The Mersey River Ferry began when Devonport was known as Torquay (east) and Formby (west), in 1855 with an official licence awarded to Mr Andrews.
In the early 1900s there were a number of market gardens in Devonport, most of them worked by Chinese migrants. At least eighteen Chinese people
The Burgess family is one of Tasmania’s best-known seafaring families. Richard Burgess, a Devonshire seafarer, came to the colonies in the early 1800s and set
On the 18th of May 1870, a public meeting was held to discuss how best to persuade the Government to erect a bridge over either
A 243 ton barque, the Britomart was built in H.M. Dockyard in Hobart in 1808. On the 15th of December 1839 she sailed from Melbourne
On Saturday the 11th of February 1888, a special meeting was held by shareholders of the Torquay Bathing Company, a company which had been created
The Mount Lyell Disaster of 1912 On the 12th of October 1912, a fire broke out in North Mount Lyell mine. One hundred and seventy
In 1883, the first pegging of the Mount Lyell fields took place when three gold diggers staked a 50-acre claim in what is now known
William Aikenhead was born in Launceston in 1842. As a young man he worked for an insurance company, before joining the Examiner newspaper where his
Our mission is to be a source of knowledge, ideas, stories and memories. The Bass Strait Maritime Centre’s collection is a repository developed as a resource to inspire and educate the community and visitors. A key focus of the collection is to contribute to the interpretation and preservation of the history and maritime heritage of the Devonport region and its connection with the Bass Strait.
The Bass Strait Maritime Centre acknowledge and pay respect to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community and the punniler-panner as the traditional and original owners and continuing custodians of this land.
We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging.
Devonport City Council websites