The Tasmanian. Volume II, number 56. March 21, 1828. (Subscriber copy of P. A. Mulgrave).

Hobart Town : Printed and published by John Campbell MacDougall, at the Tasmanian Office, Elizabeth Street, March 21 1828. Folio newspaper, [4] pp, upper margin of first page with subscriber’s name ‘P. A. Mulgrave, J.P.’ inscribed in ink and 2d newspaper duty stamp in orange; old folds (some tearing along the fold lines); a fragile but complete copy.

The first issue of George Howe’s newspaper the Tasmanian was published in Hobart on March 3 1827. Within a few months John Campbell MacDougall, manager of the Tasmanian Brewery, had purchased the newspaper from Howe, and he became its editor and publisher-proprietor.

The copy of the March 21 1828 issue we offer here is the subscriber copy of the significant early Van Diemen’s Land colonist, the public servant Peter Archer Mulgrave. Mulgrave had arrived in Hobart Town in 1821 to take up the position of superintendent of schools in Van Diemen’s Land. He later became a magistrate, coroner and superintendent of police at Port Dalrymple, and also acted as superintendent of schools at Launceston. During 1828, when he received this issue of the Tasmanian, Mulgrave was superintendent of police at Launceston. The following year Lieutenant-Governor Arthur would appoint him chief police magistrate of the colony.

A tax on newspapers of 2d per sheet was introduced by Lieutenant-Governor Arthur on 20 October 1827. It remained in force for only two years, being discontinued on October 17 1829.