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David CollinsPrint Page Print this page

06-May-2016 (Graeme Saunders)
06-May-2016 (Graeme Saunders)

Photographs supplied by Kent Watson / Graeme Saunders

The monument commemorates the first Governor of Tasmania, David Collins (1756 -1810). The inscription on the monument states the date of his death as the 28th March 1810. The correct date of death is the 24th March 1810. His grave was beneath the altar of the first St David`s Church which was erected in 1810. 

A plaque was added to the monument in 1988 which shows the correct date of death. 

In February 1803 Collins received his commission as Lieutenant-Governor of a settlement to be formed in Bass Strait. He sailed in the Calcutta with about 330 convicts and arrived in Port Phillip on 9 October 1803. He chose a bad spot for the settlement on the south shore and found the soil poor, and that there was little water.

Better water was found on the east shore near the present site of Frankston, but Collins decided that the country was to inhospitable and on 30 January he sailed for Tasmania and arrived in the Derwent on 15 February 1804. On 18 February Collins selected for the settlement the present site of Hobart. It is generally agreed no better choice could have been made, and three days later Collins stepped ashore and began his reign as lieutenant-governor.

Location

Address:Davey Street, St David`s Park, Hobart, 7000
State:TAS
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -42.885853
Long: 147.328264
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Monument
Monument Theme:People
Sub-Theme:Government - Colonial
Link:http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/adbonli…

Dedication

Approx. Monument Dedication Date:1838
Front Inscription

Sacred to the memory of David Collins Esqr.

Lieutenant Governor of this Colony and Lt Colonel of the Royal Marine Forces.

On the first establishment of the Colony of New South Wales he was employed as Deputy Judge Advocate and in the year 1803 he was intrusted by His Majesty’s Government with the command of an xxpedition destined to form a settlement at Port Philip on the South Coast of New Holland but which was subsequently removed to Van Diemen’s Land.

Under his direction as Lieutenant-Governor the site of this Town was chosen and the foundation of its first building laid in 1804.

He died here on the 28th March 1810
Aged 56 years

And this monument long projected was erected to his memory in 1838 by direction of His Excellency Sir John Franklin KCHKR

Site of the first church erected in 1810 in Van Dieman`s Land built over the grave of  Lieutenant Governor Collins whose body rested beneath the altar. 

Right Side Inscription

Lt. Col. David Collims

Arrived First Fleet  26.  1.  1788

Died 24. 3. 1810

Fellowship of First Fleeters

1988

Source: MA,ADB
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au