The first house in Battery Point, built the year after the settlement of Sullivan’s Cove was built by the Reverend Robert Knopwood. On his 30-acre land grant, which he named Cottage Green, Knopwood established a garden in which he grew vegetables, fruit and flowers.

By the 1830’s, Battery Point had developed into a village of maritime tradesmen, militia, ship builders, labourers and their families. The homes ranged from grand residences to small Georgian workers’ cottages. Regardless of their status, each had a garden ranging from large formal gardens surrounding the merchants’ houses to simple cottage gardens.

By the 1830’s, nurseries were established offering an extensive range of plants for the kitchen garden, orchard, shrubbery and flower garden.

In 1836, Hobart Town nurseryman Daniel Bunce published in the Hobart Town Courier a list of approximately 200 plants and seeds available for sale at his Denmark Hill Nursery.

A few weeks later, seedsman James Wentworth Davis advertised that he had a collection of flower and garden seed for sale and in 1845 Quaker nurseryman James Dickinson published a 37-page catalogue of plants available from his nursery.

The plants listed in the catalogues of these three nurserymen have been the reference source for this Exhibition. Another reference source has been the stock lists from the seedsmen who advertised in the Hobart Town newspapers.

Since these early days, Battery Point gardens have continued to flourish.

Many of the plants we admire today are varieties that have grown in the area since settlement and these plants are an important part of the history of Battery Point.