City of Clarence: History
=== Pre-history ===
It is believed the indigenous Aboriginal Tasmanians have lived in Tasmania for at least 35,000 years. Aboriginal middens can often be found along the coastline of the City of Clarence such as at Shag Bay, indicating that they hunted, and searched for seafood and shellfish in the region.
Prior to the arrival of the British, there was nine distinctive 'nations' or 'tribes' within Tasmania. The eastern shore seems to have been home to the Moomairemener. It is not known if they were a separate nation, or a sub-group of the Oyster Bay Clan (Paredarerme) whose territory stretched from the Tasman Peninsular to St Patrick's Head, just south of the modern Tasmanian township of St Mary's.
For the Moomairemener the area along the eastern shore of the Derwent was known as 'Nannyelebata' (or naniyilipata). They valued the region for its rich variety of birds, animals, seafood, and vegetation. The Coal River Valley, Flagstaff Gully, Risdon Vale, Risdon Cove and the southern Meehan Range were all regions that were within the traditional spring and summer hunting-grounds of the Moomairemener people, bringing them into conflict with the British invaders within five months of the establishment of the camp at Risdon Cove. This initial conflict grew into the Black War, which devastated the population of the native Tasmanians. The descendants of the indigenous Tasmanians now refer to themselves collectively as 'Palawa'.
Clarence was the site of the first European settlement in Tasmania (then Van Diemen's Land) in 1803 at Risdon Cove. At the time Napoleonic France and Great Britain were at war with each other. Fearing the arrival of French explorers who may have wished to make a rival claim to the island of Van Diemen's Land, the then Governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King dispatched a young 23-year-old Lieutenant by the name of John Bowen to establish a colony there. The first vessel of his party, Lady Nelson arrived in the Derwent on Wednesday, 8 September 1803, and Bowen arrived five days later aboard Albion.
Bowen selected the inlet at Risdon Cove, as when he had arrived in Spring the nearby stream was in full-flow. However within months it had dried up, and his camp was in despair for want of water. The site at Risdon Cove was badly affect by inconsistent water supply, and stagnation of the inlet during the late summer. …