My original idea with this was to do it as two posts, the first tracing the rivulet from the brewery to the edge of the CBD, and the second through/under the city. But as I edited and selected the photos, I thought I have the photos to trace the route in a bit more detail so why not do it. So I will.OK. Hobart Rivulet, source of fresh water, power supply for mills, open sewer, flood risk & recreational ground. You can follow the water back not just geographically, but through time as well. It was a source of fresh water for the (if I try to spell their name I shall mess up my N's & E's so I shall look it up) Mouheneer band, and probably used as a walkway. Amongst the vegetation along the banks in the upper reaches are remnants of native flora that has elsewhere been cleared away or pushed out by exotic plants. Quite a lot of those exotic plants too, of course.
When the British arrived, well, they actually settled on the other side of the Derwent, beside a creek that flowed nicely in September but not so much in other months. When Collins arrived a few months later, having given up on his attempt at a settlement in Port Phillip, he looked about and went "A good source of water!" He probably went "Good harbour!" and "Lots of timber!" and some other things as well, but this story is about water. For water is important to a young settlement, because people need to drink, and wash things, and build houses, and wear clothes, and drink beer.
The rivulet starts up in the Mountain, and it runs about 13 km down to the Derwent River. I'm not quite keen enough to go right up there. I'm just following the last 6 km. There's a lot going on in this stretch, some of which I won't mention because I'm not aware of it and some I won't mention because there is enough to fill a book and that's a lot of typing :) I'll add links as I go to interesting side bits.
I'll also include a of the area under discussion because you can follow the route of the rivulet as we go. Actually you can't, because it's hidden by bushes and things, although you can often pick it if you look for bridges. So I'll mention the street names as I go.
