Rokeby, Tasmania

Rokeby is a suburb of Hobart, capital of Tasmania, Australia. It is located on the eastern shore of the Derwent River and is part of the City of Clarence Local Government Area.

Rokeby started as Rokeby House, a farmhouse in the Clarence Plains area, in the 19th century and along with the nearby suburb of Clarendon Vale, was developed into a mainly public-housing suburb of Hobart in the 1970s. It was modelled after public housing projects that took place in the United States in the 1950s. The area has been typically associated with high crime and unemployment, but this trend is beginning to reverse, probably in part due to increasing levels of home ownership during the Hobart housing market boom of 2002. Houses in the area that were valued in the low $20,000 range are now being valued at over seven times this figure. The area has a historic church, with a traditional British picket-fence cricket ground and the Rokeby Historic Trail, also Rokeby has a skate park built around 2001, which is regarded as one of the best parks in the state, and had attracted many national and international pro skateboarders, most recent a competition held there in January 09 sponsored by Element skateboards, with $50,000 prize money which was won by a local Wayne Williams.


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