Suburban history

On a private voyage of exploration between 1792 and 1794, Captain John Hayes with two ships, the Duke of Clarence and the Duchess, spent several weeks in Southern Tasmania, during which time he named the Derwent River and also Risdon Cove. John Hayes also named Mount Direction.

Clarence Plains, now known as Rokeby, was named by Hayes in 1793 after his ship The Duke of Clarence. From this early name came the name of the present city. Rokeby itself was named after George Stokell's Rokeby House which Stokell had named after a village in Yorkshire, England.

Bellerive was initially called Kangaroo Point, probably because of the numbers of kangaroos seen by the first settlers. The present name was officially proclaimed in 1892.

Howrah was named after Howrah House, a property established in the 1830s on Clarence Plains by a retired Indian Army officer who took the name from a place of the same name near Calcutta.

Lindisfarne was named after Lindisfarne House, a property adjoining Rosny in the 1820s and this in turn was named after the Holy Island of Northumbria. About 1892 the name Beltana was given to the area, but it was renamed Lindisfarne in 1903 because of confusion caused by the similarity of the names, Beltana and Bellerive. Also see Brief History of Lindisfarne

Otago was named after the iron barque of the same name, the remains of which can still be seen on the shoreline of Otago Bay. Also see the Otago page on the Parks and Wildlife Service web site.

Rosny was a family name of W A Bethune, the holder of the original grant and it was named after his ancestor, the Duc de Maximilien de Bethune Sully, of Rosny near Mantes in France.

More historical details are available in the City of Clarence publications called 'The Eastern Shore, a History of Clarence' and 'Spirit of Clarence'.