GOVERNMENT surveyors James Meehan and George Evans travelled from Sydney to Van Diemens Land in September 1812 under instructions from Governor Macquarie to re-measure all the land grants, form the streets of Hobart according to the governor's earlier plans and to lay down a plan for George Town in the north and New Norfolk in the south...
"The plan of Elizabeth Town, agreeably to His Excellency's judicious design, has also been laid out; and promises to be a situation highly interesting from the beauty of its surrounding scenery, and no less important from its position, which is on the right bank of the River Derwent, in the immediate vicinity of the settlement of New Norfolk, and within twenty-five miles of Hobart Town, which with its increase of population must gradually rise to eminence, and hereafter may become an envied mart of commerce in the southern hemisphere."
Elizabeth Town (New Norfolk) and George Town were originally laid out on the same plan but it seems unlikely that the same grid laid down for the northern town ever took form on the hilly ground in New Norfolk. While there were similar street names, notable absences from the plan for George Town include a circus (Circle St) and the twin crescents (Hillside and Montagu).
Source: Sydney. (1813, August 21). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), p. 2. Retrieved December 29, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article628758
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