xenith: (Brisbane Hotel)
Continuing with Victorian-era Launceston from the other day, but I'll start with something other than a photo. I shall start with a print from the State Library of Victoria of the exhibition buildings stretching back into the city park.



The Tasmanian International Exhibition in Launceston opened in 1891 (because everyone else is having International Exhibition and we have to get in before Hobart.) There's a bit more about it here, but note the attendance figures given there: 262,000 visitors, for a new city of 17,000 people.

Hobart's International Exhibition was held a couple of years later, in 1894/1895. You can see their exhibition building. There, over the back. It's obvious one you find it. Closer view :) It's not there now. All gone. Of course, Launceston's main building still exists.

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xenith: (Brisbane Hotel)
Let's see if I can get this to work.

So Launceston, main urban centre in northern Tasmania, population somewhere between 80-110,000 depending on how you measure it (city council says 100,000). Wikipedia would have it as 17th on the list of Largest cities in Australia, so I guess that makes it one of the larger regional cities. Huh.

Launceston benefited from the mining boom of the last 19th century, and officially became a city on 1st January, 1889. Most of the city's large public buildings date from this period, and many commercial buildings were constructed and developed. Successive decades didn't bring the development pressures of larger/faster growing cities, so much of the boom-time architecture remains. (The city's motto is "Progress with Prudence" after all.) The city centre, above the lower level, is predominantly late-Victorian facades, and the grand old buildings the city streets.

Top - Brisbane St

So this is Launceston as a late-Victorian boom city.

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