Bishop Francis Nixon, a strikingly good-looking man, arrived in Hobart Town with his second wife in 1843, having ordained a priest and confirmed 400 parishioners at Cape Town en route.
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His arrival changed the status of St David's to a cathedral, while Hobart Town became a city. The diocese of Van Diemen's Land was separated from New South Wales and became answerable directly to Canterbury.
His aggressive and single-minded Anglicanism soon made him enemies, but also gained results.
He saw an opportunity in 1844, when William Walker found himself in financial difficulties and had to sell the vast Vron estate near Longford.
On behalf of the church, Bishop Nixon bought around 700 acres, including the manor house, for the considerable sum of £6000. He named the purchase Bishopsbourne and asked the locals to build a church next door.
Nixon's original intention was to use the property to produce an income stream for the church. When he came up to open the new church in 1845, he leased out 300 acres with the mansion for £200 a year.
However, he soon had grander ideas.
At this time there was a great need in Tasmania for a college able to educate boys to a standard for university entrance or the priesthood.
He decided to build three schools: Christ's College Bishopsbourne, Launceston Grammar and Hutchins, and sent his Archdeacon to England to raise money.
Fletcher & Field of Launceston were employed for a preliminary conversion of the Bishopsbourne manor house to a school, in advance of major works and ready for opening in October 1846.
These same builders erected the original Launceston Grammar (now the Colonial Motor Inn) in 1847.
The school put the locality on the map and triggered considerable progress. A post office, for example, opened just two months later.
Christ's College was initially successful, educating some of Tasmania's most eminent men. However the school was remote, and suffered (reputedly) from bad financial management, failing to cover costs, even with substantial financial support from Captain Edward Dumaresq and others such as Sir Richard Dry. It closed in 1857 and its fine classical library moved to Launceston.
This was not the end though, and for a few years theological students were still trained there.
In 1879 the college formally reopened in Hobart, and in 1929 became the first residential college of the University of Tasmania. It is now said to be the oldest tertiary institution in Australia.
Please note last week's column was written by Julian Burgess.
