The City of Hobart is shaped and defined by its harbour and hills. Wrapping along the western bank of the River Derwent and its estuary and running back into the city-fringe bushland of Mount Wellington's foothills, the natural environments that surround Hobart are close by and easily accessible. Tasmanian Aboriginal people of the Mouheneener band lived among these hills, forests and shorelines for hundreds of generations before the first European ships arrived.
Soon after David Collins established a colony at Sullivans Cove in 1804, the first settlers ventured out into the bushland and around the river shores to explore their new home. Inevitably, after 200 years, the landscapes of Hobart have changed - but not entirely, not everywhere. There's a gully on Knocklofty that looks very little different to the way John Glover painted it in 1831. Casuarinas still grow on the shorelines of the Queens Domain, as they did when the first sod was turned for the Government Farm in the early 1800s. Joseph Lycett would recognise today's skyline of Mount Nelson in his 19th century painting of the mountain from Sandy Bay. And the blue bulk of Mount Wellington, apart from its road, communications tower and lookout shelter, looks much the same as it ever did.
The walks in the attachments below will help you discover all of those natural places, as well as opening up fascinating aspects of Hobart's cultural heritage, as you wander through the historic parks and precincts of the city and along the rivulets that sustained settlement in the early days. The following attachments describe 17 of the city's favourite walks, including some that are suitable for cyclists and dog walkers. An initiative of the Hobart City Council, the project has been developed with Bicentennial finding to mark the 200th anniversary of the European founding of Hobart. We encourage you to explore and enjoy Hobart's urban, historical and natural environments as you discover - or rediscover - the city's wide variety of walking tracks and trails.
