The photograph above, taken in 1956, shows the Lady Franklin Museum, the sandstone Greek-style building in Lenah Valley.
It’s a beautiful building, though it seems out of place in its location in a city-fringe park full of pademelons at night. You might think it’d be more at home in the Acropolis of Athens, but it is here to stay.
The museum was constructed by convicts in 1842. It’d been commissioned by Lady Jane Franklin, the wife of Sir John Franklin, who served as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen’s Land between 1836 and 1843. She wanted it to display sculptures and natural history exhibits because she believed there was a lack of similar cultural institutions in Tasmania at the time.
The Franklins returned to Britain shortly after the museum opened, leaving it in the care of Queens College. Unfortunately, the building soon fell into disrepair.
In 1921, the City of Hobart Council assumed ownership of the Lady Franklin Museum and slowly restored the building. It re-opened in the late 1940s, and the Art Society of Tasmania now holds art exhibitions, social events, and workshops there on a monthly basis.
Tas That Was is a column that includes:
- anecdotes of life in Tasmania in the past;
- historical photographs of locations in Tasmania; and/or
- documentaries about locations in Tasmania.
If you have an anecdote or photograph you’d like to share with us, please send it to [email protected].
Callum J. Jones studied English, History, and Journalism at the University of Tasmania. He has written fiction and non-fiction for Tasmanian Times since 2018. He can be traced by the smell of fresh coffee.
Follow him on Twitter (@Callum_Jones_10) and Facebook (@callum.j.jones.creative).
