Old Hobart Town in Historic Richmond

Our first main stop on our Tassie Holiday was in Richmond, at the Old Hobart Town Model Village which is only a short drive from Hobart or for us from the Hobart Airport.

We got our tickets and went inside to see what it was all about.

I must say that the three of us were all very impressed with all of the effort that Andrew Quick and his father put into creating such life-like figurines of convicts and soldiers and the realistic models of the buildings and ships.

The buildings are constructed to a scale of 1:16 and are very realistically created. Andrew and his dad used plans for many of the buildings from the Tasmanian archives. They are covered in cement and plaster and have stones, bricks and shingles moulded into them.

You are given a map when you enter and you can follow this along with the signs that are all around the models and various streets.

It is interesting to note that many of the buildings in the model shown, as they existed back in the 1820’s are still standing in the city of Hobart today.

Some other buildings in the Old Hobart Town Model still exist in Hobart too, but they have had changes made to them, such as additional sections built onto the existing structures.

One thing that we all enjoyed, aside from the historical aspect, was the fun activity of trying to locate the 4 figurines as shown on the map that we each received. Some of the 4 figurines were quite difficult to find amongst all of the buildings and other figurines.

The figurines that we needed to track down and locate were the adult Tasmanian Tiger with a cub, a boy falling out of a tree, a man skinning a kangaroo and a lady hitting a snake with a stick as the snake was about to attack her!

When you find all four figures you can go to the entry to the attraction and receive a special sticker. This will be a fun activity for youngsters. We also had fun doing it!

There is much detail in the whole layout. In fact you can walk up Davey St and down Macquarie St and imagine how it all was for the convicts and soldiers who lived there almost 200 years ago!

The miniature trees are Tasmanian Myrtle trees and are scattered all throughout the display. These trees are very effective in adding to the realism of the day back in the 1820’s.

I am glad that we began our Tassie holiday by visiting Old Hobart Town in Richmond as it gave us a very good overview of the city of Hobart from a historical perspective.

Each of the various sections of the model created a different picture in my mind of how life really was back 190 years ago. The hospital with its patients being treated for all kinds of injuries and sicknesses.

The port itself with 2 sailing ships sitting in the harbour. A team of bullocks moving a heavy load of logs. Fishermen sitting on the edge of the rivulet with simple fishing rods, trying to catch their tea.

It is definitely a place that I recommend to others to come and see. You can easily relax and walk around for an hour or more taking in the rich history of this region of Tassie.