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| PRINCE'S SQUARE OAK |
Princes Square is clearly worthy of an
extremely long post all of its own, and will in due course have one,
but for now, I'll just make an entry for this little sign.
The first royal tour of Australia was
undertaken by Prince Alfred, the Duke of Edinburgh in 1867-68. It
was an eventful trip, featuring sectarian violence, a riot in
Melbourne and ending with an assasination attempt in Sydney. Amidst
all of this, the Duke managed to have a comparatively pleasant month
or so in Tasmania. Despite experiencing “July weather in January”,
the Duke managed to brave the rain for a while, on Wednesday the 15th
to plant two Oak trees to commemorate his visit to Launceston. This
plaque remains – if you have a bored child in tow next time you're
in Princes Square, challenge them to find it!
Whilst he was in town, the Duke also
turned the first sod of the Launceston and Deloraine railway, and was
rowed up the Cataract Gorge in the evening. The Gorge was lit with
bonfires and coloured fires, small boats were illuminated with lamps
and choirs sang (the orchestral performance had to be cancelled due
to the weather). The Examiner gives a full account of the
day!
Despite some secondary sources
suggesting otherwise, this was not the time at which Prince's Square
was thus named. After the area was redeveloped into a park, it was
initially known as St John's Square, but its official opening
coincided with the heir to the throne's 18th birthday
(November 10th 1859) and the name began to be used
unofficially shortly after this time. It was certainly referred to as
such when the first two “royal oaks” were planted in the park by
the Launceston Mayor, W. Hart in 1863 to commemorate the marriage of
the Prince of Wales to Princess Alexandra of Denmark.
