The Hobart City Council is pleased to announce the publication of an important new book. This commissioned history of the Hobart City Council written by two Hobart-born historians describes the role of the people - aldermen, municipal officers and members of pressure groups - who have played a large part in municipal life over 154 years. The authors explore controversies and battles, achievements and failures as well as periods of progress and regress, boom and bust. They assess how aldermen dealt with disease, crime, poverty, low quality housing, unemployment, emergencies, neglected children and abused women. While stories about people fill the book, the authors have not neglected to consider what the Council built (streets, footpaths, reservoirs, drains, halls, swimming pools, slaughteryards, bridges, car parks), acquired (trams, reserves, parks, markets, zoos) and subsidised (bands) to service the diverse and changing needs of citizens. They discuss relations with other councils, the state government and private companies. They show the enormous contribution the City Council has played in making Hobart the vibrant, liveable and beloved city it is today.
A valuable aid for future research, and for anyone with an interest in history, the book is comprehensively referenced to primary material and generously illustrated with archival images.
Growing with Strength is available from the Hobart City Council and local booksellers
607pp B&W, with illustrations, endnotes, bibliography and index.
200mm x 290mm ISBN: 978-0-9805139-1-2
RRP $70.00
The Hobart City Council is pleased to announce the publication of an important new book. To anyone who knew Hobart in the years before 1960, the distinctive sight and sound of trams rolling along the city streets will never be forgotten.
This book is divided into three sections (the Elizabeth Street, Macquarie Street and Liverpool Street trams), and recalls the endeavour and enterprise of earlier years, and the importance of the tramway system in the evolution of the city and the growth of its suburbs.
The story told in this book spans a period of just 67 years. In that time, Hobart was transformed from a Late Victorian horse-and-carriage outpost, emerging from its colonial past, to a modern post-war city, optimistically facing the last few decades of the twentieth century. The huge social and economic upheavals experienced throughout the community over that time are mirrored in this story of the tramways.
This work is the result of years of meticulous archival research and the unique result of David Kirby’s intimate knowledge, told with the passion of an enthusiast, and imbued with personal accounts.
This book serves as a fine tribute to all those involved with the tramway system, and provides a valuable record of this outstanding public transport endeavour.
The book is generously illustrated with archival images, many from the author’s personal collection.
Hobart’s Tram Trilogy is available from the Hobart City Council and local booksellers
560 pages, with B&W and colour illustrations, bibliography, maps, tables and other appendices.
200mm x 290mm ISBN: 978-0-9805139-6-7
RRP $60.00
