Rosevears
The division of Rosevears takes its name from the village of Rosevears, on the banks of the West Tamar, in the heart of the West Tamar-based division.
William Henry Rosevear arrived in Tasmania from the colony at Swan River (Perth, Western Australia) with his wife and children in 1829. He had spent most of his working life as a farmer in Cornwall, England, and, in view of his experience on the land, was granted 640 acres (256 hectares) in the West Tamar. He was granted a further 430 acres (172 hectares) 10 years later in 1839. The land was used for orcharding and other agricultural pursuits.
Rosevear was also a publican, holding the licence of the Half Way House between 1833 and 1834, and was listed as the licensee of the Rose Inn in 1835 and again between 1848 and 1851. The Rose Inn was first licensed in 1831 and trades today as the Rosevear Waterfront Tavern. Sections of the interior retain the original brickwork.
Rosevear described himself in the census of 1848 as being in the "Landed Proprietors, Merchants, Bankers and Professional persons class".
He died in 1860, aged 73.
Rosevears was the site of early shipbuilding. The area and the shipyards were also known as Battery Point and Cimitiere's Point (taking its name from Colonel Gilbert Cimitiere, who was Commandant of Port Dalrymple between 1818 and 1822). Among the shipbuilders were the Plummer family. Sea captain George Plummer arrived in Tasmania in the late 1820s. The Plummers' shipyard built the Rebecca, in which John Batman sailed to Port Phillip in 1835, which resulted in the founding of Melbourne.
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