Walking around the University of Tasmania grounds in Sandy Bay is a must if you are interested in Sixties architecture, secret waterfront dining or a bushwalk which may feature Tasmanian Devils.
A Secret Waterfront Bar and Restaurant
You’ll be driving for about 30 minutes out of the centre of Hobart to discover something not on the tourist trail for this walk. Once here (go through Battery Point for more history and follow the river) it’s an escape from the real world – and not just for scholars.
The University of Tasmania campus off Sandy Bay Road, is a short stroll to The Derwent Sailing Squadron bar and restaurant, called Moorings, with a large outdoor heated garden space, which is also absolute waterfront.
It’s open Wednesday to Friday and booking is advised. Address if you want to head there before your walk is 23 Marieville Esplanade, Sandy Bay. Have a look at a sample menu here.
This is one of Hobart’s best dining spaces and it’s a secret known to local yacht owners, but it’s also open to the public.
You can amble down to Moorings at Sandy Bay via Battery Point (in Hobart’s colonial past) and enjoy a good lunch or bar food, then see a Sixties dream – and some impressive Tasmanian history.Even the University of Tasmania underpass, heavily postered over the years, has been at the heart of some of Tasmania’s most famous student activism.
The campus was home to anti Vietnam War protests, soon after opening in the Sixties. It also played its part in saving The Franklin River twenty years later.
Classic Post Modern Buildings
There’s been an attempt to move the University of Tasmania into the city itself, recently, but the classic post-modern buildings remain as does the popular Hobart vote against such a plan.
Once here you can see why.
Over the road from the campus you can lose yourself among the bobbing yachts of Sandy Bay, near Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race legends – then admire the views of the River Derwent over a drink before heading off for the architecturally stunning Sixties buildings, set on 100 hectares of grounds – much of which is natural bushland.
The Morris Miller Library
The Morris Miller library is just one building worth noting in the grounds. The vintage tiling on the Engineering Building, another. Even the Refectory doors in the old Tasmanian University Student Union building have welcomed some famous names over the doors.
The old Refectory Steps were famously the site of many NO DAMS protests involving the Tasmanian Wilderness Society in the early 1980s.
Pictured: The Morris Miller Library, the Mathematics Building, the Refectory Steps, the Engineering Building, the 301 Research Building, the Chemistry Building, Refectory Doors (Holiday Goddess).
Wikimedia: Crown Princess Mary, Richard Flanagan.
Famous Alumni
Alumni at the University of Tasmania include Man Booker Prize winner Richard Flanagan, Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, David Walsh (MONA) and Luke McGregor (Rosehaven).
So if you’d like to see a secret non-tourist side of Hobart, with waterfront dining for around $20 per person just over the road – and some unique history to enjoy – head for the University of Tasmania in Sandy Bay, Hobart.
Add a Bushwalk
The Thomas Crawford trail expands your day walk here – it is right on campus. The Sandy Bay campus is home to Tasmania’s threatened species and communities including Tall Wallaby Grass (Austrodanthonia induta), Swamp Paperbark (Melaleuca ericifolia), Swift Parrots (Lathamus discolor), Forty-Spotted Pardalote (Pardalotus quadragintus), Eastern Barred Bandicoot (Perameles gunnii gunnii) and the Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisi). The trail is named after the late Thomas Crawford who attended the University in the 1960s.
This UTAS article has information on the Top 5 Bushwalks near the university campus
