ESTRUCTURA DEL MERCADO

The British invaded Van Diemens Land in 1803/4, and Hobart and Launceston were quickly founded as major settlements. By 1848, they had become independent municipalities. With increasing growth they were rapidly expanding and so, in 1858, the Tasmanian Parliament passed an Act allowing regional areas to form a municipality if fifty owners or occupiers of land presented a petition to Parliament. Municipality status would be accepted if a counter petition was not presented within two months of the application. European settlers had begun to clear land around

Glenorchy in 1804 because of the availability of fresh water and arable land. Its settlement patterns differed from its more powerful neighbour, Hobart, from the beginning: the latter having higher population density and smaller lot size such that in 1850 it numbered around 20,000 people housed in 2,500 dwellings according to the 1841 Census. In contrast Alexander (1986, p.38) noted in the same year Glenorchy had 200 dwellings with 61 farms with one third [or the two hundred households] owning or renting farms.

Thus it was not until 4 April 1864 that Glenorchy was proclaimed a rural municipality (Figure 3) of 46 sq miles with a population of 1300 (Alexander, 1986, p.50). With Colonial Government support, in the 1890s Council constructed its Chambers on Main Road. Its identity as a community of agricultural workers continued until after the Second World War when industrial expansion and immigration increased such that it was seen as the industrial region of southern Tasmania. By the end of the century it had developed into a thriving export region with a strong local identity.

Glenorchy people were divided into three classes: the upper, landowning class, the middle class and the working class. The Tasmanian Post Office Directory of 1890 lists inhabitants of Glenorchy and their occupations showing that about 10% of the population owned most of the wealth and provided most of the jobs including running the municipal council. Most of these families kept within their own social circle and seldom mixed with local people. They went to Hobart for social and cultural activities (Alexander, 1986, p.107).

Glenorchy’s settlement pattern follows along the main north-south transport route from Hobart to the Midlands and on to Launceston. Main Road Glenorchy provided a picturesque journey along the edge of the Derwent River meandering inland sometimes to link the major settlement nodes of Moonah, Glenorchy and Claremont. Its topography is dominated by undulating alluvial flood plains with linear settlement patterns along the long river frontage of the Derwent River up into the foothills of the Wellington Range. Seven rivulets flow from the mountain to the River, four of which (Islet, Abbotsfield, Roseneath and Blacksnake) are likely to dry up in summer. Three continuously running streams, the New Town Rivulet, Humphreys Rivulet and Sorell Creek, create distinct physical forms and local sense of place. In addition,

Humphreys Rivulet was the site of the main administrative settlement of Glenorchy and New Town Rivulet forms the southern boundary with the City of Hobart.

Figure 3 Glenorchy 1864 (Alexander, 1986, p.51)

long, framed by two mountain ranges, the Wellington Range on the western shore and the Meehan Range on the eastern shore. Both ranges provide backdrops of wooded hills giving Glenorchy an intense visual setting and long distance vistas. This landscape provides a microclimate that creates the illusion of disappearing or shifting mountains with mist and fogs occasionally descending onto the river for short time frames followed by changeable winds that then re-establish the landforms to their original locations. This changing light and seasonal change on the river or on the mountains provide the people of Glenorchy with a strong affective landscape link.

As Glenorchy prospered, there was a push towards city status from the 1950s. City status is a statement of importance in a regional context meaning ‘we have arrived’ (Jeffery, 2004). With Glenorchy’s physical and symbolic location in the shadow of Hobart, it became politically and economically important for its representatives to continue to position the region as a desirable residential, commercial and industrial hub. In 1953, Glenorchy made a first approach to the Tasmanian Parliament seeking city status but was unable to advance the situation. Over the next decade, Council encouraged community pride and spirit with civic programs. Noteworthy among them were two nascent place-making projects, the ‘Geranium City’ campaign, which involved regular geranium planting bees, and the ‘Glenorchy Junior Council’ movement among young people, aimed at waste minimisation, tree planting and nature strip improvements.

Then in 1962 amendments to the Local Government Act, 1906, providing for the creation of new Tasmanian cities meant that the application for city status could proceed. Collinsvale, Moonah and Glenorchy were amalgamated into a new City of Glenorchy, which was finally proclaimed on 24th October 1964.

According to Alexander (1986, p.344)

By 1964 Glenorchy had a population of nearly 40,000, good sporting amenities, modern housing developments and shopping centres, expanding industry and ample employment, many schools, both State and private, efficient water and sewerage schemes, and its own newspaper … the atmosphere was one of action and expansion.

One of the first decisions that Council made was to pass a confidence-filled and forward-looking motion for the ‘establishment and maintenance of all facilities and amenities’ necessary for a progressive area and for the benefit of ‘all citizens’. However, during the second half of the twentieth century fundamental social and economic changes to metropolitan and regional communities in Australia that were well beyond the control of local government were to prove that confidence misplaced. Particularly from the 1980s, they changed the social and economic landscape of Glenorchy from one dominated by a manufacturing and industrial economy to one that included a growing service and information economy (Baum et al., 2000), and resulted in significant disruptions to employment, education, social welfare and environmental conditions. This change is worth elaborating.