Though historical information on the wharf was hard to come by, it seems it was once a bustling hub of activity.

A story in The Daily Telegraph, dated July 13, 1917, detailed the day the wharf was opened.

The story said the wharf was open the day prior on July 12, and that it would be used for regular interstate shipping traffic

The first passenger vessel to use the wharf was the S.S. Rotomahana.

The initial trip was said to be very successful, with a “large public attendance” at the wharf on the arrival of the ship.

Another story from December 1923 detailed the day Launceston “gained distinction” when the Ellerman Hall Steamer, Stanley Hall, berthed at Kings Wharf.

It was the largest steamer to come to the city’s wharves at that time, at 390 feet – or 118 metres.

The Launceston Heritage Study from 2007 lists places of local heritage significance, including the Kings Wharf area.

The study states that the surviving Kings Wharf building dated back to 1917, and was built in a functionalist style.

“Similar to those found in Hobart and other Tasmanian ports, to a lesser scale, the building forms part of a significant collection of port facilities,” it said.

“The surviving Kings Wharf buildings dating from the 1917 construction demonstrate the former port activity with substantial buildings of mass concrete construction. 

“The building is well designed, retains a high level of integrity despite current usage and has the ability to provide interpretation of the port activities of Launceston.”

It said the wharf appeared to have been designed by prominent firm, North, Ricards and Heyward.

On July 10, 1979, a fire destroyed half of the wharf.

Now, the wharf could be getting a new lease on life.

Launceston developer Errol Stewart plans to build a 400-metre long, 15-metre wide wharf near the recently-developed Silo Hotel.

He said now the place was “coming alive”, it was time to fix the wharf itself.

“The wharf is stuffed. It’s completely unusable, unserviceable, it’s ugly and a blight on the river system,” he said.

“The wharf is going to get fixed some time whether it’s in my lifetime or the next person’s that comes along.

“But we’d like to put a proposition into the government now especially with a [federal] election coming up to see if we can get some funding.”