Kangaroo Point, or Kangaroo Bay, was a traditional hunting ground for the murimimina people, who called the area moleheac [sic]. As the Hobart colony struggled for food, the Europeans began to hunt in the area as well. There was competition and conflict between European and murimimina hunters, and by 1808, a hundred murimimina people and 20 Europeans had been killed over these conflicts.
The first farms set up here were those of Richard Morgan and Richard Clark in 1806, and by 1809 there were 39 mostly small farms in the Clarence district, two of the biggest in Kangaroo Point. By 1820, Kangaroo Point was one of the bigger settlements on the Eastern Shore, with around 15 farms, a slaughter house and a constable.
By this time, the population of the Oyster Bay tribe had dropped dramatically, and a group of around 60 began to gather at Kangaroo Point around 1824. The local European settlers were instructed to treat this group kindly, but after two of these people were hanged here after being accused of murder, they no longer continued to gather here, and retreated to the border of the Big River tribe.
Kangaroo Point was also the destination for transport crossing over from Hobart Town, with the first licensed ferryman, Uriah Allender, based in Kangaroo Point, charging a shilling per crossing. The roads from outlying farming districts such as Coal River and Clarence Plains converged here, making it the focal point in transport for the majority of the Eastern Shore. By 1832, the first steam ferry, the Surprise, was operating here.
Figure 1: Mount Wellington and Hobart Town from Kangaroo Point 1834, John Glover, retrieved 29/05/2020, at https://artsearch.nga.gov.au/detail.cfm?IRN=141634
Figure 2: Kangaroo Bay 1852, Thomas Chapman, retrieved 29/05/2020, at https://stors.tas.gov.au/AUTAS001124061342w800
