The grassy waterfront land on the eastern side of Launceston’s yacht basin wasn’t officially named Royal Park until 1912 but is significant as the place where Europeans first camped as they explored the head of the newly explored estuary that was to be named the Tamar River. Lieutenant-Colonel William Paterson, sent by the British Government from Sydney to settle northern Van Diemens Land, gave a glowing report of the countryside after his first view of it on 1 December 1804.