Claremont, 15 km from Hobart on the city's northern fringes, takes its name from local settler Henry Bilton s Claremont House, which was built in the 1830s and which, in turn, was named in honour of one of the royal homes of England. An Army training facility operated here during World War I, but this was moved to Brighton some time before World War II. At that time Claremont there were only a few houses and farms.

Now a suburb of Hobart, Claremont owes its origins to the Cladbury chocolate factory at the locality. After World War I, British confectionery manufacturer Cadbury merged with J S Fry and then Pascall to become Cadbury-Fry and Pascall. The new company, ready for expansion internationally, decided to build a factory in Australia since Cadbury's first overseas order had come from Australia back in 1881 and Australia has developed into an important market for the company. Claremont was the chosen for the factory site because it is close to the city of Hobart, has a good source of inexpensive hydro-electricity and, importantly, a plentiful supply of high-quality fresh milk. Cadbury bought land in Claremont for its factory in 1920. The factory was established on the company's 100 hectare site in 1921 and production commenced in 1922. It has 18 heritage-listed buildings on the site and has had two multi-million dollar upgrades since 2001.

George Cadbury in particular thought of chocolate dipping, decorating, box making and wrapping as "women's work", and so the majority of workers were women. The initial workers were sent to Tasmania from the UK were mostly from the Birmingham and Bristol factories; some life-long workers for the confectioners. It was quite difficult for the British workers initially because they were quite isolated. However, it did not take the workers long to set up social clubs. A trainline was also built for easier access to Hobart. Of the 16 women who came to Tasmania to set up the factory, seven are known to have returned to the UK, two married and stayed in Tasmania, two did not marry but stayed and five left no record.



The Cadbury complex at Claremont on Windemere Bay is built on the same model as Bournville, Cadbury's original model village. George Cadbury started the Bournville housing estate near Birmingham, England, in 1895 with the idea that he could provide a positive and healthy working environment for his employees. He believed that good housing and the welfare of his workforce would illustrate the benefits for the good of society. His philosophy was that the model village he created to house his workers and their families would 'alleviate the evils of modern more cramped living conditions'.



In 1900, the Bournville Village Trust was set up to formally control the development of the estate, independently of George Cadbury or the Cadbury company. By 1900 the estate included 313 cottages and houses set on 330 acres of land. These almost 'Arts and crafts' houses were traditional in design but with large gardens and modern interiors, and were designed by the resident architect William Alexander Harvey. These designs became a blueprint for many other model village estates around Britain. It is also noteworthy that, because George Cadbury was a Quaker, no public houses have ever been built in Bournville, although since the late 1940s there has been a licenced members bar at Rowheath Pavilion.



George Cadbury and his brother Richard then moved their chocolate business from the centre of the city of Birmingham to Bournville which was a greenfield site at the time. This allowed for careful planning and landscaping of the environment, ensuring the prosperity and comfortable living conditions that residents enjoy today in this most pleasant part of Birmingham. Like Bournville, the original Claremont village was designed on the garden suburb principle, which abondoned the traditional British gird pattern of street design, for winding avenues and crescents interspersed with parks and natural reserves. Personnel associated with Cadburys and the development of Claremont and the company's products were honoured in the naming of Claremont's streets. These include Cadbury, Pascall, Macrobertsons, Somersale, Mitcham, Moreton, Cherry and Linden.


An original Cadbury-built home for Cadbury workers in Dempster Street

Between the 1960s and the 1980s, public housing was built in the suburb (as happened in the rest of the City of Glenorchy, in which Claremont is located).

After bringing pleasure to chocolate lovers for five decades, the institution of the Cadbury's chocolate factory tours has ended. New health and safety regulations adopted by Cadbury-Schweppes globally led to the discontinuation of the tours.

Claremont House

Claremont House, a Victorian Italianate Mansion, stands today on 5 acres of land overlooking the suburb that drew its name from the house. Originally a two storey four room Georgian homestead built as the rural retreat of sheep farmer Henry Bilton (1789-1889) on 734 acres, the property is now a sprawling 164 square Victorian Italianate mansion with views over the Derwent River and Mt Wellington. It enjoys 360 degree views from its upper floors and four storey widow’s walk. After years of meticulous restoration, Claremont House is open as a premier Heritage style accommodation venue.



Claremont House, originally a four room Georgian circa 1839, has a rich and varied history. For the first century of its life, Claremont House was owned by wealthy and powerful merchants, businessmen, politicians including Henry Billon Glenorchy, pioneer and importer of Leicester sheep from 1858 to 1889; Frank Bond, business entrepreneur and state politician from 1897 to 1911; and Joseph Darling, a former Australian Test Cricket Captain, sheep farmer and member of the legislative assembly. Claremont House was a grand mansion, located on top of a hill looking down on the surrounding lands. It had extensive gardens, both formal and informal, farmlands, orchards and a band of staff to run the property and household. The evolution of the property during this time reflected changing fashions and tastes, as well as material changes in architecture and building that is still evident in the existing fabric of the house.

In 1940, the property passed into the hands of the Red Cross Society which used the house has a convalescent home for returned servicemen. Following World War II, the Lady Clark Hospital became a rehabilitation centre for servicemen and later the general community after it was acquired by the Royal Hobart Hospital in 1951. The Lady Clark Rehabilitation Hospital ceased operation in 1980 and Claremont House was passed into the hands of the education department. Adult education classes were held at the property until 1996 until increasing maintenance costs caused relinquish of the building. Location: 16 Main Road, Claremont.

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Claremont Training Camp

When thousands of troops enlisted in the First World War, a camp was immediately established at Brighton in southern Tasmania, but lack of water was a problem. After the first contingent of troops left in October 1914, the main training camp was moved to Triffetts Point, Claremont, on what is now substantially the Cadbury Estate, Cadbury Factory and Claremont Golf Club. Logistically, Claremont was a good location for a training camp. It was close to the railway, near - but not too near - the city of Hobart, and a port of embarkation.

Trenches and dugouts provided realistic training conditions and the camp housed up to 2,200 men. “The ‘tent’ city as it was termed was a self-sufficient entity, with laundry, dental surgery, hairdressing salon, fruit shop, washing place and Post Office, beside other administration centres. After training at Claremont, the Tasmanian troops fought in all major battle fronts such as Gallipoli, France, Belgium and Palestine, and served with the Tasmanian 12th, 40th and 15th Battalions and 26th Battalion, a joint Tasmanian and Queensland Battalion.

Once War was declared against Germany in August 1914, the Australian Government offered 23 Light Horse Regiments from the Militia Volunteers. The Light Horse was seen as the national arm of Australian defence and young men, mostly from the country, flocked to join. Of this Brigade, the 3rd Regiment was recruited from Tasmania.