Hope and Anchor Hotel


The Hope and Anchor, known just as the Hope Inn, c 1900 (W.L. Crowther Library, SLT)

The Hope and Anchor claims to be Australia's oldest existing hotel – or, perhaps, to occupy the longest continually licensed site. It was built on the banks of the Hobart Rivulet near the Derwent foreshore, and Knopwood mentioned drinking there in 1807. With this waterfront situation, trading was very successful, and stories were told of the licensees' successful smuggling, with barrels of rum rolled up the bank at night to the hotel's cellars. The first hotel was extensively renovated in the 1820s and in 1827 claimed to be 'superior to any in Hobart Town'. It has had many names – the Whale Fishery, the Hope, the Anchor and Hope, the Alexandra – and many ups and downs, including rebuilding, and in 2004, after the most recent renovation, has a fine historical ambience and profits from the expanding tourist trade.

Further reading: D Bryce, Pubs in Hobart, Hobart, 1997.

Alison Alexander