Kingston

Kingston is a town on the outskirts of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.

Kingston is a town on the outskirts of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.Nestled 12 km south of the city between and around several hills, Kingston is the seat of the Kingborough Council, and today serves as the gateway between Hobart and the D'Entrecasteaux Channel region, which meets the Derwent River nearby.It is one of the fastest-growing regions in Tasmania. The Kingston-Huntingfield statistical area had an estimated population of 11,200 in June 2012.Although the Kingston-Blackmans Bay region is statistically classed as a separate urban area to Hobart, Kingston is part of the Greater Hobart area. This is in part possibly due to the continuous urbanisation along the river front, its significant size, and the high number of Kingston residents working in the CBD of Hobart.

In 1804, the botanist Robert Brown visited the area. Browns River, that runs from Mount Wellington to Kingston Beach is named after him.The area was settled in 1808 by Thomas Lucas and his family, who were evacuated from Norfolk Island, and quickly the land became actively used by many pioneers who spread out to form the beginnings of Kingston's localities today. In its early years, the area was also named after Brown, but when the population grew and a commercial district was established, Kingston was proclaimed a township in 1851.The Kingston region comprises many suburban estates, including Blackmans Bay and Kingston Beach.

Kingston has close ties with the Dutch community, where after 1950 many post-war immigrants moved to an area they called 'Little Groningen' (today Firthside). The Kingston Dutch community were primarily members of the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia, which they set up the local church of in 1952. Calvin Christian School was founded by the Dutch community in 1962.Kingston was named by the Best Suburb in Australia for families by Aussie Home Loans in their annual study of 3800 Australian towns.