The night it finally all ended

FROM the vantage point of a century on, it is impossible to imagine the sense of relief that Tasmanians must have felt on hearing the news that four years of was finally over.

But by looking at the images taken by the Mercury's photographers, and the newspaper’s report of the celebrations, we get a taste of what it was like.

It was a Monday when it all came to an end. And it was through the Mercury that Hobartians first learned the news, but not in the newspaper itself.

Instead, an expectant crowd gathered through the day outside the Mercury’s office in Macquarie St reading the latest news posted at regular intervals on billboards outside.

But it was not until 8.30pm — with the crowds having by then thinned — that a message was posted saying the State Department in Washington had announced the signing of the Armistice.

Let’s let the next day’s Mercury take up the story: “There was a spontaneous outburst of cheering, which, though not of great volume, must have been heard afar, because, with astonishing quickness, the small crowd became great. People made for the Town Hall from all directions, and in a few minutes the front of the Mercury office was besieged by thousands of people anxious to see the message for themselves.”

Word soon spread that Premier Walter Lee would only confirm the news when he received official confirmation from the Acting Prime Minister. The crowd, however, “was satisfied to trust the Mercury” — along with “those responsible for the firing of three guns from the Queen’s Battery on the Domain” within minutes of the news being posted.

“Each flash and each boom was the signal for a cheer by way of echo, and after this public announcement of the news the crowd got impatient p to commence the demonstration proper,” the Mercury reported.

But still the Premier refused to emerge from the Mayor’s parlour inside Town Hall.

And so while they waited, the crowd entertained themselves. First they sang the “National Anthem, Rule Brittannia, the Marseillaise, Australia Will Be There, Tipperary, Keep the Home Fires Burning etc”.

Then they gave three cheers for: “The King, Marshal Foch, Marshal Haig, the boys at the front, the parents who had sent their boys to the front, and everybody else for whom cheers were called for”.

“Everybody wanted someone to do something. The crowd had assumed huge di- mensions, stretching up Macquarie St to the National Mutual Building and down towards the City Hall and every tram from the outskirts of the city arrived packed with passengers. By this time the Post Office clock struck 10.30 and the Premier was urged ... to allow the announcement to be made. But he was adamant, and would do nothing until he had received his official message.”

And so it was left to the Mayor to take to the stage and tell the crowd that if the news was confirmed the formalities would be held at 11am the following day ( pictured above). The crowd remained, however, cheering and singing patriotic songs until well after midnight.

It must have been quite the night, and it marked the start of weeks of celebrations.

We have gone back through our archives to put together this supplement. On the next two pages are some amazing images from the Hobart celebrations — with a map indicating where each took place. And on the back page of this supplement we reproduce a page from The Tasmanian Mail (what was our weekly pictorial paper) of November 14 1918 showing more images from the celebrations in the exact form readers would have seen them a century ago.

This weekend is a significant historic anniversary. The Mercury is proud to make a commi mitment to marking it.