Hobart Town is John Glover’s first major Tasmanian work. It is a view of his own garden and his enthusiasm for his new home is evident in his handwritten inscription on the back of the work: ‘The Geraniums, Roses, etc. will give some idea how magnificent the garden may be had here’.

In the distance, clear signs of the township's rapid development can be seen — dockside warehouses, military-grid roadways, Government House, St David’s Church, and more than a dozen vessels riding at anchor in Sullivan’s Cove.