230 



THE FOUNDING OF HOBART. 



in any other capacity than a clergyman, he would have 

 been valuable ; as a chaplain he waB a failure. Yet he 

 was a genial little fellow, fond of good company and of a 

 good dinner, not averse to a glass of good wine or a pipe 

 with a friend, a lover of animals, an ardent sportsman, of 

 a kindly nature, always ready to give good-natured help 

 to any one in need. In spite of his grave deficiencies, 

 and the conviction that he would have been better in a 

 secular calling, one cannot help having a kindly feeling 

 for the man v»'ho was always popular in the settlement, 

 and was long familiarly remembered amongst early 

 settlers as " Old Bobby Knopwood." The diary of the 

 chaplain is the only contemporary material, except grave 

 official documents, which we have for the history of the 

 founding of Hobart, It runs to the end of 1804. The 

 entries are meagre, and too much limited to records 

 of dinners and the interchange of hospitalities amongst 

 the officers ; yet it is naive and candid, and supplies 

 interesting detail. Official records are dry reading, but 

 even they yield unexpected treasures to careful study; 

 and, from the early despatches of Lieut.-Governor Collins 

 to Governor King and Lord Hobart, and from Collins' 

 General Orders, with occasional side-lights from the 

 Chaplain's diary, we can form an idea of life in the quaint 

 little camp which at the beginning of this century was 

 pitched on the narrow rise between the waters of Sul- 

 livan's Cove and the thick belt of tea-tree scrub shading 

 the course of the Hobart Creek. 



The Governor had planted his settlers at a safe distance 

 at New Town Bay, and his total strength at Sullivan's 

 Cove consisted of 178 convicts and the guard of 25 

 marines under Lieut. Edward Lord. The selection of 

 prisoners for the settlementhad been very carelessly 

 made. The frequent burden of Collins' complaint to the 

 Colonial Office is that he was encumbered with so many 

 old, worn out, or useless men, who ate the precious 

 provisions, better bestowed on artificers and stout 

 labourers. Out of the whole 307 men who sailed with 

 him 137 were labourers, but the trades useful in a new 

 colony were very insufficiently represented, and the 

 weavers, silversmiths, engravers, and clerks supplied to 

 him by the authorities with more than sufficient liberality 

 were likely to have long to wait before finding scope for 

 flieir talents. In fact, the usuail official bungling was 

 CoUins to Sal- exemplified in the new colony. The stores supplied 

 hvan, 4tli jh^y contract were as bad as usual. The Governor makes 



Collins to 

 Hobart, 4th 

 March, 1804. 



Bonwick. 



March, 1804, 



an exception in favour of the provisions, which he says 



