Franklin Square at the corner of Elizabeth & Davey Street is the site of Hobart’s first Government House, which collapsed around 1858 and was converted to a park. It is the place of a major city bus stop, a rallying point for the public and the site of the statue of Sir John Franklin.
Appointed the 5th Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen’s land (Tasmania) in 1836, Sir John Franklin was an arctic explorer and British Royal Navy Officer who had by that time mapped the majority of North America’s northern coastline. He was well liked by the locals but not by his fellow civil servants who managed to get him removed from office in 1843 because of an economic downturn and his humane ideals. Tasmania’s Franklin River and the village of Franklin are named in his honor. He disappeared with two ships and crew on his 1845 expedition to find and chart the Northwest Passage.
There are also statutes of Sir John Franklin in London and in his home town of Spilsby, Lincolnshire, England.
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