Hobart

Australia's second-oldest city, a convict-era port on the river Derwent under the shadow of a mountain, on the land of the muwinina people. Its harbour, Sullivans Cove, keeps one of the best-preserved Georgian waterfronts in the country: the great sandstone warehouses of Salamanca Place, the convict-cut Kelly's Steps, and the tiny cottages of Battery Point crowded around a village green at Arthur Circus. Around the docks stand the customs house that became a parliament, the oldest building in Tasmania, and the chapel and courts of the convict system. Beyond the town lie the harder memories of a penal island and of the near-destruction of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people. Read the sandstone port and its history at your own pace.