Thursday 18 July 2013

Other Mechanics' Institutes in Tasmania

In addition to the Launceston Mechanics' Institute, and the less successful Hobart Institute (1827-1871), institutes were established in many smaller Tasmanian centres.

Stefan Petrow has identified Mechanics' Institutes at Franklin, Huon, Don, Waratah, Port Esperance, Ellesmere (later Scottsdale), Emu Bay, Ringarooma and Queenstown. The word 'mechanics' did not form part of the name of the Bellerive, Campbell Town, Devon, Glenora, Green Ponds, Hamilton-on-Forth, Lefroy, Oatlands, Sorell, Stanley and Wynyard institutes, but they had similar aims to mechanics' institutes.

Related but short-lived societies included the Tasmanian Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (Launceston, 1831), the Tasmanian Society for the Acquisition of Useful Knowledge (Hobart Town, 1845), and the Mechanics' School of Arts (Hobart Town, 1850).(1)

Two collections which have survived in part are those of the Bothwell Literary Society (founded 1834) and the Evandale Subscription Library (1847).

(1) The Companion to Tasmanian History (Hobart, Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies, 2005), p232.

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