Maritime History

Wherever you travel on our Island - at the edge of the world - you will discover stories of the founding of modern Tasmania, when sailing ships took months to carry settlers, soldiers and convicts from Britain; when convicts laboured in shipyards to build vessels in which they would never sail; and oarsmen in tiny whaleboats battled the wild oceans.

The coasts are rocky - on stormy nights before lighthouses were built many a sailing ship came to grief on treacherous uncharted rocks. Present-day divers, especially around King and Flinders islands, find hulls, cargo and fittings lying sadly on the seabed.

Tasmania’s maritime heritage is also celebrated every two years with the Australian Wooden Boat Festival, when Hobart’s waterfront is awash with traditional craft, nautical buskers, choirs singing songs of the sea, bands playing folk music, theatre, and experts demonstrating age-old skills from splicing and adzing to shaping half models.

As you wander Hobart’s historic docks area look out for the elegant lines of two fine sailing ships – The Lady Nelson and the May Queen.