Window to Togatus (7): Go Forth Wharfie, Punch Someone

Fancy an altercation; try a visit to the Hobart Wharf on any given Saturday night.

From first settlement in 1804 violence has been prevalent in Hobart; and The Port Arthur Massacre hasn’t dispersed any violent assertions. A rich history of convict violence is compounded by 49 glass related assaults (glassings) this year. This has lead some to suggest an inherent and instilled legacy of violence in Tasmania.

To the naked eye sleepy lil ‘Slowbart’ may appear like a relaxed harbour town. However, as the sun goes down and white crystals start to react with bourbon and rum, the wharf becomes a charged ‘no rules’ fight town.

The peaceful stigma of Van Diemen’s Land (which tourism promoters attempt to bestow) is questioned when the lads congregate. History has a habit of repeating itself and therefore it may be a good place to start looking for answers. After all, fashion designers are always pulling their grandmother’s outfits out of the attic and sending them down the catwalk.

We must first consider the early settlers, who three to four generations ago spent their Sunday afternoons, post church, probing bush land to eradicate the native inhabitants. This astounding local history highlights how violence and our ancestors were tight. Demographer Dr Alexander, a seventh-generation Australian with convict ancestors in the first, second and third fleets, says “about 74 per cent of Tasmanians today have convict ancestry.”

Whether we place blame on the less educated, lower socio-economic segments of society or our violent genetic make-up in the course of our convict past, there is no denying a need for change. Reforming the actions of Hobart’s nighttime revellers is necessary to reinstate sanctuary-based comfort. I say ‘reinstate’ because I don’t think the previous land dwellers, the Aborigines, went down to the shores of the Derwent River to aggressively bop each other.

Violence on the streets of Hobart has been viewed as a symptom of a breakdown in society, and shattering a glass over the head of your neighbour may pose as a symbol. The increased division between the haves and have-nots proposes many societal issues and this ugly situation could be a resulting consequence of the divide.

Imagine, for one minute, your primary school sexual education classes. Remember the horizontal shaped teardrop sperms (with facial features) racing each other up the fallopian tube. Well, if your average prowler continues on the same path of evolution, soon we’ll be seeing Tasmanian sperm yielding an axe and possibly giving the female egg a black eye and a fat lip before fertilising.

Lamentable statistics reveal 49 glassing attacks in the first 5 months of this year compared to 54 for all of last year. The countless glassings and bashings often unprovoked have prompted Legislative Councillor Jim Wilkinson to lobby for a parliamentary inquiry. Undoubtedly warranted, the parliamentary inquiry could divulge the inner psyché of Hobart’s bashers – and perhaps even our neighbours across the Strait.

With two well publicised town-planning reports on the future development of Hobart due later this year, the capital should consider some form of policy, and or, infrastructure amendment, i.e. CCTV.

Inspector Douglas Rossiter of The Tasmanian Police Force says, “the escalating violence is a concern, but we are ramping up services to control anti-social behaviour in the area.” Police do have a presence in the area, but violent behaviour is still obviously a major concern. “Police can’t be everywhere at once,” said Rossiter. He did however support the parliamentary inquiry and was “willing to work with an administration aimed at curbing future violence, in particular glassings.”