Hobart Rivulet, Part V: Still in the park

[xenith]

The writing on this fence is curious. When I looked it, I could see it had writing on it but it was too faded to read. But when I looked through the camera, it was legible. As it is in the photos.








After a point you stop thinking "What?" and "Why?" and just note odd things, like a detour in the fence.









The rivulet itself isn't that interesting at this point



and neither is the far bank: cement foundations and industrial fencing.



Bridge! Wynyard St bridge.



See, it says "You are here".


They used it for saddles, sofas and shoes. Without it, there were no belts, bags or bridles. It even replaced hard-to-get metal in door hinges and buckets. Leather is still a widely used material today, but in 19th century Van Diemen's Land., it was an essential part of everyday life.

The process of tanning animal hides uses large quantities of water - skins were soaked in tubs containing wattle bark, rich in preserving tannins.

By the late 1820s there were four or five tanneries operating on this stretch of the Rivulet, taking water from the stream and returning it after use.

One tannery still operates successfully, under the more stringent environmental controls of today. Elphinstone Tannery still supplies high-quality leather to Blundstone Pty Ltd, Tasmania's bootmaker to the world - the leather tanned and prepared here on the banks of the Hobart Rivulet finds it way to fashionable stores in London's Oxford Street and to the stirrups of outback stockmen.

Actually, I think it's closed down recently (and it was in the property surrounded by green fence in earlier photo) and Blundstone import their leather.











More debris traps, a whole series of them



and you can walk out into the rivulet there without getting wet.


Vaucluse Gardens, retirement village. Originally a large, fancy house (built in the 1830s by Thomas Hewitt, I think. Too much noise on Google) that's been incorporated into the aged care complex.

There's a lot of big, old houses along here (close to town, but still room to spread out) but camera battery died here. And phone was threatening to as well. So I'll have to skip the next bit, and resume the trip on the edge of the CBD.