Cremorne was formally proclaimed a town on 12 October 1959, when the long-standing name became officially recognised.
The Cremorne area was first granted to Sgt. James McCauley and his wife Maria who arrived in Hobart with Lt Gov Collins in 1804 and were friends of Rev. Robert Knopwood. One of the first homesteads to be built in the area was owned by ex-army Captain Busby who married and moved to the district on the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. He consequently named his farm ‘Waterloo'. John Robert Morrisby purchased ‘Waterloo' from widow Mary Busby in 1898. After WW1, the property was divided between two Morrisby sons, Alf and Allan. The half nearest the beach was called Cremorne, after Alf's wife's former home in Sydney. Alf sold the estate of Cremorne in 1943, and it was subdivided and put on the market in stages from 1946, by Hobart estate agents. There were 201 blocks, along the waterfront, along the lagoon and some inland, and by 1949, 121 had been sold and 48 dwellings built, virtually all shacks. There was also a reserve, giving public access to the beach. The new locality was naturally called Cremorne.
Many of the original weekenders built at Cremorne have now become permanent residences.
Cremorne Beach still has evidence of the wreck of the Nubeena in 1910. A small coastal steamer, she left Koonya for Hobart with 25 passengers and 40 head of cattle. The night was very dark, and she missed her way and grounded on Cremorne Beach, across Frederick Henry Bay. All hands, passengers and cattle were landed safely and after spending the night on the beach around huge fires, the passengers walked to Rokeby the next day. The Nubeena remained on the beach, where her boiler, a landmark on the beach for decades, is still just visible.
The bowls club at Cremorne was formed in 1966. That year a team won the Division 6 pennant, a clubhouse was built, and social activities were well underway, helped by the only licence between Lauderdale and South Arm. Ted and Ethel Watson and Oscar and Queenie Calvert were very enthusiastic inaugural members of the club.