Government House, Hobart

The palatial house is located on Lower Domain Road in the Queens Domain, near the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens. There have been three Government Houses, all in Hobart.

Government House
Government House viewed from the River Derwent
General information
Architectural style	Gothic Revival
Town or city	Hobart, Tasmania
Country	Australia
Coordinates	42°52′03″S 147°20′00″E / 42.867567°S 147.333415°E / -42.867567; 147.333415
Construction started	1855
Client	Governor of Tasmania
Technical details
Size	73 rooms on 15 hectares
Design and construction
Architect(s)	William Pordon Kay
Tasmanian Heritage Register
Place ID	2,927
Status	Permanently Registered

In 1805, after two years in a tent at Sullivans Cove, Governor Collins moved into the first Government House – a new wooden hut in Barrack Square. As local bricks gradually became available the hut was extended, but it was a primitive three-room home that let in the wind and rain.

The second Government House was built in 1817 at the junction of Macquarie Street and what is now Elizabeth Street. It had 14 rooms on two storeys and had servants' quarters, a coach house and stables, but it was badly built – of brick, wood and stucco, with later extension of sandstone – and was demolished in 1858.

 

 

Tasmania's Government House is today regarded as one of the best vice regal residences in the Commonwealth. Designed by the Director of Public Works and colonial architect William Porden Kay, it is a fine example of an early Victorian country house in Gothic Revival style and is one of the largest of its type in Australia.

Work eventually started in 1855 on a hill of the 37-acre (150,000 m²) grounds that overlooks the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens and the Derwent estuary. Sandstone was quarried on site (the excavated holes were made into ornamental pools), cedar and teak were recycled from an old ship, and slate for the roof was imported from Wales. Furniture was imported from London. Construction was completed in 1857

The House consists of 73 rooms, some of which are Elizabethan and Jacobean Revival styles. The finest rooms are the Main Hall, the Dining Room, the Ante-Drawing Room, the Drawing Room, the French Room, the Ballroom, and the Conservatory. Apart from the Conservatory, which was rebuilt to original designs in 1991, Government House remains as it was when it was first occupied.

The scale, detail and finish of the entrance hall, grand corridor and state rooms together with their furniture are unequalled in Australia. Much of the furniture ordered especially for the house and shipped out from England is still in daily use.

Outstanding exterior features of the house include bas-relief architectural sculptures, exceptional stonework, and individually carved sandstone chimney pots. The House also features ornately designed English gardens.

On 2 January 1858 Sir Henry Fox Young became the first governor to take up residence, moving to the capital from Government Cottage, Port Arthur, Tasmania.

Apart from being the venue of a busy round of annual receptions, dinners and other events, Government House has since 1990 had an annual open day, an initiative of the then governor of Tasmania, General Sir Phillip Bennett.

• Government Houses of Australia
• Government Houses in the Commonwealth
• Governors of Tasmania