The first settlement on the Tamar River was the third settlement to occur outside Sydney, after Port Phillip, later Melbourne and Risdon Cove, the first settlement on the Derwent River, which of course later moved across the river the Sullivans Cove. Likewise the first Tamar Settlement, at York Town, was moved southwards to the beginning of the Tamar at  what is now known as Launceston. York Town was settled initially to allay the fears of the British, that the French might occupy some part of the Northern Coastline of Tasmania and therefore be in a position to threaten the trading route through Bass Strait. The York Town settlement of a hundred or so hardy souls in November 1804, is commemorated in a commercial sort of way in present day Launceston at "York Town Square".