Howrah

Located directly opposite the centre of Hobart on the eastern bank of the Derwent River, the suburb of Howrah owes its unusual name to the whim of a retired Indian Army officer.

Seems the officer had some experience of a place called Howrah on the outskirts of Calcutta so when he built his retirement home on the Derwent it became Howrah House Down Under.

Howrah is within a brisk stroll of the major suburb of Bellerive, which is connected to the central business district of Hobart by the Tasman Bridge. Bellerive Oval, of course, is a major cricket venue and those stunning, between-over shots across the river to Hobart and beyond to Mt Wellington will be familiar to millions of television test cricket viewers across the world.

Howrah is part of Clarence City Council whose boundaries are defined by 191km of coastline, while more than one-third of the municipality is preserved in natural bushland.

Set in Clarence"s Coal Valley, the historic village of Richmond includes a fascinating host of convict-built structures with a jail, a maze, a toy museum and Australia"s oldest stone bridge which dates back to 1823.