a colony in its own right. In that same year the Richmond Bridge, Australia’s oldest, which was begin in 1823 was finally opened to traffic. In 1826 the Van Diemans Land Company began its operations on the North West coast near Stanley. The period of the 1830s and 1840s saw VDL grow in population and settlement spread across the northern plains near Launceston, through the centre of the island, and around the Hobart area. It was a period when grand houses, fine churches and small villages were settled usually with much of their wealth coming from wool. Perhaps one sign of the maturing colony was the arrival of the first Anglican Bishop in 1843, the Rev. Francis Nixon who lived in Bishopsbourne, now called Runnymede in North Hobart which we will visit. By then the Aborigines had been subdued but Bishop Nixon found plenty of missionary work necessary to improve living conditions for the Aborigines. This was also the period when libraries, hospitals, newspapers, sailing clubs and sport teams were established. In 1836 (the year when SA was founded) when Governor Arthur, the first VDL Governor, left the colony to be the Governor of Upper Canada the population had reached 43,000 of which 24,000 were “free” settlers. But most of these free settlers had been convicts at some stage and had been pardoned. In 1849 the first anti-transportation (of convicts) meeting was held in Launceston. Shortly after this the British Colonial office announced that transportation to NSW, Queensland and Van Diemen’s Land (but not WA) would cease in 1853. The last convict ship from England arrived in Hobart in May 1853 (but convicts arrived from Norfolk Island in 1855). Partial self government was introduced in 1850 by the British Colonial Office. Full independence was not granted until 1856 when the colony’s name was change from Van Diemen’s Land to Tasmania. Later the name of the capital, Hobart Town, was changed to Hobart in 1881. But the convict heritage of Tasmania was not simply wiped away with the cessation of transportation in 1853. Convicts at Port Arthur were not released and the British did not withdraw its last militia forces from Port Arthur and Tasmania until 1870. Port Arthur finally closed as a prison in 1878 just a couple of years before the beautiful church at Port Arthur church was destroyed by fire. There were almost 900 prisoners at Port Arthur in 1863 including 100 who were serving life sentences. When it closed in 1878 it had 200 inmates (prisoners, convicts, paupers and lunatics.) But the convict built heritage of Tasmania survived for us to see and admire today.

Hobart. The city at dusk.
Early Exploration. Abel Jansz Tasman of the Dutch East India Company discovered Tasmania in 1642 and named the island after Antony Diemen, Governor of the Dutch East India Company. Van Diemen’s Land was next sighted by the French Captain, du Fresne in 1772 just two years after Cook had sighted the east coast of Australia. Just 16 years later the British settled at Botany Bay and to deter further French exploration and possible settlement on Van Diemen’s Land they established an outpost of NSW on the island in the 1803. Prior to this, explorers like Captain Bligh in 1792 had sighted and named Mt Wellington and George Bass and Matthew Flinders circumnavigated the island in 1798. David Collins began the first island settlement in 1803 at Risdon, but moved it to Sullivan’s Cove in 1804(the wharf area of Hobart). Also in 1804, a northern settlement began at what is now George Town under the control of Colonel Paterson. Paterson moved this settlement to Launceston in 1806. In was not until 1812 that Governor Macquarie acted to bring all Van Diemen Land settlements under the control of the Hobart Town. The settlements all became independent of NSW in 1825 when Van Diemen’s Land with allowed its own judiciary and Governor. What happened to the Aborigines of Tasmania? During the last Ice Age, New Guinea, Australia and Tasmania were joined as one land mass as levels were lower. During this cold period (about 35,000 years ago) Aborigines settled lowland parts of Tasmania. As the world warmed, sea levels dropped and about 12,000 years ago Aboriginal groups were left isolated on Tasmania. When whites began settlement of Tasmania there were 9 tribes on the island compromising between 4,000 and 10,000 Aboriginal people. Conflict between British settlers and military and the Aborigines began almost straight away with the first significant conflict at Risdon in May 1804 just before Collins moved the settlement to Sullivan’s Cove. Once the Van Diemen’s Land Company was formed and began operations in the North West near Stanley in 1826, conflict with Aboriginal people escalated. The biggest known massacre was at Cape Grim near Stanley on lands of the Van Diemen’s Land Company in February 1828. Four shepherds are believed to have located a group of Aboriginal people. They shot 30 of them and threw their bodies off a 60 metre high cliff into the ocean. The massacre was retaliation for the killing of 118 sheep by the aboriginal people. This in turn had been retaliation for the abduction of aboriginal women by the shepherds (although some of this was undoubtedly undertaken by visiting whalers and sealers to the area). Trouble had begun as soon as the Company established grazing properties at Cape Grim in 1826. The magistrate of the area, Mr Edward Curr, a manager of the Van Diemen’s Land Company decided not to investigate the massacre and no charges were laid against the white shepherds. It was two years before another government official visited the area, investigated the reports and concluded that 30 people had been massacred. By the time of the 1830 round up or “Black Line,” only 60 of the estimated 500 Aboriginal people living in the North West area in 1826 were still alive. 1826 was the year when the Van Diemen’s Land Company established itself there! But this terrible massacre is forgotten history, or is it? (Remember we visit Highfield House the headquarters of the 250,000 acre Van Diemen’s Land Company estate near Stanley.) In 1828 martial law against Aboriginal people in settled areas was proclaimed by Governor Arthur. The next step was the famous “Black Line” of 1830 whereby authorities tried to round up all aboriginal people, not already in missions, by forming an impenetrable line. The idea was to round up all Aborigines that might threaten settlers in the central districts and drive them on to the Tasman Peninsula where Port Arthur is now located. Some 5,000 men were involved in the 1830 march at the astronomical cost of £30,000. It was a dismal failure. Only two Aborigines were captured. It was Arthur’s greatest failure as Governor of VDL. But this amazing act was followed by the rounding up of all Aboriginal people known and moving them off Van Diemen’s Land to Wybalenna on Flinders Island. The authorities were determined to have no interference from aboriginal Tasmanians. In 1847 the last remaining Aborigines (47 in all) at Wybalenna were transferred to a new mission at Oyster Cove near Hobart. This was the final act in the subjugation of Tasmanian aboriginals, following the loss of their hunting lands, the capture and enslavement of their women, and the conflict and massacres. So within 50 years of settlement the Aboriginal population had dropped from between 4,000 and 10,000 to just 47. Apart from gun shots and violence, dislocation to Flinders Island, disease, and cultural destruction had almost destroyed an entire peoples. The last full blood Aboriginal to die was Trugannini of bronchitis in 1876. In 2002 the massacre story re-emerged. Keith Windschuttle in his book: “The Fabrication of Aboriginal History” claimed there was very little violence against Aborigines in Tasmania. Only 118 known Aboriginal deaths were ever recorded but around 200 whites were killed by Aboriginals between 1824 and 1831(hence the Black Line episode). Windschuttle believes most Aborigines died of disease. He argued that muskets were slow to reload so it is implausible that four shepherds at Cape Grim could shoot 30 fast running Aboriginal people. Several academics including Ian MacFarlane in his PhD and Josephine Flood in her book: “The Original Australians” have disputed Windschuttle’s claims. The controversy continues. Lithograph from the Allport Library Collection, Hobart. French lithograph of VDL natives (from the Allport Library Collection, Hobart.) Convict Settlement to Colony: 1803-1825. Following Nicholas Baudin’s voyages and charting around SA and Van Diemen’s Land in 1802 Governor King got nervous about the intentions of France. So he despatched naval officer John Bowen to establish a convict settlement on the Derwent in 1803. He arrived there in September 1803. Meantime the British government had sent Captain Collins with a fleet and settlers to establish a new settlement on Port Phillip (where Sorrento is now located.) He arrived there in 1803. He decided the site was unsuitable and moved himself and his settlers on to the Derwent in January 1804. Governor King sent orders that Bowen was to hand over control of the settlement to Collins but Bowen tarried and did not do this until May 1804. Bowen left and returned to England at the end for that year and Collins became Lieutenant Governor. Hobart became the third settlement after Port Jackson, (1788), Norfolk Island (1790) and then Risdon Cove (1803). Governor King was still worried about French intentions of colonising so he also sent Captain William Paterson to form a settlement on the Tamar at Port Dalrymple in November 1804. Thus began the settlement of Launceston in 1806 when he moved to the better location of the junction of the South Esk and Tamar Rivers. Governor Macquarie interfered and had the settlement moved to George Town on Bass Strait. He relented in 1824 as he was about to leave NSW and Launceston was again founded! The Van Diemen Land settlements began as convict outposts of NSW with the first direct shipment of convicts from England only arriving in Hobart in 1812. But the British Colonial Office wanted to make money from these penal settlements so from 1813 the colony was open to international trade and commerce. Most convicts in DVL, as in NSW, were assigned to landowners to work for them or to government building teams. But in 1821 a major convict camp was opened in Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast for the most serious offenders. Conditions here were harsh, bleak because of the incessant rain and cold, and brutal. It was also a costly exercise to provision a penal settlement so far from a major port and agricultural areas. Few convicts could escape as there was no other settlement on the west coast to escape too. Mainly because of its cost Macquarie Harbour penal settlement was closed in 1833 and these worst offenders moved to another isolated penal site surrounded by water on three sides- Port Arthur. The other early penal settlement on Maria Island which had opened in 1821 was closed at the same time in 1832 and its convicts also moved to Port Arthur. The new largest penal community had begun in1830 at Port Arthur. The 1820s saw some fairly rapid growth in Hobart and elsewhere. In 1821 Governor Macquarie of NSW visited VDL and personally named and selected sites for free townships at Perth, Campbell Town, Ross, Oatlands, and Brighton thus opening up the central region between Hobart and Launceston. Van Diemen’s Land and the Norfolk Island Connection. A ship was sent out from the fledgling Botany Bay settlement in 1788 to settle Norfolk Island. A mere seven officials and 15 convicts were sent in 1790. More followed in the early 1790s.It was a strategic but financially burdensome settlement and so the British Colonial Office made the decision to abandon Norfolk Island in 1805. The convicts, guards and free settlers were ordered to move to Van Diemen’s Land. The first Norfolk Islanders arrived in VDL in 1805 and by 1808 a total of 713 settlers and convicts had arrived. The last 200 occupants of Norfolk Island were sent to VDL in 1813. The convicts were accommodated in VDL prisons, and the free settlers moved up the Derwent River to New Norfolk (1808) and in the north near Launceston to Norfolk Plains (1813). This latter settlement had its named changed to Longford in 1833. When the Norfolk Islanders arrived in VDL they increased the Hobart population overnight from 483 people to 1,060 people. Little food was available and accommodation was short so arrivals had to share lodgings with convicts. Any remaining convicts were pardoned and all received land grants. Most of the free Norfolk Islanders had been convicts at some stage. Around 50% were given land grants, usually 10 acres or less around Sandy Bay and Glenorchy, and 30% were moved up the Derwent to New Norfolk. The Islanders mainly had farming skills. However, Lieutenant Governor Collins, head of the VDL settlement found a new mistress among the Norfolk Islanders- a 16 year old called Margaret Eddington. Her parents were convicts but she had been born as a free women. Collins was 53 years old in 1808 when Margaret arrived. Collins had two children with Margaret, one in 1808, the other in 1809. He died suddenly in 1810 and was buried on site that was to become St David’s Cathedral. He had also had two children with a mistress in Sydney in the 1790s. But the saga of the connection with Norfolk Island did not end there. In 1824 Norfolk was re-opened as a convict prison for the worst of the worst prisoners. It gained a reputation for brutally, inhumanity and the harshest of discipline. When transportation to NSW ended in 1840 the British government still kept sending convicts to Norfolk Island. Around 2,000 were there at any one time. In 1842 the control of Norfolk was transferred from NSW to VDL because VDL still had convict transportation. Just before self government was granted to NSW in 1856 the British government transferred control of Norfolk Island back to NSW and the convicts on Norfolk at that time were evacuated to Port Arthur in 1855. This occurred even though convict transportation to the soon to be self governing Tasmania had ceased in 1852. One final point: after closing down Norfolk Island for a second time in 1855 the British government then re-opened it in 1856 by settling 194 Pitcairn Islanders, mainly descendants of the Mutiny of the Bounty sailors, to Norfolk Island. Some Tahitians moved with the Pitcairn islanders. Penal Colony to Self Government in Tasmania: 1825-1856. This period began in 1825 with VDL being separated from NSW and becoming a colony in its own right. In that same year the Richmond Bridge, Australia’s oldest, which was begin in 1823 was finally opened to traffic. In 1826 the Van Diemans Land Company began its operations on the North West coast near Stanley. The period of the 1830s and 1840s saw VDL grow in population and settlement spread across the northern plains near Launceston, through the centre of the island, and around the Hobart area. It was a period when grand houses, fine churches and small villages were settled usually with much of their wealth coming from wool. Perhaps one sign of the maturing colony was the arrival of the first Anglican Bishop in 1843, the Rev. Francis Nixon who lived in Bishopsbourne, now called Runnymede in North Hobart which we will visit. By then the Aborigines had been subdued but Bishop Nixon found plenty of missionary work necessary to improve living conditions for the Aborigines. This was also the period when libraries, hospitals, newspapers, sailing clubs and sport teams were established. In 1836 (the year when SA was founded) when Governor Arthur, the first VDL Governor, left the colony to be the Governor of Upper Canada the population had reached 43,000 of which 24,000 were “free” settlers. But most of these free settlers had been convicts at some stage and had been pardoned. In 1849 the first anti-transportation (of convicts) meeting was held in Launceston. Shortly after this the British Colonial office announced that transportation to NSW, Queensland and Van Diemen’s Land (but not WA) would cease in 1853. The last convict ship from England arrived in Hobart in May 1853 (but convicts arrived from Norfolk Island in 1855). Partial self government was introduced in 1850 by the British Colonial Office. Full independence was not granted until 1856 when the colony’s name was change from Van Diemen’s Land to Tasmania. Later the name of the capital, Hobart Town, was changed to Hobart in 1881. But the convict heritage of Tasmania was not simply wiped away with the cessation of transportation in 1853. Convicts at Port Arthur were not released and the British did not withdraw its last militia forces from Port Arthur and Tasmania until 1870. Port Arthur finally closed as a prison in 1878 just a couple of years before the beautiful church at Port Arthur church was destroyed by fire. There were almost 900 prisoners at Port Arthur in 1863 including 100 who were serving life sentences. When it closed in 1878 it had 200 inmates (prisoners, convicts, paupers and lunatics.) But the convict built heritage of Tasmania survived for us to see and admire today.

Governor Bligh's statue
Circular Quay, Sydney. He was not only the victim of a mutiny but a military coup which ended his governorship of NSW in 1808. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bligh

On a rocket to the fourth dimension... (HSS)
1 Bligh Street, Sydney Happy Sunday Slider!

YX16 OKB (6553)
ARRIVA Kent & Surrey Alexander Dennis - Enviro 400 MMC - YX16 OKB (6553) is seen at Chatham Bus Station before departing on route 140 to Earl Estate, Bligh Way Shops on 19th January 2024 Ex Arriva Midlands 4524 *please be aware that all buses I drive and take pictures of are made safe before doing so*

1 Bligh Street, Sydney
I took a few pics of this atrium with a 10mm and a 14-24mm lens before I was advised that I was "not allowed to use that kind of camera here" and that using a phone was okay. I packed up and came back later - Kind of worked better this way I think.

1 Bligh Street, Sydney
53488797730_d71956fd0f_b

Fortkerk (Fort church) in Willemstad, Curaçao
Buy this photo on Getty Images : Getty Images Built in 1769 as part of Fort Amsterdam in what is now the UNESCO World Heritage City of Willemstad, Curaçao, the Fortchurch is a Historic Monument. It has sturdy walls that were built to withstand any attack. A cannonball imbedded in an exterior wall has been left as a reminder of the attack by the British in 1804 when the Fort was shelled. (Local legend has it that the cannonball was fired from Captain Bligh's infamous Bounty). The original tower of the Church was octagonal and was replaced by a round one in 1903, which is clearly marked on the facade. Submitted: 20/01/2024 Accepted: 21/01/2024