Place:

Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Date:

ca. 1868

Historical Information:

This image is part of the Colonial Office photographic collection held at The National Archives UK.

Tasmania’s Government House is regarded as one of the best Vice Regal residences in the Commonwealth. Designed by the Director of Public Works and colonial architect William Porden Kay, it is a fine example of an early Victorian country house in Gothic Revival style and is one of the largest of its type in Australia.

Work eventually started in 1855 on a hill of the 37-acre (150,000 m2) grounds that overlooks the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens and the Derwent estuary. Sandstone was quarried on-site (the excavated holes were made into ornamental pools), cedar and teak were recycled from an old ship, and slate for the roof was imported from Wales. Furniture was imported from London. Construction was completed in 1857.

The House consists of 73 rooms, some of which are Elizabethan and Jacobean Revival styles. The finest rooms are the Main Hall, The Dining Room, The Ante-Drawing Room, The Drawing Room, The French Room, The Ballroom, and the Conservatory. Apart from the Conservatory, which was rebuilt to its original designs in 1991, Government House remains as it was when it was first occupied.

The scale, detail and finish of the entrance hall, grand corridor and staterooms together with their furniture are unequalled in Australia. Much of the furniture ordered specially for the house and shipped out from England is still in daily use.

Outstanding exterior features of the house include bas-relief architectural sculptures, exceptional stonework, and individually carved sandstone chimney pots. The House also features ornately designed English gardens. [Wikipedia]

Description:

Showing the Government House, Hobart, and the Garden Frontage. Tasmania, Australia. The original photo was taken ca. 1868.

From the collection of:

The National Archives UK