The luck of the Irish

Well as luck would have it, I needed to go into own today and ended up at Salamanca where Irish Murphy’s was going off, with people in green wearing funny hats or with shamrocks tattooed on their cheeks. It must be St Patricks Day.

 

I was here the other night taking photos in the middle of the night when there was not a soul around, it is a much happier place in the middle of the day when there are people spilling onto the road having a merry old time.

 

There was a cruise ship in today as well, so my first port of call was the docks where the cruise ship was docked across the water from another visiting ship (I also took a photo of this other ship the other night).

 

It’s funny the things you learn when you pick up a book. I have been visiting Hobart since the early ‘90’s, and living in this fine little state since May 2005, but I never knew St David’s Park was once the colony’s first cemetery, or that the old headstones have been mounted on numerous memorial walls and are now part of a gorgeous area in the garden. Once I discovered this little bit of information, I was eager to head in there with my camera at the ready. It took a walk around the entire park to find the corner where the memorial walls are. I have included a photo I found on the internet of the cemetery in 1910, you can see how much the trees have grown around one of the memorials of which I took a photo.

 

After leaving the park, I headed back towards Salamanca (about 50 meters away) and took a few more photos of the gorgeous old buildings that have been standing since the cemetery was in use.

I went back to the wharf where I took some photos of a bird (if anyone is familiar with what type of bird it is I would love to know) who just sat there while I clicked away, he allowed me to get right up close to him and he didn’t ruffle a feather. Some clouds had moved across the sky by now and the sun glowed in a magnificent orange colour, I took a few photos of the clouds and the sky before going back to the park to watch a man cracking a whip.

 

Arthur Circus is a little street in Battery Point; it is a little circle of historic houses dating from the first European settlement. It is a quick walk from Salamanca Place up Runnymede Street into the whimsical Arthur Circus, built between 1847 and 1852. The land was once part of the first residential property in Battery Point.

Governor Arthur acquired it and divided it into sixteen plots sold, it is alleged, for forty pounds each at public auction in March 1847. There are fifteen single-storey brick Georgian cottages set around a village green. The swings in the village green conjure pictures of children at play in earlier times. In the far side of the green is Hampden road and a right turn leads to several excellent antique shops, restaurants (including my favourite - Ristorante Da Angelo – see my previous review) and the Van Diemen’s Land Folk Museum – now known as Narryna Heritage Museum.

Once again, on my way home I took a couple of photos from the car. I will have to stop that; I will have an accident one of these days. :)

 

I hope you enjoy the photos. :)