WHAT'S INSIDE... 01 Welcome 04 Local Lad 05 Local Lady 09 Hobart Happenings 10 Science 12 Trisha Squires 14 Cover Story - Matt Bevilacqua 18 Calendar 20 Chef 's Day Off 21 Relationships 22 Hobart Happenings 24 Dining Out 26 Wellbeing 27 Community - Noel Mundy 28 Madame Saisons 30 Travel Off The Island 31 Hobart History 32 Reader's Pics
L E T T E R TO T H E E D I TO R Following your article in January/February on the Hobart Zoo, I wanted to cover an earlier history of the Domain site. Some years ago I did some guiding and historical work for the Hobart City Council. Originally the site was a quarry which explains the steep drop from Carriage Drive. There was a need for explosives for this work and in 1830 plans were made to build the well known Victoria Gunpowder Magazine further along Carriage Drive. At this time only basic site preparation work was started and it was decided to build a smaller "temporary" magazine on the quarry site along with a guard-house. On the other (high) side of Carriage Drive, a small four room guard-house was built. For some years both buildings remained as they were. When the zoo was established, the substantial magazine was converted as the Leopard House. This new use required knocking out the front wall and replacing it with bars. This is the white building just inside the fence on Carriage Drive. When the Navy took over it became a shed for the electrical transformer. with a wall replacing the bars. After the Navy, it became a storage shed for the council. The guard-house was incorporated into the present two story house on the opposite side of Carriage Drive which I believe was connected to the zoo. There are also some remnants of the zoo buildings such as the bear pit. There is also one intact building, the ladies toilet. More use should be made of this historic site both of the zoo and the magazine linking with the later one a few metres away. Trevor Webb Glenorchy