Explore Contemporary and Historical Hobart
One of the best things about Hobart is that its contemporary attractions rub shoulders with very accessible heritage. Hobart is the second oldest capital in Australia (after Sydney) and it really looks the part, crammed with old buildings and thick with stories, legends, and history. Admittedly, a lot of history is dark. You cannot ignore the grim fate of the indigenous people or the horrors endured by the convicts, but you can hear the incredible stories, visit the places and acknowledge the past. Start at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery's ningina tunapri exhibition, which celebrates 40,000 years of flourishing Tasmanian Aboriginal culture. Signage is bilingual, in English and palawa kani, a revived Tasmanian aboriginal language that is a composite constructed from what remains of a number of languages spoken across Tasmania at the time of European contact. There are loads of good exhibits, including Our land: parrawa, parrawa! Go away!, which zooms in on the Aboriginal experience of colonisation, and one on the ever-fascinating, ill-fated Tasmanian tiger.
Take a wander around the historic suburb of Battery Point, once home to Hobart's mariners and still crammed with jaunty adorable cottages, National Trust treasures and parks in which to film historical dramas. Obligatory stop: Jackman & McRoss bakery, to stuff yourself with flaky pastry and sausage rolls. Down the hill - preferably via Kelly Steps, built in the early 1800s - is Salamanca Place, once a riot of whalers, sailors, traders and dockers, now famed for its heritage good looks, huge Saturday morning market, arts scene, cafes, bars, galleries, accommodation and shopping. The Cascades Female Factory Historic Site is UNESCO World Heritage-listed. Inmates - women and children - did laundry, sewing and such and endured horrors and hardship. You can wander inside the prison walls and into some of the buildings. It's worth booking to see The Proud and the Punished, a one-woman drama about one of the prisoners, which is performed throughout the facility and gives a real insight into her life. Of course, Tassie's maritime history is well worth looking in to. They've packaged a bunch of post-colonial maritime tales and artifacts into the Maritime Museum of Tasmania, in a fabulous old building, with a couple of historical vessels parked up at Constitution Dock for good measure. Another worthwhile visit is to the Mawson's Huts Replica Museum. Here, a bunch of dedicated volunteers have recreated the buildings that were the base for
Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911- 44, giving a taste of what it must have been like holed up in there over two dark winters. It could all bring on quite a thirst. Thank goodness that Lark Distillery's cellar door/whisky bar is right next door. Lark helped kick off the rebirth of distilling in Tasmania when they started making single malts in 1992. Pull up to the bar, enjoy a guided tasting and have a yarn with the locals. This is so Hobart: history and hospitality meeting in a small, utterly delicious package.
