Rokeby is a suburb of

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

, capital of

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on the eastern shore of the Derwent River. It is part of the

City of Clarence Clarence City Council (or City of Clarence) is a Local government in Australia, local government body in Tasmania, and one of the five municipalities that constitutes the Hobart, Greater Hobart Area. The Clarence local government area has a po ...

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

History

Rokeby started as Rokeby House, a farmhouse in the area then known as Clarence Plains, in the 19th century and along with the nearby suburb of Clarendon Vale was developed into a mainly public-housing suburb of Hobart in the 1970s. It was modelled after public housing projects that took place in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the 1950s. Clarence Plains Post Office opened on 20 November 1850 and was renamed ''Rokeby'' in 1882.

Today

The area has been typically associated with high crime and

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

, but this trend is beginning to reverse, probably in part due to increasing levels of home ownership during the Hobart housing market boom of 2002. Houses in the area that were valued in the low $20,000 range are now being valued at over seven times this figure. The area has a historic church, with a traditional British picket-fence cricket ground and the Rokeby Historic Trail. Rokeby has a skate park which was built around 2001. It is also regarded as one of the best skate parks in the state. It attracted national and international professional skateboarders in a competition held there in January 2009, with $50,000 prize money on offer. Rokeby is also home to the Tasmania Police Academy, a training academy for recruits of

Tasmania Police Tasmania Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian state of Tasmania. Established in 1899, the force has more than 1,300 officers policing Tasmania's population of 571,200 people. History Colonial history Prior to the forma ...

References

{{Authority control Localities of City of Clarence Populated places on the River Derwent