A forty year journey to Battery Point
For me as a Queensland school kid several decades ago, Tasmania was known for apples and paper – and not much else. Of course in those days it seemed a very long way from Brisbane (my home town) with air travel just a dream for most of us and the thought of driving “that far” beyond all possibilities. But gradually across the next decades, Tasmania started to gain a greater national profile – a few cricketers and footballers became prominent, and federal Labor’s first government in over 20 years saw Tasmanian Lance Barnard appointed as Deputy Prime Minister to Gough Whitlam. Tassie was on the map at last!!! Although, sadly it was not on the official Australian map distributed for the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane. In reality, Tassie was still an afterthought for many.
The meetings were held in the now Best Western Hotel (Bathurst Street), while I stayed in the Travel Lodge Hotel (cnr Macquarie and Harrington Streets) – these buildings are still there today. I recall what I saw of inner Hobart then as being a little drab. Following the meeting, I packed up and walked along Sandy Bay Road to the Blue Hills Motel, chosen because it was close to the Wrest Point Casino where the conference was being held. I recall looking across St David’s Park and being impressed with its beauty, backdropped by many old buildings. My room at the Blue Hills was the size of a matchbox, and tucked away at the back fronting Crelin Street – no problem, I was now in Battery Point.
I walked to the conference each day and spent the late afternoons either running or walking the streets of the Point. Brisbane has some old buildings (although we had a Premier fond of knocking many of them down in the middle of the night), but nothing like what I experienced here. The contrast of the delightful small cottages and the majestic residences was marked. Retail businesses were housed in establishments with beautiful aged facades. Once I started to appreciate the historic nature of the area, I remember wishing I had stayed at one of the iconic bed and breakfasts that were prominent in Battery Point in those days – next time I said to myself.
Fast forward fifteen years or so and to a real holiday in Tassie. Following the death of my father in early 1999 and wanting some “away” time, Jenny and I took a 10 day holiday in the Apple Isle. Starting with a few days in Launceston (another fascinating historic city) we drove down the highway to Battery Point, staying in the Cromwell Cottage Bed and Breakfast (just down the road from the iconic St George’s Church). I recall our hosts Barry and Robyn sharing stories of Battery Point and Hobart over breakfast, providing valuable context for our visit. There were changes evident in the precinct from my earlier visit, with some of the previously run-down houses having undergone some updating, And of course now Da Angelo was operating, starting for me, a life-long love of this ristorante. Memories of being near everything – we could walk to the city, Constitution Dock area and so on – and the historic character emanating from almost every building were in marked contrast to Brisbane life. It was impossible to ignore the feeling that one was in a very special environment, unique in Australia. It was around this time when I thought I might like to run the Battery Point post office which was then located in Colville Street – this place was starting to get into my soul.
Academia provided an excellent opportunity to visit Battery Point again as the Casino and Grand Chancellor Hotel hosted regular national conferences in my areas of interest. For example, in 2000 I stayed on Elizabeth Street Pier, hearing at night the clanking of the sail lines of the many yachts moored nearby and enjoying the walk past Mures to the Chancellor for the conference. Across the 2000s followed several “work-related” visits to Tassie along with a few other holidays with Jenny, discovering the beauty of the East Coast, the North and the West – Tasmania, Hobart and Battery Point were firmly in my blood.
In the late 2000s two remarkable opportunities presented – serendipity is a wonderful thing! The first – I became involved, as the Queensland representative, on a national research project with Bill Mulford, the then Professor of Educational Leadership at UTAS, together with three other professors from across Australia. We rotated our project management meetings through our home towns – Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart (Bill lived in a delightful house in Sandy Bay). I thought the best were always those in Hobart and usually tacked on a few non-work days pre or post to “relax”, providing opportunities to become “connected” with the life and fascinations of Hobart. The second opportunity was when I had study leave from the University of Queensland in the second part of 2008. Bill kindly arranged for me to be a visiting Research Fellow for a month in the UTAS Faculty of Education.
So, Jenny and I and our dear Staffie “Hen”, became temporary Tasmanians and moved into a beautiful cottage in St George’s Terrace (“Eibhlan”) for the duration. I spent the days at the Sandy Bay campus with a few trips to Launceston to meet with the Dean (a former colleague of mine at University of Queensland). Bill was hinting at the time he might soon retire!!!! A wonderful four weeks where, in many ways, we were asking the question as to whether we could actually live here after having spent all our lives in Brisbane. And the answer was “yes”!!! But as Jenny kept saying, “Someone has to get a job – lifestyle and work are the order of the day Neil.”
Again fast forward a few months, and serendipity was again at play. I made a successful application for a Chair at UTAS and with Jenny’s work situation providing yet more serendipity to make the move possible, we uprooted from Brisbane and headed to Hobart – July 2009. Of course, it was all a little more complicated than that and something of a life-changing experience one might say! We were somewhat buoyed by the fact our good friends Peter and Linda from Melbourne had also very recently made the transition to the Apple Isle. They were critical in making our move to Hobart much easier. Serendipity again!
Our first move was into a beautiful house in Sandy Bay (bought by Jenny on a two night stay, unseen by me!). While we enjoyed over a year there, it wasn’t Battery Point and we yearned to move. More serendipity, and a house we had admired in Battery Point on our previous visits came on the market. After a few months of serious stress over selling/buying and trying to get my career up and running at UTAS, we moved into the “White House” in Napoleon Street, lovingly restored by Colin and Laurel. Somewhat ironically, we had taken photos of this very house on previous visits to Tassie, thinking: “we could never live there”. It has always been our view that we are mere custodians (very lucky ones of course) to have the opportunity to live in such an iconic house and location. And of course Battery Point was, and still is, very much about its dogs and the connections they help us make with the people of this precinct. Our rescue dog Sooky and now our Wolfie help us enjoy the Point every day and foster conversations and friendships – no matter the weather, one has to take the dogs out.
The “connection” to this part of the world has deepened across the past decade or more with my brother and wife from London making frequent visits to Tasmania and recently even purchasing a property here. Additionally my niece and partner have visited often and lived here for three years across the Covid years to experience life in this part of the world.
So, over forty years, the journey from being a life-long Brisbanite to a devoted Battery Point resident was complete. Much serendipity along the way. Being an active member of the Community Association for many years has provided an opportunity to both get to know the “locals” and to put something back into the place where we live. We have been here for over sixteen years and have great friends, live in a great environment and are a safe distance away from the madness of much of the rest of the world. We are lucky to live in this community-oriented and historic place.
