Port Dalrymple

European settlement

Early observation of the Tamar River occurred in 1798 when Bass and Flinders sailed into the river during their circumnavigation of Tasmania. The estuarine river was named Port Dalrymple and the location that would become George Town was referred to as Outer Cove. William Collins, in January 1804, led an 18-day exploration of the river to determine the best site for a settlement. In November 1804, Colonel William Paterson arrived with four ships with 181 people, convicts, soldiers, and one free settler and the settlement was established at Outer Cove. Subsequently the main settlement moved to the west arm of the river and then to the river head, some 50 km south, named Launceston. When, in 1811, Governor-In-Chief Lachlan Macquarie toured Tasmania he moved the settlement back to Outer Cove and named it George Town after King George III. The populace were reluctant to relocate and building the town in earnest did not begin until 1819. Because of the needs of maintaining a defensible position at the mouth of the river, regardless of the notional main settlement location, the George Town area has been continuously occupied since 1804, making it one of the earliest European settlements in Australia.