Launceston: the first twenty years - a difficult birth

Launceston, or Port Dalrymple as it was once called, had a difficult birth. After being accidentally settled in 1806 when Lt Gov Paterson moved 250 Bengal cattle from York Town to the North Esk River to improve their chances of survival, his successor Lieutenant John Brabyn established his headquarters there in 1808. In 1811 Governor Macquarie declared that it was no place for a town and ordered that no government buildings be built or repaired there and that the headquarters be removed to a new town to be built at George Town. While successive commandants resisted that order until 1819, Commissioner JT Bigge recommended that Launceston become headquarters in his 1822 report. Although the relocation finally occurred in 1824 it was not until 1826 that the town was formally surveyed. A complicated birth, but once established it flourished. John Dent has been aware for many years of inaccurate aspects of Launceston’s early history continuing to be promulgated in books, articles and especially online. Using current available resources John co-wrote York Town: a respectable looking village in 2020 and hopes to eventually publish an extension of this work to provide a more current and accurate (as far as is possible) story of the early years of Launceston. This talk will provide some of his preliminary research.

John Dent is currently President of The West Tamar Historical Society, the Tasmanian Family History Society (Launceston) and the Launceston History Centre and is on the committee of the Friends of The Launceston Mechanics Institute. He is a member and former secretary of the Launceston Historical Society, is the convenor/founder of its Archaeology Group and a member of THRA. John has published many articles, co-written the York Town book, written chapters for books and given numerous talks on many aspects of northern Tasmanian history.  He was a registered land surveyor, has recently retired from private practice and is using his surveying skills to uncover aspects of our early history. John was awarded an OAM in 2006 and is a member of the Rotary Club of Launceston.

Image: Tomas Scott, Launceston VDL, 1823, courtesy State Library of NSW