Tasmania is an
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n island and
stateThe Commonwealth of Australia is a union of six states and various territories. The Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories, with the sixth state of Tasmania being made up of islands. In addition there are six island territories, known as external territories, and a...
. It is 240 kilometres (149.1 mi) south of the continent, separated by
Bass StraitBass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater
HobartHobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
precinct. Tasmania’s area is 68401 square kilometres (26,409.8 sq mi), of which the main island covers 62409 square kilometres (24,096.2 sq mi).
Tasmania is promoted as the
natural state, the "island of inspiration", and
A World Apart, Not A World Away owing to its large and relatively unspoiled natural environment. Almost 37% of Tasmania lies in reserves, national parks and
World Heritage SitesThe Tasmanian Wilderness is a term that is used for a range of areas in Tasmania, Australia.The World Heritage Areas in South West, Western and Central are the most well known. However, there are also other areas in Tasmania that have the elements of being known as wilderness areas, the Tarkine...
. The island is 364 kilometres (226.2 mi) long from its
northernmostCape Grim is the northwestern point of Tasmania, Australia.It is the location of the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station which is operated by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology in a joint programme with the CSIRO....
to its
southernmostSouth East Cape is the southernmost point of the main island of Tasmania, the southernmost state of Australia. South East Cape is located at ....
points, and 306 kilometres (190.1 mi) from west to east.
The
state capital and largest city is Hobart which encompasses the local government areas of
City of HobartThe City of Hobart is a Local Government Area of Tasmania, Australia. It is one of three local government areas covering the metropolitan area of the state capital, Hobart.-Government:...
,
City of GlenorchyThe City of Glenorchy is a Local Government Area of Tasmania which covers several northern suburbs of Hobart including the suburb of Glenorchy by the same name. The city is managed by Glenorchy City Council. Current mayor is Stuart Slade.- History :...
, and City of Clarence, while the satellite town of
KingstonKingston is a township and region on the outskirts of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Nestled 15 km south of the city between and around several hills, Kingston is the council seat of its wider municipality, the Kingborough Council, and today serves as the gateway between Hobart and the...
(part of the Municipality of Kingborough) is generally included in the Greater Hobart area. Other major population centres include
LauncestonLaunceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...
in the north and
Devonport-Sport:The Devonport Football Club is an Australian Rules team competing in the Tasmanian Statewide League. The Devonport Rugby Club is a Rugby Union team competing in the Tasmanian Rugby Union Statewide League...
and
Burnie- Sport :Australian rules football is popular in Burnie. The city's team is the Burnie Dockers Football Club in the Tasmanian State League.Rugby union is also played in Burnie. The local club is the Burnie Rugby Union Club. They are the current Tasmanian Rugby Union Statewide Division Two Premiers...
in the northwest. The
subantarcticThe Subantarctic is a region in the southern hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46° – 60° south of the Equator. The subantarctic region includes many islands in the southern parts of the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and...
Macquarie IslandMacquarie Island lies in the southwest corner of the Pacific Ocean, about half-way between New Zealand and Antarctica, at 54°30S, 158°57E. Politically, it has formed part of the Australian state of Tasmania since 1900 and became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978. In 1997 it became a world heritage...
is also under the administration of the state, as part of the Huon Valley Council local government area.
Etymology
The state is named after Dutch explorer
Abel TasmanAbel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the VOC . His was the first known European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand and to sight the Fiji islands...
, who made the first reported European sighting of the island on 24 November 1642. Tasman named the island "Anthony van Diemen's Land" after his sponsor
Anthony van DiemenAnthony van Diemen , Dutch colonial governor, was born in Culemborg in the Netherlands, the son of Meeus Anthonisz van Diemen and Christina Hoevenaar. In 1616 he moved to Amsterdam, in hope of improving his fortune as a merchant; in this he failed and was declared bankrupt...
, the Governor of the
Dutch East IndiesThe Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
. The name was later shortened to
Van Diemen's LandVan Diemen's Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to land on the shores of Tasmania...
by the British. It was officially renamed Tasmania in honour of its first European discoverer on 1 January 1856.
Tasmania was sometimes referred to as "Dervon", as mentioned in
The Jerilderie LetterThe Jerilderie Letter was dictated by infamous bushranger Ned Kelly to Joe Byrne in 1879. The letter is named after the town of Jerilderie, New South Wales, Australia where the Kelly gang carried out a daring robbery.-External links:...
written by the notorious Australian
bushrangerBushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...
Ned KellyEdward "Ned" Kelly was an Irish Australian bushranger. He is considered by some to be merely a cold-blooded cop killer — others, however, consider him to be a folk hero and symbol of Irish Australian resistance against the Anglo-Australian ruling class.Kelly was born in Victoria to an Irish...
in 1879. The colloquial expression for the state is "Tassie" . This name is often used in advertising campaigns, for example by the Bass Strait ferry,
Spirit of TasmaniaSpirit of Tasmania may refer to:* The trading name of TT-Line Pty. Ltd.* One of the following ferries that sailed under the name of Spirit of Tasmania during its careers:** ** ** **...
.
Physical history
It is believed that the island was joined to the mainland of Australia until the end of the last glacial period approximately 10,000 years ago. Much of the island is composed of
JurassicThe Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
doleriteDiabase or dolerite is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. In North American usage, the term diabase refers to the fresh rock, whilst elsewhere the term dolerite is used for the fresh rock and diabase refers to altered material...
intrusions (upwellings of
magmaMagma is a mixture of molten rock, volatiles and solids that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and is expected to exist on other terrestrial planets. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and dissolved gas and sometimes also gas bubbles. Magma often collects in...
) through other rock types, sometimes forming large columnar joints. Tasmania has the world's largest areas of dolerite, with many distinctive mountains and cliffs formed from this rock type.
The central plateau and the southeast portions of the island are mostly dolerite.
Mount WellingtonMount Wellington is a mountain on whose foothills is built much of the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is often referred to simply as 'the Mountain' by the residents of Hobart, and it rises to AHD over the city....
above Hobart is a good example, showing distinct columns known as the Organ Pipes. In the southern midlands as far south as Hobart, the dolerite is underlaid by sandstone and similar sedimentary stones. In the southwest,
PrecambrianThe Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...
quartziteQuartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...
s are formed from very ancient sea sediments and form strikingly sharp ridges and ranges, such as Federation Peak or Frenchmans Cap.
In the northeast and east, continental
graniteGranite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
s can be seen, such as at Freycinet, similar to coastal granites on mainland Australia. In the northwest and west, mineral-rich volcanic rock can be seen at Mount Read near
RoseberyRosebery is a town on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is situated at the northern end of the West Coast Range, in the shadow of Mount Black and adjacent to the Pieman River now Lake Pieman....
, or at Mount Lyell near
QueenstownQueenstown is a town in the West Coast region of the island of Tasmania. It is located in a valley on western slopes of Mount Owen on the West Coast Range.It had a population of 5,119 people . At the 2006 census, Queenstown had a population of 2,117....
. Also present in the south and northwest is
limestoneLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
with magnificent caves.
The quartzite and dolerite areas in the higher mountains show evidence of glaciation, and much of Australia's glaciated landscape is found on the Central Plateau and the Southwest.
Cradle MountainCradle Mountain is a mountain in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, Tasmania, Australia. Rising to 1,545 metres above sea level it is one of the principal tourist sites in Tasmania, owing to its natural beauty...
, another dolerite peak, for example, was a
NunatakA nunatak is an exposed, often rocky element of a ridge, mountain, or peak not covered with ice or snow within an ice field or glacier. The term is typically used in areas where a permanent ice sheet is present...
. The combination of these different rock types offers incredible scenery, much of it distinct from any other region of the world. In the far south-west corner of the state, the geology is almost completely quartzite, which gives the mountains the false impression of having snow capped peaks year round.
Indigenous people
Tasmania was first inhabited by the Tasmanian Aborigines. Evidence indicates their presence in the region, later to become an island, at least 35,000 years ago. Rising sea levels cut Tasmania off from mainland Australia about 10,000 years ago.
By the time of European contact, the Aboriginal people in Tasmania had nine major ethnic groups. At the time of British settlement in 1803, the indigenous population was estimated at between 5,000 and 10,000 people. Through the introduction of infectious diseases to which they had no immunity,
warThe Black War is a term used to describe a period of conflict between British colonists and Tasmanian Aborigines in the early nineteenth century...
, and
persecutionThe Black Line was an event that occurred in 1830 in Tasmania, or Van Diemen's Land as it was then known. After many years of conflict between British colonists and the Aborigines known as the Black War, Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur decided to remove all Aborigines from the settled areas in...
, the population dwindled to 300 by 1833. Almost all of the indigenous population was relocated to
Flinders IslandFlinders Island is an island in Bass Strait. It is from Cape Portland, the north-eastern tip of Tasmania, Australia and is the largest island in the Furneaux Group.-History:...
by
George Augustus RobinsonGeorge Augustus Robinson was a builder and untrained preacher. He was the Chief Protector of Aborigines in Port Phillip District from 1839 to 1849...
.
A woman named
TruganiniTrugernanner , often referred to as Truganini, was a woman widely considered to be the last "full blood" Palawa ....
(1812–76) is generally recognised as the last full-blooded Tasmanian Aborigine. Strong evidence suggests that the last survivor was another woman,
Fanny Cochrane SmithFanny Cochrane Smith, was a Tasmanian Aborigine, born in December 1834. She is considered to be the last fluent speaker of a Tasmanian language, and her wax cylinder recordings of songs are the only audio recordings of any of Tasmania's indigenous languages.-Life:Fanny Cochrane's mother and...
, who was born at Wybalena and died in 1905.
European arrival
The first reported sighting of Tasmania by a European was on 24 November 1642 by the Dutch explorer
Abel TasmanAbel Janszoon Tasman was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the VOC . His was the first known European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land and New Zealand and to sight the Fiji islands...
. Tasman landed at today's Blackman's Bay. In 1773 Tobias Furneaux was the first Englishman to land in Tasmania at Adventure Bay. A French expedition led by
Marc-Joseph Marion du FresneMarc-Joseph Marion du Fresne , with the surname sometimes spelt Dufresne, was a French explorer who made important discoveries in the south Indian Ocean, in Tasmania and in New Zealand, where he died...
also landed at Blackman's Bay in 1772.
Captain
James CookCaptain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
landed at Adventure Bay in 1777—with young William Bligh aboard. William Bligh returned in 1788 (H.M.S. Bounty) and again in 1792 (H.M.S
Providence), with young Matthew Flinders aboard. Numerous other Europeans made landfalls, adding a colourful array to the names of topographical features. Matthew Flinders and George Bass first proved Tasmania to be an island in 1798–99.
The first settling of Tasmania was by the
BritishThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
at
Risdon CoveRisdon Cove was the site of the first British settlement in Van Diemen's Land, now Tasmania, the smallest Australian state. Risdon Cove, which was named after William Bellamy Risdon, second officer of the ship Duke of Clarence. Risdon served under Lt...
on the eastern bank of the Derwent estuary in 1803, by a small party sent from Sydney, under Lt. John Bowen for the purpose of preventing the French from claiming the island. An alternative settlement was established by Captain David Collins 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to the south in 1804 in Sullivans Cove on the western side of the Derwent, where fresh water was more plentiful. The latter settlement became known as Hobart Town or Hobarton, later shortened to Hobart, after the
British Colonial SecretaryThe Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet minister in charge of managing the United Kingdom's various colonial dependencies....
of the time, Lord Hobart. The settlement at Risdon was later abandoned.
The early settlers were mostly convicts and their military guards, with the task of developing agriculture and other industries. Numerous other convict-based settlements were made in
Van Diemen's LandVan Diemen's Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to land on the shores of Tasmania...
, including secondary prisons, such as the particularly harsh
penal coloniesA penal colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general populace by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory...
at
Port ArthurPort Arthur is a small town and former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula, in Tasmania, Australia. Port Arthur is one of Australia's most significant heritage areas and the open air museum is officially Tasmania's top tourist attraction. It is located approximately 60 km south east of...
in the southeast and
Macquarie HarbourMacquarie Harbour is a large, shallow, but navigable by shallow draft vessels inlet on the West Coast of Tasmania, Australia.-History:James Kelly wrote in his narrative "First Discovery of Port Davey and Macquarie Harbour" how he sailed from Hobart in a small open five-oared whaleboat to discover...
on the West Coast. In the fifty years from 1803 to 1853 around 75,000 convicts were transported to Tasmania. Van Diemen's Land was proclaimed a separate colony from
New South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, with its own judicial establishment and
Legislative CouncilThe Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the House of Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart...
, on 3 December 1825.
Colony of Tasmania
The Colony of Tasmania (more commonly referred to simply as "Tasmania") was a British colony that existed on the island of Tasmania from 1856 until 1901, when it
federatedThe Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia formed one nation...
together with the five other Australian colonies to form the Commonwealth of Australia. The possibility of the colony was established when the Westminster Parliament passed the Australian Colonies Government Act 1850, granting the right of legislative power to each of the six Australian colonies.
The
Legislative Council of Van Diemen's LandThe Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the House of Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart...
drafted a new constitution which they passed in 1854, and it was given
Royal AssentThe granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
by Queen Victoria in 1855. Later in that year the
Privy CouncilA privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
approved the colony changing its name from "Van Diemen's Land" to "Tasmania", and in 1856, the newly elected bicameral parliament sat for the first time, establishing Tasmania as a
self-governingResponsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy...
colony of the British Empire.
The Colony suffered from economic fluctuations, but for the most part was prosperous, experiencing steady growth. With few external threats and strong trade links with the Empire, the Colony of Tasmania enjoyed many fruitful periods in the late 19th century, becoming a world-centre of shipbuilding. It raised a local defence force which eventually played a
significant roleThe military history of Australia during the Boer War is complex, and includes a period of history in which the six formerly autonomous British Australian colonies federated to become the Commonwealth of Australia...
in the
Second Boer WarThe Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
in South Africa, and Tasmanian soldiers in that conflict won the first two
Victoria CrossThe Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
es awarded to Australians. Tasmanians voted in favour of federation with the largest majority of all the Australian colonies, and on 1 January 1901, the Colony of Tasmania, became the Australian state of Tasmania.
Recent history
The state was badly affected by the
1967 Tasmanian firesThe 1967 Tasmanian fires were an Australian natural disaster which occurred on 7 February 1967, an event which became known as the Black Tuesday bushfires...
, in which there was major loss of life and property. In the 1970s, the state government announced plans to flood environmentally significant
Lake PedderLake Pedder was once a natural lake, located in the southwest of Tasmania, Australia but the name is now used in an official sense to refer to the much larger artificial impoundment and diversion lake formed when the original lake was expanded by damming in 1972 by the Hydro Electric Commission of...
. The
collapse of the Tasman BridgeThe Tasman Bridge disaster occurred on the evening of 5 January 1975, in Hobart, the capital city of Australia's island state of Tasmania, when a bulk ore carrier travelling up the Derwent River collided with several pylons of the Tasman Bridge, causing a large section of the bridge deck to...
when struck by the bulk ore carrier
MV Lake IllawarraThe MV Lake Illawarra was a Handysize bulk carrier of 7,274 tons in the service of the Australian National Line shipping company. This ship is known for causing the Tasman Bridge disaster when it collided with pylon 19 of Hobart's giant high concrete arch style Tasman Bridge on the evening of...
in 1975 made crossing the
Derwent RiverThe Derwent is a river in Tasmania, Australia. It was named after the River Derwent, Cumbria by British Commodore John Hayes who explored it in 1793. The name is Brythonic Celtic for "valley thick with oaks"....
at Hobart almost impossible.
National and international attention surrounded the campaign against the
Franklin DamThe Franklin Dam or Gordon-below-Franklin Dam project was a proposed dam on the Gordon River in Tasmania, Australia, that was never constructed. The movement that eventually led to the project's cancellation became one of most significant environmental campaigns in Australian history.The dam was...
in the early 1980s. This contributed to the start of the
Green movementGreen politics is a political ideology that aims for the creation of an ecologically sustainable society rooted in environmentalism, social liberalism, and grassroots democracy...
.
On 28 April 1996 in the incident now known as the Port Arthur massacre, lone gunman
Martin BryantMartin Bryant is an Australian who has been convicted of murdering 35 people and injuring 21 others in the Port Arthur massacre, a shooting spree in Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia, in 1996. He is currently serving 35 life sentences plus 1,035 years without parole in the psychiatric wing of...
shot and killed 35 people (including tourists and residents) and injured 21 others. The use of
firearmA firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
s was immediately reviewed, and new gun ownership laws were adopted nationwide, with Tasmania's law one of the strictest in Australia. In April 2006, the
Beaconsfield Mine collapseThe Beaconsfield Mine collapse occurred on 25 April 2006 in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, Australia. Of the 17 people who were in the mine at the time, 14 escaped immediately following the collapse, one was killed and the remaining two were found alive using a remote-controlled device...
was triggered by a small earthquake. One person was killed and two others were trapped underground for 14 days. The Tasmanian community has for some time been divided over the issue of the proposed
Bell Bay Pulp MillThe Bell Bay Pulp Mill, also known as the Tamar Valley Pulp Mill or Gunns Pulp Mill, is a proposed $2.3 billion pulp mill which Gunns Limited is planning to build in the Tamar Valley, near Launceston, Tasmania.-Proposed mill:...
to be built in the
Tamar ValleyThe Tamar Valley is a picturesque valley in Tasmania. It runs north-west from the northern city of Launceston to the coast either side of the Tamar River, a distance of approximately 50 km....
. Proponents argue that jobs will be created while opponents argue that pollution will damage both the Bass strait fishing industry and local tourism.
Government
The form of the government of Tasmania is prescribed in its constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then. Since 1901, Tasmania has been a state of the Commonwealth of Australia, and the Australian Constitution regulates its relationship with the Commonwealth and prescribes which powers each level of government enjoys.
Politics
Tasmania is a State in the Australian federation. Its relationship with the Federal Government and Parliament are regulated by the Australian Constitution. Tasmania is represented in the
SenateThe Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
by 12 senators, on an equal basis with all other states. In the
House of RepresentativesThe House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
, Tasmania is entitled to five seats, which is the minimum allocation for a state guaranteed by the Constitution—the number of House of Representatives seats for each state is otherwise decided on the basis of their relative populations, and Tasmania has never qualified for five seats on that basis alone. Tasmania's
House of AssemblyThe House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House...
and local government elections use a system of multi-seat
proportional representationProportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
known as
Hare-ClarkThe single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...
.
At the 2002 state election, the
Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
won 14 of the 25 House seats. The
Liberal PartyThe Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
saw their percentage of the vote decrease dramatically, and their representation in the Parliament fell to seven seats. The
GreensThe Tasmanian Greens are a political party in Australia which developed from numerous environmental campaigns in Tasmania, including the flooding of Lake Pedder and the Franklin Dam campaign...
won four seats, with over 18% of the popular vote, the highest proportion of any Green party in any parliament in the world.
| Composition of the Parliament of Tasmania |
Political
Party |
House of
Assembly |
Legislative
Council |
ALPThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
|
10 |
2 |
LiberalThe Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
|
10 |
1 |
| Greens The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
|
5 |
0 |
| Independent In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
|
0 |
12 |
| Source: Tasmanian Electoral Commission |
On 23 February 2004, the Premier
Jim BaconJames Alexander Bacon, AC was Premier of Tasmania from 1998 to 2004.-Early life:Bacon was born in Melbourne; his father Frank, a doctor, died when Jim was twelve, leaving him to be raised by his mother Joan. He was educated at Scotch College and later at Monash University, but he did not graduate....
announced his retirement, after being diagnosed with lung cancer. In his last months he opened a vigorous anti-smoking campaign which included many restrictions of where individuals could smoke, such as pubs. He died four months later. Bacon was succeeded by
Paul LennonPaul Anthony Lennon is an Australian Labor Party politician. He was Premier of Tasmania from 21 March 2004 until his resignation on 26 May 2008. He was member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly for the seat of Franklin from 1990 until officially resigning on 27 May 2008...
, who, after leading the state for two years, went on to win the 2006 state election in his own right. Lennon resigned in 2008 and was succeeded by
David BartlettDavid John Bartlett is an Australian former politician in the state of Tasmania, serving as the 43rd Premier of Tasmania from May 2008 until January 2011. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly seat of Denison from 2004 to 2011.-Early life:He has been a resident...
, who formed a coalition government with the Greens after the
2010 state electionThe 2010 Tasmanian state election was held on 20 March 2010 to elect members to the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The 12-year incumbent Labor government, led by Premier of Tasmania David Bartlett, won a fourth consecutive term against the Liberal opposition, led by Will Hodgman, after Labor formed a...
resulted in a
hung parliamentIn a two-party parliamentary system of government, a hung parliament occurs when neither major political party has an absolute majority of seats in the parliament . It is also less commonly known as a balanced parliament or a legislature under no overall control...
. Bartlett resigned as Premier in January 2011, and was replaced by
Lara GiddingsLarissa Tahireh "Lara" Giddings is an Australian politician and the 44th and current Premier of Tasmania since January 2011...
who became Tasmania's first female Premier.
Tasmania has numerous relatively unspoiled, ecologically valuable regions. Proposals for local economic development have therefore been faced with strong requirements for environmental sensitivity, or outright opposition. In particular, proposals for hydroelectric power generation proved controversial in the late 20th century. In the 1970s, opposition to the construction of the
Lake PedderLake Pedder was once a natural lake, located in the southwest of Tasmania, Australia but the name is now used in an official sense to refer to the much larger artificial impoundment and diversion lake formed when the original lake was expanded by damming in 1972 by the Hydro Electric Commission of...
reservoir impoundment led to the formation of the world's first green party, the
United Tasmania GroupThe United Tasmania Group is generally acknowledged as the world's first Green party. The party was formed on 23 March 1972, during a meeting of the Lake Pedder Action Group at the Hobart town hall in order to field political candidates in the April 1972 state election. They received 3.9% of the...
.
In the early 1980s the state was again plunged into often bitter debate over the proposed
Franklin River DamThe Franklin Dam or Gordon-below-Franklin Dam project was a proposed dam on the Gordon River in Tasmania, Australia, that was never constructed. The movement that eventually led to the project's cancellation became one of most significant environmental campaigns in Australian history.The dam was...
. The anti-dam sentiment was shared by many Australians outside Tasmania and proved a factor in the election of the
HawkeRobert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
LaborThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
government in 1983, which halted construction of the dam. Since the 1980s the environmental focus has shifted to old growth logging, which has proved a highly divisive issue. The Tasmania Together process recommended an end to clear felling in high conservation old growth forests by January 2003.
Geography
Tasmania’s landmass of 68401 square kilometres (26,409.8 sq mi) is located at 42°S 147°E, right in the pathway of the notorious "
Roaring FortiesThe Roaring Forties is the name given to strong westerly winds found in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40 and 49 degrees. Air displaced from the Equator towards the South Pole, which travels close to the surface between the latitudes of 30 and 60 degrees south, combines...
" wind that encircles the globe. The island is surrounded by the Indian and Pacific Oceans and separated from mainland Australia by
Bass StraitBass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
.
As the island has been volcanically inactive in recent geological times, Tasmania has many rounded smooth mountain ranges. Tasmania is the most mountainous state in Australia. The most mountainous region is the
Central HighlandsCentral Highlands is a region in Tasmania where geographical and administrative boundaries closely coincide. It is also known as The Lake Country of Tasmania -Geographical region:...
area, which covers most of the central western parts of the state. The Midlands located in the central east, is fairly flat, and is predominantly used for agriculture, although farming activity is scattered throughout the state. Tasmania's tallest mountain is Mount Ossa at 1,617 metres. The mountain lies in the heart of the world famous
Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National ParkCradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park is located in the Central Highlands area of Tasmania , 165 km northwest of Hobart. The park contains many walking trails, and is where hikes along the well-known Overland Track usually begins...
. Much of Tasmania is still densely forested, with the
Southwest National ParkThe Southwest National Park is a national park located in the south-west of Tasmania, Australia. The park is Tasmania's largest and forms part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area....
and neighbouring areas holding some of the last temperate rain forests in the
Southern HemisphereThe Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
The
TarkineThe Tarkine is a large wilderness area in north-west Tasmania, Australia. The area has a high concentration of Aboriginal sites and has been described by the Australian Heritage Council as "one of the world's great archaeological regions"...
, located in island's far North West, is the largest temperate rainforest area in Australia covering approximately 3800 square kilometres (1,467.2 sq mi).
With its rugged topography, Tasmania has a great number of rivers. Several of Tasmania's largest rivers have been dammed at some point to provide enough hydroelectricity for the entire state's needs. Many rivers begin in the Central Highlands and flow out to the coast. Tasmania's estuaries (although in many cases named rivers) are mainly situated around major population centres.
The
Derwent RiverThe Derwent is a river in Tasmania, Australia. It was named after the River Derwent, Cumbria by British Commodore John Hayes who explored it in 1793. The name is Brythonic Celtic for "valley thick with oaks"....
flows south and reaches the coast at Hobart, the Tamar River flows North from Launceston, the
Mersey RiverThe Mersey River is a river on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. The city of Devonport is situated at the river's mouth on Bass Strait. It is fed by the Dasher and Fisher Rivers....
also flows North to the North West coast at Devonport and the Franklin and Gordon Rivers flow west and meet the coast at
Strahan-See also:* Convicts on the West Coast of Tasmania* Macquarie Harbour* Railways on the West Coast of Tasmania* West Coast Piners-Further reading:* *...
. The
South Esk RiverThe South Esk River is the longest river in Tasmania. It starts in the mountains near Fingal flowing through Avoca, Evandale, Longford, Hadspen and finally Launceston. The river is dammed at Trevallyn Dam near Launceston and used for the city's Hydro Electricity scheme...
is the longest river in Tasmania. It starts in the mountains at
FingalFingal is a county in Ireland. It is one of three smaller counties into which County Dublin was divided in 1994. With its county seat located in Swords, it has a population of 239,992 according to the 2006 census...
and flows through
AvocaAvoca is a small village located south-east of Launceston in the island of Tasmania. At the 2006 census, Avoca and the surrounding area had a population of 123....
,
EvandaleEvandale is a small town in northern Tasmania, Australia. It sits on the banks of the South Esk River 18 km south of Launceston. A classified historic town, many of its buildings remain largely in original condition...
,
LongfordLongford is a town in the north-east of Tasmania, Australia. It lies 175 m above sea level at the convergence of the Macquarie River and the South Esk River, 21 km south of Launceston. It is just south of the Illawarra Road, a road connecting the Bass and Midland Highways. It has a...
, Hadspen and finally Launceston. The river is dammed at Launceston's
Trevallyn DamThe Trevallyn Dam is a dam on the South Esk River in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia and is used to provide water for hydroelectricity. The spillway height is 26.8 metres and the dam wall is 177 metres long. The lake has a surface area of 1.48 km² and storage capacity of 12.33 million m³...
and used for the city's
hydroelectricityHydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
. Although most of the water is dammed at Lake Trevallyn, some flows on into the Cataract Gorge where it becomes a tributary to the Tamar Estuary, and the outflow from the power station also joins the Tamar River downstream of Launceston.
Climate
Tasmania has a cool temperate climate with four distinct seasons. Summer lasts from December to February when the average maximum sea temperature is 21 °C (69.8 °F) and inland areas around Launceston reach 24 °C (75.2 °F). Other inland areas are much cooler with Liawenee, located on the Central Plateau, one of the coldest places in Australia with temperatures in February ranging between 4 °C (39.2 °F) and 17 °C (62.6 °F). Autumn lasts between March and May and experiences changeable weather, where summer weather patterns gradually take on the shape of winter patterns.
The winter months are between June and August and are generally the wettest and coolest months in the state, with most high lying areas receiving considerable snowfall. Winter maximums are 12 °C (53.6 °F) on average along coastal areas and 3 °C (37.4 °F) on the central plateau, as a result of a series of cold fronts from the
Southern OceanThe Southern Ocean comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60°S latitude and encircling Antarctica. It is usually regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions...
. Spring is a season of transition, where winter weather patterns begin to take the shape of summer patterns, although snowfall is still common up until October. Spring is generally the windiest time of the year with afternoon sea breezes starting to take effect on the coast.
Rainfall in Tasmania follows a complicated pattern rather analogous to that found on large continents at the same latitude in the northern hemisphere. On the western side rainfall increases from around 1458 millimetres (57.4 in) at Strahan on the coast up to 2690 millimetres (105.9 in) at Cradle Valley in the highlands.
There is a strong winter maximum in rainfall: January and February typically averages between 30–40% the rainfall of July and August, though even in the driest months rain usually falls on every second day and the number of rainy days per year is much greater than on any part of the Australian mainland. Further east in the Lake Country, annual rainfall declines to around 900 millimetres (35.4 in), whilst in the Midlands, annual rainfall is as low as 450 millimetres (17.7 in) at Ross and generally below 600 millimetres (23.6 in). The eastern part of Tasmania has more evenly distributed rainfall than in the west, and most months receive very similar averages.
The more densely populated northern coast is much drier than the western side, with annual rainfall ranging from 666 millimetres (26.2 in) in Launceston to 955 millimetres (37.6 in) in Burnie in the north west and 993 millimetres (39.1 in) in Scottsdale located further to the east.
Most rain falls in winter, and in summer the average can be as low as 31 millimetres (1.2 in) per month in Launceston.
The east coast is wetter than the Midlands, with an average annual rainfall ranging from 775 millimetres (30.5 in) in St. Helens to around 640 millimetres (25.2 in) in
Swansea-Demographics:According to the 1996 census, the town's population was 495. Of the population, 25.1% were above the age of 65 - making it the Tasmanian town with the largest percentage of over-65-year-olds.-References:...
. Here the rainfall is evenly distributed over the year but can be very erratic as heavy rainfalls from the warm Tasman Sea are quite frequent. Whereas a three-day fall of 125 millimetres (4.9 in) occurs only once every fifty years on the north coast, it occurs on average once every four or five years around Swansea and
BichenoBicheno is a town on the east coast of Tasmania, Australia, 185 km north-east of Hobart on the Tasman Highway, with a population of 640. It is part of the municipality of Glamorgan/Spring Bay...
, and on 7–8 June 1954, there were many falls as large as 230 millimetres (9.1 in) in two days in that area. The east coast is sometimes called the "sun coast" because of its sunny climate.
Several sections of inland Tasmania, together with
Flinders IslandFlinders Island may refer to:In Australia:* Flinders Island , in the Furneaux Group, is the largest and best known* Flinders Island * Flinders Island , in the Investigator Group* Flinders Island...
, were declared drought-affected areas by the state government in 2007.
The highest recorded maximum temperature in Tasmania was 42.2 °C (108 °F) at
ScamanderScamander is a small town situated at the mouth of the Scamander River between St Helens and St Marys on the northeast coast of Tasmania in Australia. The town is a popular holiday destination because of its wide, sandy beaches and views of the ocean...
on 30 January 2009, during the 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave. Tasmania's lowest recorded minimum temperature was -13.0 °C on 30 June 1983, at Butlers Gorge, Shannon, and
TarraleahTarraleah is a small town located in the rugged wilderness of the Central Highlands of Tasmania, north-west of the state capital Hobart, and slightly closer to Queenstown....
.
| City |
Mean Min. Temp oC |
Mean Max. Temp oC |
No. Clear days |
Rainfall (mm) |
| Hobart Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
|
8.3 |
16.9 |
41 |
616 |
LauncestonLaunceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...
|
7.2 |
18.4 |
50 |
666 |
| Devonport -Sport:The Devonport Football Club is an Australian Rules team competing in the Tasmanian Statewide League. The Devonport Rugby Club is a Rugby Union team competing in the Tasmanian Rugby Union Statewide League...
|
8.1 |
16.8 |
61 |
778 |
| Strahan -See also:* Convicts on the West Coast of Tasmania* Macquarie Harbour* Railways on the West Coast of Tasmania* West Coast Piners-Further reading:* *...
|
7.9 |
16.5 |
41 |
1,458 |
Soils
Despite the presence of some quaternary glaciation, Tasmania's soils are not more fertile than those of mainland Australia, largely because most are severely
leachedIn agriculture, leaching refers to the loss of water-soluble plant nutrients from the soil, due to rain and irrigation. Soil structure, crop planting, type and application rates of fertilizers, and other factors are taken into account to avoid excessive nutrient loss.Leaching may also refer to ...
and the areas with driest climates (least leaching) were unaffected by glaciation or alluvia derived therefrom. Most soils on the Bass Strait Islands, the east coast and western Tasmania are very infertile spodosols or psamments, with some even less fertile "lateritic podzolic soils" in the latter region. Most of these lands are thus not used for agriculture, but there is much productive forestry—which remains one of the state's major industries.
On the north coast, apart from some relatively fertile alluvial soils used for fruit growing, there are also deep red, easily workable soils known as "krasnozems" ("red land"). These soils are highly acidic and fix phosphate very effectively, but their extremely favourable physical properties make them extensively used for dairying, beef cattle and fodder crops.
The Midlands and the Lower Derwent present a different story from the rest of the state. Owing to a relatively dry climate and alkaline (mostly dolerite) parent material, these soils are relatively unleached and contain lime in the deeper subsoil. They are mostly classified as "prairie soils" or "brown earths" and bear some resemblance to the
chernozemChernozem , also known as "black land" or "black earth", is a black-coloured soil containing a high percentage of humus 7% to 15%, and high percentages of phosphoric acids, phosphorus and ammonia...
s of Russia and North America, although they are much lower in available
phosphorusPhosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. A multivalent nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus as a mineral is almost always present in its maximally oxidized state, as inorganic phosphate rocks...
and somewhat acidic in the surface levels. Their higher nutrient levels, however, allow them to support productive pasture, and large numbers of sheep are grazed in these regions. Some grain crops are also grown in the driest areas. In the alluvial areas of southeastern Tasmania, rich alluvial soils permit apples to be grown.
Ecology
Geographically and genetically isolated, Tasmania is known for its unique flora and fauna. Tasmania has
extremely diverseBiodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
vegetation, from the heavily grazed grassland of the dry Midlands to the tall evergreen
eucalyptEucalypts are woody plants belonging to three closely related genera:Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora.In 1995 new evidence, largely genetic, indicated that some prominent Eucalyptus species were actually more closely related to Angophora than to the other eucalypts; they were split off into the...
forest,
alpineAlpine climate is the average weather for a region above the tree line. This climate is also referred to as mountain climate or highland climate....
heathlands and large areas of cool
temperate rainforestsTemperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive high rainfall.-Definition:For temperate rain forests of North America, Alaback's definition is widely recognized:-Global distribution:...
and moorlands in the rest of the state. Many flora species are unique to Tasmania, and some are related to species in South America and New Zealand through ancestors which grew on the super continent of
GondwanaIn paleogeography, Gondwana , originally Gondwanaland, was the southernmost of two supercontinents that later became parts of the Pangaea supercontinent. It existed from approximately 510 to 180 million years ago . Gondwana is believed to have sutured between ca. 570 and 510 Mya,...
, 50 million years ago. The island of Tasmania was home to the
ThylacineThe thylacine or ,also ;binomial name: Thylacinus cynocephalus, Greek for "dog-headed pouched one") was the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger or the Tasmanian wolf...
, a
marsupialMarsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central...
which resembled a wild dog. Known colloquially as the Tasmanian Tiger for the distinctive striping across its back, it became extinct in mainland Australia much earlier because of competition by the
dingoThe Australian Dingo or Warrigal is a free-roaming wild dog unique to the continent of Australia, mainly found in the outback. Its original ancestors are thought to have arrived with humans from southeast Asia thousands of years ago, when dogs were still relatively undomesticated and closer to...
, introduced in prehistoric times. Owing to persecution by farmers, government-funded bounty hunters and, in the final years, collectors for overseas museums, it appears to have been exterminated in Tasmania. The
Tasmanian devilThe Tasmanian devil is a carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae, now found in the wild only on the Australian island state of Tasmania. The size of a small dog, it became the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world following the extinction of the thylacine in 1936...
became the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world following the
extinctionIn biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
of the thylacine in 1936, and is now found in the wild only in Tasmania.
Demography
The majority of the residents are of British descent. As of 2008, Tasmania is the only state in Australia which has an above-replacement
Total Fertility RateThe total fertility rate of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates through her lifetime, and she...
. Tasmanian women have an average of 2.24 children each. This is also the highest TFR recorded in Tasmania after 1975.
Economy
Tasmania's erratic economy was first experienced by colonists in the early 19th century. The reasons have been many and varied over the years. Lack of a federal infrastructure highway, lack of a
gold rushA gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
, lack of open immigration initiatives, lack of population, decline in the wool and mineral economies, lack of early colonial initiatives, or lack of foreign investment have all been attributed as reasons for the erraticism of the economy. For the length of colonial history of Tasmania there has been a continuing exodus of youth to mainland Australia in order to seek employment opportunities.
Traditionally, Tasmania's main industries have been: mining (including
copperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
,
zincZinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
,
tinTin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
, and
ironIron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
) agriculture, forestry, and tourism. In the 1940s and 1950s there was a hydro-industrialisation initiative embodied in the state by
Hydro TasmaniaHydro Tasmania, known for most of its history as The HEC, is the government owned enterprise which is the predominant electricity generator in the state of Tasmania, Australia...
. These all have had varying fortunes over the last century and more, involved in ebbs and flows of population moving in and away dependent upon the specific requirements of the dominant industries of the time. The state also has a large number of food exporting sectors, including but not limited to seafood (such as
Atlantic salmonThe Atlantic salmon is a species of fish in the family Salmonidae, which is found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and in rivers that flow into the north Atlantic and the north Pacific....
,
abaloneAbalone , from aulón, are small to very large-sized edible sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Haliotidae and the genus Haliotis...
and
crayfishCrayfish, crawfish, or crawdads – members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea – are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related...
).
In the 1960s and 1970s there was a rapid decline in traditional crops such as apples and pears, with other crops and industries eventually rising in their place. During the 15 years until 2010, new agricultural produces such as wine,
saffronSaffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...
,
pyrethrumPyrethrum refers to several Old World plants of the genus Chrysanthemum which are cultivated as ornamentals for their showy flower heads. Pyrethrum is also the name of a natural insecticide made from the dried flower heads of C. cinerariifolium and C...
and
cherriesThe cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium....
have been fostered by the
Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural ResearchThe Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research is a research institute in Tasmania dedicated to research and development of sustainable agricultural industries. Founded in 1996, it is a collaborative effort of the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks,...
.
There was a decline in manufacturing during the 1990s, leading to a drain of some of the island's trained and experienced working population to mainland Australia, especially to urban centres such as
MelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and
SydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. Since 2001 however, the Tasmanian economy has experienced a significant improvement. Favourable economic conditions throughout Australia, cheaper air fares and two new
Spirit of Tasmania ferries have all contributed to what is now a booming tourism industry.
1.7% of the Tasmanian population are employed by local governments. Other major employers include the
Federal GroupThe Federal Group owns and operates tourism, entertainment and gaming businesses in Tasmania. It is also known as either Federal Hotels, or Federal Hotels and Resorts on websites.-History:...
, owner of several hotels and Tasmania's two casinos, and Gunns Limited, the state's biggest forestry company. Small business is a large part of the community life, including such success stories as
International CatamaransIncat is a manufacturer of large HSC catamarans, based in the Derwent Park suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia founded by Bob Clifford. The company builds large commercial and military vessels that use aluminium construction, wave-piercing and water-jet technology...
,
Moorilla EstateMoorilla is a winery located in the suburb of Berriedale, 12 km north of the city centre of Hobart, Tasmania. It was established in 1958 by Italian-Australian former textile merchant Claudio Alcorso....
and
TassalTassal is Australia's largest producer and exporter of Atlantic Salmon. Modern aquaculture methods are used in the production of salmon by the company.The company is largely based in Tasmania, with marketing offices located in Melbourne....
. In the late 1990s, many national companies based their call centres in the state after obtaining cheap access to broad-band fibre-optic connections.
Apparently the state's housing market was undervalued in the early part of 2000, and a large boom in the national housing market finally made Tasmanian housing prices rise dramatically. This has in part been attributed to increased levels of interstate and
overseas immigrationImmigration to Australia is estimated to have begun around 51,000 years ago when the ancestors of Australian Aborigines arrived on the continent via the islands of the Malay Archipelago and New Guinea. Europeans first landed in the 17th and 18th Centuries, but colonisation only started in 1788. The...
. A shortage of rental accommodation has caused problems for many of Tasmania's low income earners. Thirty-four percent of Tasmanians are reliant on welfare payments as their primary source of income.
Cuisine
During colonial times typical English cuisine was the standard in most areas of Tasmania. Tasmania now has a wide range of restaurants, in part due to the arrival of immigrants and changing cultural patterns. Scattered across Tasmania are many vineyards, and Tasmanian beer brands such as Boags and
CascadeCascade Brewery is the oldest continually operating brewery in Australia. It is based in South Hobart, Tasmania. The Cascade estate was founded beside the clean water of the Hobart Rivulet in 1824 by Peter Degraves, an entrepreneur who emigrated from England...
are known and sold in Mainland Australia. King Island off the northwestern coast of Tasmania has a reputation for boutique
cheeseCheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
s and dairy products. Tasmanians are also consumers of seafood, such as
crayfishCrayfish, crawfish, or crawdads – members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea – are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related...
,
orange roughyThe orange roughy, red roughy, or deep sea perch, Hoplostethus atlanticus, is a relatively large deep-sea fish belonging to the slimehead family . The Marine Conservation Society has categorized orange roughy as vulnerable to exploitation...
,
salmonSalmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
and
oysterThe word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
s, both farmed and wild.
Events
In order to foster tourism, the state government encourages or supports several different annual events in and around the island. The best known of these would be the
Sydney to Hobart Yacht RaceThe Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starting in Sydney, Australia on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart. The race distance is approximately...
, starting on
Boxing DayBoxing Day is a bank or public holiday that occurs on 26 December, or the first or second weekday after Christmas Day, depending on national or regional laws. It is observed in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth nations. In Ireland, it is recognized as...
in Sydney and usually arriving at
Constitution DockConstitution Dock is the harbour-side dock area of Hobart, the capital city of the Australian state of Tasmania, on the Derwent River. The dock is adjacent to other Hobart landmark areas, Victoria Dock, Salamanca Place and Battery Point, and forms part of the foreshore of Sullivans Cove.The dock...
in Hobart around three to four days later, during the Taste of Tasmania, an annual food and wine festival.
Other events include the road rally
Targa TasmaniaTarga Tasmania is a tarmac-based rally event held on the island state of Tasmania, Australia, annually since 1992. The event takes its name from the Targa Florio, a former motoring event held on the island of Sicily...
which attracts world-class rally drivers and is staged all over the state, over five days. Rural or regional events include
AgfestAgfest is a renowned annual agricultural field day held in the Australian state of Tasmania. It was first held in 1983 and is run by the Rural Youth Organisation of Tasmania with profits assisting Tasmania Rural Counselling...
, a three-day agricultural show held at
CarrickCarrick is a small town in northern Tasmania about west of Launceston on the Liffey River, and on the 'Old Bass Highway' or Meander Valley Highway. At the 2006 census, the town had a population of 439....
(just west of Launceston) in early May; and the
Royal Hobart ShowThe Royal Hobart Show is an annual event held at the Royal Showgrounds in Glenorchy in October. The event focuses on the rural exploits of Tasmanians with events such as livestock judging and wood chopping. Also popular at the event are show bags and rides....
and
Royal Launceston ShowThe Royal Launceston Show is an annual event held at the Launceston Showgrounds in Inveresk in October and is hosted by the Royal Agricultural Society of Tasmania. An average of 15,000 attend each year...
, both held in October annually.
Music events held in Tasmania include the
Falls FestivalThe Falls Festival is a New Year's Eve music festival, held annually in Lorne, Victoria and Marion Bay, Tasmania Australia since 1993.It lasts four days, from 29 December to 1 January each year. The headline acts play mostly over two evenings, 30 December and 31 December...
at
Marion BayMarion Bay is a large bay and a bounded locality located on the southeast coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is near Dunalley in the Municipality of Sorell...
(a
VictorianVictoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
event now held in both Victoria and Tasmania on New Year's Eve),
MS FestMS Fest is a music festival, held annually in Launceston, Tasmania Australia since 2006.It is a single day event, held in February or March on a Saturday....
is held in Launceston it helps raise money for those with multiple sclerosis. The
Southern Roots FestivalSouthern Roots was an annual music festival in Australia, held in Hobart, Tasmania. Similar to the Big Day Out, it is common that the well-known headlining acts will play on the outdoor "Main Stage" which overlooks the venue, and the lesser known acts will perform on the indoor "Pavilion Stage"...
was an attempt to hold a regular
Big Day OutThe Big Day Out is an annual music festival held in several cities in Australia and New Zealand in late January. It started in Sydney in 1992, spread to Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth by 1993, with the Gold Coast and Auckland joining in 1994...
-style festival in Tasmania with major international headline acts such as the Pixies, however the festival ran for only two years (2007 and 2008). A recent addition to the state has been the
10 Days on the IslandTen Days on the Island is Tasmania’s state-wide biennial multi art-form festival. A unique event in Australia, Ten Days is a celebration of culture in Tasmania. With almost 250 events in 99 venues in over 50 locations, 195,000 Tasmanians and visitors took part in the 2009 event.Ten Days was the...
arts festival.
Literature
Tasmania has a relatively small but growing literary culture. Notable titles include
For the Term of His Natural LifeFor the Term of His Natural Life, written by Marcus Clarke, was published in the Australian Journal between 1870 and 1872 , appearing as a novel in 1874. It is the best known novelisation of life as a convict in early Australian history...
by
Marcus ClarkeMarcus Andrew Hislop Clarke was an Australian novelist and poet, best known for his novel For the Term of his Natural Life.- Biography :...
,
The Sound of One Hand ClappingThe Sound of One Hand Clapping is a 1997 novel by Australian author Richard Flanagan. The title is adapted from the famous Zen kōan of Hakuin Ekaku. The Sound of One Hand Clapping was Flanagan's second novel.-Plot summary:...
,
Gould's Book of FishGould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish is a 2001 novel by Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan. Gould's Book of Fish was Flanagan's third novel.-Plot summary:...
by
Richard FlanaganRichard Flanagan is a novelist from Tasmania, Australia.-Early life:Flanagan was born in Longford, Tasmania, in 1961, the fifth of six children. He is descended from Irish convicts transported to Van Diemen's Land in the 1840s. His father is a survivor of the Burma Death Railway. One of his three...
and
The Year of Living DangerouslyThe Year of Living Dangerously is a novel by Christopher Koch, which was made into a film in 1982, directed by Peter Weir and written by Koch, Weir, and David Williamson....
by
Christopher KochChristopher John Koch, AO, Australian novelist, was born in Hobart in 1932. He has twice won the Miles Franklin Award. In 1995 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for contribution to Australian literature....
. The ‘Tasmanian genre’ of fiction includes children's books such as
Tiger TaleTiger Tale is a children's picture book illustrated by Marion Isham and written by Steve Isham. First published in 2002, the book retells the Aboriginal story of how the Tasmanian Tiger got its stripes. Tiger Tale is illustrated using torn paper collage that gives the book a folkloric...
by Marion and Steve Isham.
Music and performing arts
Tasmania has a varied musical scene, ranging from the
Tasmanian Symphony OrchestraThe Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is the smallest of the six orchestras established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation .-Activities:...
whose home is the
Federation Concert HallThe Hotel Grand Chancellor is a twelve-storey hotel located on the waterfront of Hobart, Tasmania. The hotel opened in 1987 as the Sheraton and has since been taken over by the Grand Hotels International group. The Sheraton opened with 2 restaurants and 2 bars, however only 1 restaurant and 1 bar...
, to a substantial number of small bands, orchestras, string quintets, saxophone ensembles and individual artists who perform at a variety of venues around the state. Tasmania is also home to a vibrant community of composers including
Constantine KoukiasConstantine Koukias is a Greek-Australian composer and flautist.He is the co-founder and Artistic Director of IHOS Music Theatre and Opera, based in Hobart, Tasmania. He is well known for his innovative work in contemporary opera and other forms...
,
Maria Grenfell-General information:Maria Grenfell was born in Malaysia in 1969 and raised in Christchurch, New Zealand, graduating with a Master of Music degree from the University of Canterbury...
and
Don KayDonald Henry Kay AM is an Australian classical composer.Don Kay attained a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Melbourne after which he taught music at Colac High School, Victoria, 1957-59. He then went on to teach music at Peckham Manor Comprehensive School for Boys, London, UK 1959-64...
, who is the patron of the
Tasmanian Composers CollectiveThe Tasmanian Composers Collective is the representative body for Composers born or living in Tasmania, Australia. It was founded in 2005 by Tasmanian composer and singer Matthew Dewey with the funding support of the Foundation for Young Australians...
, the representative body for composers in Tasmania. Tasmania is also home to one of Australia's leading new music institutions,
IHOS Music Theatre and OperaIHOS Music Theatre and Opera is a Tasmanian opera company was established in Hobart in 1990, by composer and artistic director Constantine Koukias, and production director Werner Ihlenfeld to create original music-theatre and opera works.-Major repertoire:...
and gospel choirs, the
Southern Gospel ChoirThe Southern Gospel Choir is a gospel choir based at the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music in Hobart, Tasmania, and is directed by Dr. Andrew Legg.The choir and its band, the Very Righteous Gospel Band were formed by Dr...
.
Death Metal band
Psycroptic-External links:**...
hails from Tasmania and are one of the most prominent Australian metal bands. Respected noir-rock band
The Paradise MotelThe Paradise Motel are a critically and commercially successful independent Australian band from Hobart, Tasmania, first active from 1995–2000, who reformed in 2008.-Formation and early releases 1994–1998:...
and eighties power-pop combo The Innocents are also citizens.
The first season of The MoleThe first season of the Australian version of The Mole aired between 27 February and 24 April 2000, on Seven Network. It took place mostly in Tasmania and was hosted by actor Grant Bowler.-Show details:...
was filmed and based mainly in Tasmania, with the final elimination taking place in the famous
Port ArthurPort Arthur is a small town and former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula, in Tasmania, Australia. Port Arthur is one of Australia's most significant heritage areas and the open air museum is officially Tasmania's top tourist attraction. It is located approximately 60 km south east of...
gaol.
Tasmanian cinema
Films set in Tasmania include
The Tale of Ruby RoseThe Tale of Ruby Rose is an Australian movie, released in 1988. It is 100 minutes in length. It was written and directed by Roger Scholes and produced by Andrew Wiseman and Bryce Menzies...
,
The HunterThe Hunter is a 2011 Australian film, directed by Daniel Nettheim and produced by Vincent Sheehan, based on the 1999 novel by Julia Leigh. It stars Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill and Frances O'Connor. To prepare for the role, Dafoe worked with a bush survival expert who taught him practical tips like how...
,
The Last Confession of Alexander PearceThe Last Confession of Alexander Pearce is a 2008 Australian film directed by Michael James Rowland starring Irish actors Adrian Dunbar as Philip Conolly and Ciaran McMenamin as Alexander Pearce...
,
ManganinnieManganinnie is an AFI Award-winning 1980 film which follows the journey of Manganinnie, a Tasmanian Aboriginal woman who searches for her tribe with the company of a young, lost white girl named Joanna...
and
Van Diemen's LandVan Diemen's Land is a 2009 Australian thriller set in 1822 in colonial Tasmania. It follows the story of the infamous Australian convict, Alexander Pearce, played by Oscar Redding and his escape with seven other convicts.-Plot:...
. Common within Australian cinema, the Tasmanian landscape is a focal point in most of their feature film productions.
The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce and
Van Diemen's Land are both set during an episode of Tasmania's convict history. Tasmanian film production goes as far back as the silent era, with the epic
For The Term Of His Natural Life- Plot summary :After a row, Ellinor Devine reveals to her husband Sir Richard that he is not actually the father of their son, also named Richard, but that he was fathered by her cousin, Lord Bellasis. Sir Richard throws his son out and storms off in a rage. Shortly afterwards, Richard Junior...
in 1927 being the most expensive feature film made on Australian shores.
Visual arts
The biennial
Tasmanian Living Artists' Week is a ten-day state-wide festival for Tasmania's visual artists. The fourth festival in 2007 involved more than 1000 artists. Tasmania is home to two winners of the prestigious
Archibald PrizeThe Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin who died in 1919...
—Jack Carington Smith in 1963 for a portrait of Professor
James McAuleyJames Phillip McAuley was an Australian academic, poet, journalist, literary critic and a prominent convert to Roman Catholicism.-Life and career:...
, and and
Geoffrey DyerGeoffrey Dyer , Australian artist who won the Archibald Prize in 2003 with a portrait of Richard Flanagan.The painting of Richard Flanagan has an orange background with a figure with arms on his hips and almost silhouetted in dark colours of browns and blacks.He was a finalist for the 2011...
in 2003 for his portrait of
Richard FlanaganRichard Flanagan is a novelist from Tasmania, Australia.-Early life:Flanagan was born in Longford, Tasmania, in 1961, the fifth of six children. He is descended from Irish convicts transported to Van Diemen's Land in the 1840s. His father is a survivor of the Burma Death Railway. One of his three...
. Photographers
Olegas TruchanasOlegas Truchanas was a Lithuanian-Australian conservationist and nature photographer.He was a key figure in the attempt to stop the damming of the ecologically sensitive Lake Pedder in South West Tasmania by the Hydro Electricity Commission...
and
Peter DombrovskisPeter Dombrovskis was an Australian photographer, most notably of Tasmanian scenes. In 2003 he was the only Australian photographer inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame....
are known for works that became iconic in the
Lake PedderLake Pedder was once a natural lake, located in the southwest of Tasmania, Australia but the name is now used in an official sense to refer to the much larger artificial impoundment and diversion lake formed when the original lake was expanded by damming in 1972 by the Hydro Electric Commission of...
and
Franklin DamThe Franklin Dam or Gordon-below-Franklin Dam project was a proposed dam on the Gordon River in Tasmania, Australia, that was never constructed. The movement that eventually led to the project's cancellation became one of most significant environmental campaigns in Australian history.The dam was...
conservation movements. English-born painter
John GloverJohn Glover was an English/Australian artist in what is known as the early colonial period of Australian art. In Australia he has been dubbed the father of Australian landscape painting.-Life in Europe:...
(1767–1849) is known for his paintings of Tasmanian landscapes.
The
Museum of Old and New ArtThe Museum of Old and New Art is an art museum located within the Moorilla winery on the Berriedale peninsula in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is the largest privately funded museum in Australia. The museum presents antiquities, modern and contemporary art from the David Walsh collection...
(MONA) opened in January 2011 at the
Moorilla EstateMoorilla is a winery located in the suburb of Berriedale, 12 km north of the city centre of Hobart, Tasmania. It was established in 1958 by Italian-Australian former textile merchant Claudio Alcorso....
in
BerriedaleBerriedale is a suburb in the northern suburbs of Hobart, capital of Tasmania, Australia. It is in the local government area of City of Glenorchy. The suburb is situated between the suburbs of Chigwell and Rosetta. There are no educational institutions within Berriedale, however there are primary...
, and is the largest privately-owned museum complex in Australia.
Television
Tasmania has had five broadcast television stations:
- ABC Tasmania. Produces nightly local news at 7 pm. (digital & analogue) (callsign: ABT)
- SBS One (digital & analogue) (callsign: SBS)
- Southern Cross Television
Southern Cross Television, or Southern Cross, is an Australian television network available in Tasmania, Darwin, Regional South Australia, and Central Australia. Although the programming varies from region to region, all areas are affiliated with the Seven Network and, in some areas, have a dual...
Tasmania (digital & analogue). Affiliate of Seven NetworkThe Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
. (callsign: TNT).
- WIN Television
WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by the WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single Wollongong-only station, and has since expanded to 24 owned-and-operated stations with transmissions covering a...
Tasmania. (digital & analogue). Affiliate of Nine NetworkThe Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
(callsign: TVT)
- Tasmanian Digital Television
Tasmanian Digital Television is a digital television station in Tasmania, Australia. It is jointly owned by the WIN Corporation and Macquarie Media Group, and largely managed by WIN Television.-Introduction:...
. Receives Ten News At Five from ATV-10ATV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia, part of Network Ten - one of the three major Australian commercial television networks.-History:...
in Melbourne. (digital only). Affiliate of Ten Network (callsign: TDT)
In addition, broadcasters operate digital multichannels:
- ABC2
ABC2 is a national public television channel in Australia. Launched on 7 March 2005, it is the responsibility of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television division, and is available nationally to digital television viewers in Australia...
(carried by ABT)
- ABC3
-Future shows:Programming confirmed for future broadcast will include:* After School Care * Bindi's Boot Camp * Bushwacked! * Dance Academy * Dancing Down Under...
(carried by ABT)
- ABC News 24
ABC News 24 is an Australian 24-hour news channel launched and owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The channel replaced the former ABC High Definition simulcast of ABC1 and commenced broadcasting at 7:30pm 5:30 on Thursday, 22 July 2010.-Pre-launch:The ABC announced in January 2010...
(carried by ABT)
- SBS Two (carried by SBS)
- SBS HD (carried by SBS)
- One HD (carried by TDT)
- Eleven
Eleven is an Australian free-to-air standard definition digital television channel, which was launched by ElevenCo, on 11 January 2011.-Joint venture:...
(carried by TDT)
- GO!
GO! is an Australian free-to-air standard definition digital television channel launched by the Nine Network on Sunday 9 August 2009.-Origins:...
(carried by TVT)
- GEM
GEM is an Australian free-to-air high definition digital television channel, launched by the Nine Network on Sunday 26 September 2010 at 6am...
(carried by TVT)
- 7mate
7mate is an Australian free-to-air high definition digital television channel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 25 September 2010.The network stated that 7mate would contain sport and regular programs aimed primarily at a male audience, with programming drawn from a combination of new...
(carried by TNT)
- 7TWO
7TWO is an Australian free-to-air standard definition digital television channel which was launched by the Seven Network on Sunday 1 November 2009 at 12pm....
(carried by TNT)
Transport
Air
Tasmania's main air carriers are
Jetstar AirwaysJetstar Airways is an Australian low-cost airline headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. It is a subsidiary of Qantas, created in response to the threat posed by low-cost airline Virgin Blue...
and Virgin Australia;
QantasQantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...
,
QantasLinkQantasLink is a regional brand of Australian airline Qantas and is an affiliate member of the Oneworld airline alliance. It is a major competitor to Regional Express Airlines, Virgin Australia and Skywest Airlines. As of September 2010 QantasLink provides 1900 flights each week to 54 domestic and...
,
Regional Express AirlinesRegional Express Pty Ltd is an airline based in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia. It operates scheduled regional services. It is Australia's largest regional airline outside the Qantas group of companies and serves New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, North Queensland and Tasmania...
and
Tiger Airways AustraliaTiger Airways Australia Pty Ltd, operating as Tiger Airways Australia, is a low cost airline which commenced services in the Australian domestic airline market on 23 November 2007. It is a subsidiary of Tiger Airways Holdings, a Singapore-based company, which is owned partially by Singapore Airlines...
also have services from Tasmania. These airlines fly direct routes to
BrisbaneBrisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
,
CanberraCanberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
,
the Gold CoastGold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
, Melbourne and Sydney. Major airports include
Hobart International AirportHobart International Airport is an airport located in Cambridge, east of Hobart, Tasmania. The Federal government owned airport is currently being operated on a 99 year lease to the Tasmanian Gateway Consortium. The airport has seen strong passenger growth in the last few years, primarily due to...
(which has not had a regular scheduled international passenger service since the 1990s) and
Launceston AirportLaunceston Airport is a regional airport on the outskirts of Launceston, Tasmania. The airport is located in the rural area of Western Junction from Launceston city centre...
; the smaller airports,
Burnie- Statistics :Burnie Airport was ranked 47th in Australia for the number of revenue passengers served in financial year 2009-2010.- External links :* *...
(Wynyard) and
King IslandKing Island Airport is a small regional airport located near the town of Currie on King Island off the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. The airport is owned and operated by the King Island Council.-Incidents and accidents:...
, serviced by Regional Express; and
DevonportDevonport Airport is a regional airport serving Devonport, a city in the Australian state of Tasmania. It is located from the town centre, on Wesley Vale and Airport Roads. The airport is operated by the Tasmanian Ports Corporation , which previously operated the larger Hobart International...
, serviced by QantasLink; have services to
MelbourneMelbourne Airport , also known as Tullamarine Airport, is the primary airport serving the city of Melbourne and the second busiest in Australia. It was opened in 1970 to replace the nearby Essendon Airport. Melbourne Airport is the sole international airport of the four airports serving the...
. Inter-Tasmanian air services are offered by
Airlines of TasmaniaAirlines of Tasmania, also known by the name Par-Avion, is a small regional airline based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It operates a fleet of light aircraft on scheduled and chartered services between Launceston in Tasmania, Flinders Island and Essendon Airport in Melbourne in Victoria on the...
. Until 2001
Ansett AustraliaAnsett Australia, Ansett, Ansett Airlines of Australia, or ANSETT-ANA as it was commonly known in earlier years, was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne. The airlines flew domestically within Australia and to destinations in Asia during its operation in 1996...
operated majorly out of Tasmania to 12 destinations nationwide.
Shipping
See also:Bass Strait FerriesBass Strait Ferries - have been the ships that have been used for regular transport across Bass Strait between Tasmania and Victoria , as well as the various attempts to link Tasmania with Sydney...
The domestic sea route is serviced by
Bass StraitBass Strait is a sea strait separating Tasmania from the south of the Australian mainland, specifically the state of Victoria.-Extent:The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Bass Strait as follows:...
passenger/vehicle ferries operated by the Tasmanian Government-owned
TT-Line (Tasmania)TT-Line Company Pty. Ltd. is a company operating ferries from Tasmania to the mainland of Australia since 1985. The company was separated from the department of Transport Tasmania in 1993, becoming a government business enterprise wholly owned by the Government of Tasmania.- 1985-1992 :TT-Line was...
.
From 1986 the
Abel TasmanM/S Abel Tasman was a passenger/vehicle ferry built at shipyard Nobiskrug in Rendsburg, Germany in 1975.- History :The M/S Abel Tasman was the first ferry of the TT-line - a passenger/vehicle ferry that was built at Nobiskrug in Rendsburg for the TT-line as the Nils Holgersson for the...
made six weekly overnight crossings between Devonport and Melbourne. It was replaced by the
Spirit of TasmaniaMS Princess Seaways is a cruiseferry operated and owned by the Danish shipping company DFDS Seaways on a route connecting Newcastle, England to IJmuiden in the Netherlands. She was built in 1986 as MS Peter Pan by Schichau Unterweser, Bremerhaven, Germany for TT-Line...
in 1993, which performed the same route and schedule. The most recent change was the 2002 replacement of the Spirit by two Superfast ferries—
Spirit of Tasmania IMS Spirit of Tasmania I is a fast ropax ferry owned by TT-Line Pty. Ltd. and operated on the route from Melbourne and Devonport. She was built in 1998 by Kvaerner Masa-Yards Turku in Finland for Superfast Ferries as MS Superfast IV. From 2002 onwards she sails for TT-Line Pty. Ltd...
and
Spirit of Tasmania IIMS Spirit of Tasmania II is a super fast ropax ferry owned by TT-Line Pty. Ltd. and operated on the route from Melbourne and Devonport. She was built in 1998 by Kvaerner Masa-Yards Turku in Finland for Superfast Ferries as MS Superfast III. From 2002 onwards she sails for TT-Line Pty. Ltd...
—which brought the number of weekly overnight crossings up to fourteen, plus additional daylight crossings in peak times.
In January 2004 a third ship, the slightly smaller
Spirit of Tasmania III, started the Devonport to Sydney route. This service was shut down by the Tasmanian Government in June 2006 quoting low passenger numbers. There is also a ferry service from
Bridport, TasmaniaBridport is a small town on the north-east coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is part of the Dorset Council. At the 2006 census, Bridport had a population of 1,327....
to
Flinders IslandFlinders Island may refer to:In Australia:* Flinders Island , in the Furneaux Group, is the largest and best known* Flinders Island * Flinders Island , in the Investigator Group* Flinders Island...
and
Port Welshpool, VictoriaPort Welshpool is a town in the South Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. It is located 191km south-east of Melbourne, on Corner Inlet and in 2006 had a population of 191.-External links:* *...
. Two container ships owned by
Toll ShippingToll Shipping, part of Toll Holdings, operates shipping services between the island of Tasmania and mainland Australia. It also once operated ferries in New Zealand.-History:...
make daily crossings between
Burnie- Sport :Australian rules football is popular in Burnie. The city's team is the Burnie Dockers Football Club in the Tasmanian State League.Rugby union is also played in Burnie. The local club is the Burnie Rugby Union Club. They are the current Tasmanian Rugby Union Statewide Division Two Premiers...
and Melbourne. The port of Hobart also serves as a host to visiting cruise ships.
The state is also home to
International CatamaransINCAT is a part of Tata Technologies Limited, a company in the Tata Group and operates in the field of Automotive Industry providing Engineering and Design solutions. The company took over a much larger player in the field namely INCAT, a Europe based company, in 2005...
, a manufacturer of very high-speed aluminium catamarans that regularly broke records when they were first launched. The state government tried using them on the Bass Strait run but eventually decided to discontinue the run because of concerns over viability and the suitability of the vessels for the extreme weather conditions sometimes experienced in the strait.
Antarctica base
Tasmania, Hobart in particular, serves as Australia's chief sea link to Antarctica, with the
Australian Antarctic DivisionThe Australian Antarctic Division is an agency of the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities . The division undertakes science programs and research projects to contribute to an understanding of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean...
located in
KingstonKingston is a township and region on the outskirts of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Nestled 15 km south of the city between and around several hills, Kingston is the council seat of its wider municipality, the Kingborough Council, and today serves as the gateway between Hobart and the...
. Hobart is also the home port of the French ship
l'Astrolabe, which makes regular supply runs to the French Southern Territories near and in Antarctica.
Hobart has the second deepest natural port in the world, second to only
Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
in Brazil.
Road
Within the state, the primary form of transport is by road. Since the 1980s, many of the
state's highways have undergone regular upgrades. These include the Hobart
Southern OutletThe Southern Outlet is a 13km dual-carriageway limited-access highway that connects Hobart to the southern parts of Tasmania, Australia...
, Launceston Southern Outlet, Bass Highway reconstruction, and the
Huon HighwayThe Huon Highway is an highway in southern Tasmania, Australia. The highway forms part of the and connects Hobart with the southern parts of Tasmania. The original Huon Highway was a twisty two-lane road skirting around Mount Wellington, but that section of the Highway was bypassed in stages...
. Public transport is provided by
Metro TasmaniaMetro Tasmania is the primary provider of public transport in the Australian state of Tasmania. For bus timetable and route information see the...
bus services.
Rail
Rail transport in TasmaniaRail transport in Tasmania consists of a network of narrow gauge track of reaching virtually all cities and major towns in the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Today, rail services are focussed primarily on bulk freight, with no commercial passenger services being operated...
consists of narrow-gauge lines to all four major population centres and to mining and forestry operations on the west coast and in the northwest. Services are operated by
TasRailTasrail is the Government of Tasmania-owned corporation that has operated the mainline railways in Tasmania since 2009....
. Regular passenger train services in the state ceased in 1977; the only scheduled trains are for freight, but there are tourist trains in specific areas, for example the
West Coast Wilderness RailwayThe West Coast Wilderness Railway, Tasmania is a reconstruction of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company railway between Queenstown and Regatta Point...
.
Sport
Sport is not only an important pastime in Tasmania, the state has produced several famous sportsmen and women and also hosted several major sporting events. The
Tasmanian TigersThe Tasmanian cricket team, nicknamed the Tigers, represents the Australian state of Tasmania in cricket tournaments. They compete annually in the Australian domestic senior men's cricket season, which currently consists of the first-class Sheffield Shield, the limited overs Ford Ranger Cup, and...
cricket team represents the state successfully (for example the Sheffield Shield in 2007 and 2011) and plays its home games at the
Bellerive OvalBellerive Oval, also known as its sponsored name Blundstone Arena, is primarily a cricket and Australian Rules Football ground located in Bellerive, City of Clarence, on the eastern shore of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia...
, Hobart; also the site of international cricket matches. Famous Tasmanian cricketers include
David BoonDavid Clarence Boon MBE , nicknamed Boony, is a former Australian cricketer whose international playing career spanned the years 1984–1995...
and former Australian captain
Ricky PontingRicky Thomas Ponting , nicknamed Punter, is an Australian cricketer, a former captain of the Australian cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very...
.
Australian Rules FootballAustralian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
is also popularly followed, with occasional discussion of a proposed
Tasmanian teamThe bid to establish an Australian Football League team in the state of Tasmania has been ongoing, with fluctuating levels of support, since the then-Victorian Football League began its national expansion in the 1980s and 1990s....
in the Australian Football League (
AFLThe Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
). Several AFL games have been played at the
Aurora StadiumYork Park is a sports ground in the Inveresk and York Park Precinct, Launceston, Australia. Holding 20,000 people—more than any other stadium in Tasmania—York Park has been known as Aurora Stadium under a six-year naming rights agreement signed with Aurora Energy in 2004...
, York Park Launceston, including the
Hawthorn Football ClubThe Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League . The club, founded in 1902, is the youngest of the Victorian-based teams in the AFL. The team play in Brown & Gold vertically striped guernseys...
. The stadium was the site of an infamous match between St Kilda and
FremantleThe Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed The Dockers, is an Australian rules football team which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in the port city of Fremantle at the mouth of the Swan River in Western Australia...
which was
controversially drawnThe AFL siren controversy of 2006 surrounded the conclusion and result of an Australian rules football match played on 30 April 2006 during Round 5 of the Australian Football League's 2006 season...
after the umpires failed to hear the final siren.
Association football (soccer) is played throughout the state, with discussion of a
Tasmanian Hyundai A-league ClubThe Tasmanian A-League Bid, under the working name of Tasmania United FC, was a proposed Tasmania-based A-League association football club...
building on the existing
Southern Premier LeagueThe Tasmania South Premier League is, jointly with the Tasmania North Premier League, the highest level association football competition in Tasmania. Nationally, it is one grade lower than the A-League and is controlled by the Football Federation Tasmania...
and the
Northern Premier LeagueThe Tasmania North Premier League is the highest level of association football competition in Northern Tasmania. Nationally, it is one grade lower than the A-League and is controlled by the Football Federation Tasmania , the state's governing body...
. Tasmania hosts the
Moorilla InternationalThe Hobart International is a women's professional tennis tournament held at the Hobart International Tennis Centre in Hobart, Australia. Held since 1994, it forms a part of the Women's Tennis Association Tour and is classed as an International tournament...
tennis tournament as part of the lead up to the Australian Open and is played at the
Hobart International Tennis CentreThe Domain Tennis Centre is the premier tennis facility in the state of Tasmania, Australia. It is located on the Queens Domain less than 1 kilometre from the CBD of Hobart....
, Hobart. The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race run every year between Boxing Day and New Year since 1945, finishes in Hobart.
While some of the other sports played and barracked for have grown in popularity, others have declined. For example in basketball Tasmania has not been represented in the
National Basketball LeagueThe National Basketball League, also known as the iiNet NBL Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in Australasia....
since the demise of the
Hobart DevilsThe Hobart Devils were an Australian basketball team that played in Hobart, Tasmania, in the National Basketball League. The team was the only representative from the state of Tasmania for the majority of its tenure, but was one of three teams that had their NBL licenses revoked by the league...
in 1996.
Notable people
Notable people from Tasmania include:
- actor Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
- Crown Princess Mary of Denmark
Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat, is the wife of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark...
(Mary Donaldson)
- Joseph Lyons
Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...
, former Prime Minister of AustraliaThe Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
- his wife Dame Enid Lyons
Dame Enid Muriel Lyons, AD, GBE was an Australian politician and the first woman to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives as well as the first woman appointed to the federal Cabinet...
, the first woman member of the House of RepresentativesThe House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
- Elizabeth Blackburn
Elizabeth Helen Blackburn, AC, FRS is an Australian-born American biological researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, who studies the telomere, a structure at the end of chromosomes that protects the chromosome. Blackburn co-discovered telomerase, the enzyme that replenishes the...
, first woman from Australia to win a Nobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
- author Christopher Koch
Christopher John Koch, AO, Australian novelist, was born in Hobart in 1932. He has twice won the Miles Franklin Award. In 1995 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for contribution to Australian literature....
- author and permaculturalist Bill Mollison
Bruce Charles 'Bill' Mollison is a researcher, author, scientist, teacher and naturalist. He is considered to be the 'father of permaculture', an integrated system of design, co-developed with David Holmgren, that encompasses not only agriculture, horticulture, architecture and ecology, but also...
, Right Livelihood Award, 1981
- actor Simon Baker
Simon Baker is an Australian actor. Since 2008, he has starred in the CBS television series The Mentalist.-Early life:...
, star of The MentalistThe Mentalist is an American police procedural television series which debuted on September 23, 2008, on CBS. The show was created by Bruno Heller, who is also the show's executive producer...
- actress Rachael Taylor
Rachael Taylor is an Australian actress and model. She made her leading role debut in the short-lived Australian program headLand. She then made the transition to Hollywood, appearing in the films Transformers, Shutter, and Splinterheads.-Personal life:Taylor was born in Launceston, Tasmania, the...
- dancer and choreographer Graeme Murphy
Graeme Murphy is an Australian dance choreographer. Together with his fellow dancer Janet Vernon, he has guided Sydney Dance Company to become one of Australia's most successful and well-known dance companies....
- composer Peter Sculthorpe
Peter Joshua Sculthorpe AO OBE is an Australian composer. Much of his music has resulted from an interest in the music of Australia's neighbours as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of native Australian music with that of the heritage of the West...
- Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane and Primate of Australia Phillip Aspinall
Phillip Aspinall has been the Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia since February 2002 and Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia since July 2005. He succeeded Peter Hollingworth as Archbishop of Brisbane....
- world champion woodchopper David Foster
David "Big Dave" Foster OAM is a world champion woodchopper, and Tasmanian community figure.He started woodchopping with his father, George Foster, in 1978, and between them they won the World 600 mm Double-handed Sawing Championship eleven years straight...
- Australian cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er Ricky PontingRicky Thomas Ponting , nicknamed Punter, is an Australian cricketer, a former captain of the Australian cricket team between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 2011 in One Day International cricket. He is a specialist right-handed batsman, slips and close catching fielder, as well as a very...
- Australian cricketer—David Boon
David Clarence Boon MBE , nicknamed Boony, is a former Australian cricketer whose international playing career spanned the years 1984–1995...
- Truganini
Trugernanner , often referred to as Truganini, was a woman widely considered to be the last "full blood" Palawa ....
, last surviving full-blooded Tasmanian Aborigine
- Retired V8 Supercar
V8 Supercars is a touring car racing category based in Australia and run as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile regulations...
driver John BoweJohn Bowe is an Australian racing driver, presently racing a 1969 Ford Mustang in the historic series, Touring Car Masters....
(1995 champion)
- Former V8 Supercar
V8 Supercars is a touring car racing category based in Australia and run as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile regulations...
driver Marcos AmbroseMarcos Ambrose is a championship winning Australian racing car driver. He currently drives the #9 Stanley Black & Decker Ford Fusion for Richard Petty Motorsports in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series...
(2003–2004 champion)
- F. Matthias Alexander
Frederick Matthias Alexander was an Australian actor who developed the educational process that is today called the Alexander Technique – a form of education that is applied to recognize and overcome reactive, habitual limitations in movement and thinking.-Early life:Alexander was born on a...
(1869–1955)—originator of the Alexander TechniqueThe Alexander Technique teaches the ability to improve physical postural habits, particularly those that have become ingrained and conditioned responses...
- John Gellibrand
Major General Sir John Gellibrand KCB, DSO & Bar was an Australian Army Major General in World War I and member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Tasmanian Division of Denison as a Nationalist Party member from 1925 to 1928.-Early life and career:John "Jack" Gellibrand...
, founder of Legacy
- Cyclist Luke Ockerby
Luke 'Thomas' Ockerby is an Australian cyclist from Ulverstone Tasmania born on the 17th of May 1992 . Ockerby has so far won four Australian Junior Championships and many regional and interstate wheel races including the 2008 Devonport mens Wheel Race , 2009 Mersey Wheel Race and the prestigious...
- Cyclist Richie Porte
Richard "Richie" Porte is an Australian professional road bicycle racer on . In his first year in the UCI Pro Tour, Porte has been a consistent performer in the General classification at several stage races....
- drummer Dave Haley
Dave Haley is the drummer with Australian death metal band Psycroptic. Haley formed the band in 1999 with his brother Joe, bass guitarist Cameron Grant and vocalist Matthew Chalk. Chalk was subsequently replaced by Jason Peppiatt. Previously, the Haleys were members of Disseminate.Haley has...
from technical death metal band Psycroptic-External links:**...
and black metal band Ruins (metal band)Ruins is a black metal band based in Hobart, Tasmania. The band was formed somewhere between 2000 and 2002 by Alex Pope, and Dave Haley .-Recording:Ruins began as a...
- Bob Clifford
Dr. Robert "Bob" Frederick Clifford AO, , and now living in Surrey, England, is an Australian shipbuilder, entrepreneur, and businessman, best known for his success in building his Incat catamaran building company into an international brand that sells wave piercing catamaran ferries all over the...
—Owner and founder of IncatINCAT is a part of Tata Technologies Limited, a company in the Tata Group and operates in the field of Automotive Industry providing Engineering and Design solutions. The company took over a much larger player in the field namely INCAT, a Europe based company, in 2005...
- David Walsh
David Walsh is a Tasmanian millionaire, entrepreneur and owner of a large private art collection.Walsh grew up in the Glenorchy district of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, the youngest of three children....
—Owner and founder of MONAMona may refer to:*Mona in Saxon mythology*Cercopithecus mona, a long tailed African Monkey*Mona at Birmingham Zoo in the United States*Mona , a female given name and surname...
Places in Tasmania
Islands:
- Boundary Islet
Boundary Islet is an islet about 60,000 square metres in size in the Hogan Group of islands and islets at latitude 39°12' S, south of the Wilsons Promontory, the southernmost part of both mainland Australia and mainland Victoria...
- Bruny Island
- Cape Barren Island
- Flinders Island
Flinders Island may refer to:In Australia:* Flinders Island , in the Furneaux Group, is the largest and best known* Flinders Island * Flinders Island , in the Investigator Group* Flinders Island...
- Hogan Island
Hogan Island is a granite island, with an area of and a high point of , in south-eastern Australia. It is the largest of Tasmania’s Hogan Group, lying in northern Bass Strait between the Furneaux Group and Wilsons Promontory in Victoria...
- Kent Group
The Kent Group of Islands lies in Bass Strait, Australia, north-west of the Furneaux Group. They form the Kent Group National Park.The islands were named Kent's Group by Matthew Flinders, "in honour of my friend captain William Kent, then commander of the Supply" when Flinders passed them on...
- King Island
- Maatsuyker Islands
The Maatsuyker Islands Group is a group of islands and rocks located 5.5 kilometres off the south coast of Tasmania. Maatsuyker Island is the southernmost island of the group and of the Australian continental shelf. There are exposed rocks further south of Maatsuyker but they do not meet the...
- Three Hummock Island
Three Hummock Island is an island with an area of 70 km2 and a high point 237 m above sea-level, in Bass Strait, south-eastern Australia. It is part of Tasmania’s Hunter Island Group which lies between north-west Tasmania and King Island. The island is named after its three most...
- Hunter Island
- Clark Island
- Macquarie Island
Macquarie Island lies in the southwest corner of the Pacific Ocean, about half-way between New Zealand and Antarctica, at 54°30S, 158°57E. Politically, it has formed part of the Australian state of Tasmania since 1900 and became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978. In 1997 it became a world heritage...
- Maria Island
Maria Island is a mountainous island off the east coast of Tasmania. The entire island is a national park. Maria Island National Park has a total area of 115.50 km², which includes a marine area of 18.78 km² off the island's northwest coast. The island is about 20 km in length from...
- Mount Chappell Island
Mount Chappell Island was originally named "Mount Chappelle" by Matthew Flinders for his wife's maiden name. It is a mainly dolerite island, with a distinctive central hill and with an area of 323 ha, in south-eastern Australia. It is part of Tasmania’s Badger Island Group, lying in eastern Bass...
- Round Island
Round Island is a granite island, with an area of 3.95 ha, in south-eastern Australia. It is part of Tasmania’s Hogan Group, lying in northern Bass Strait between the Furneaux Group and Wilsons Promontory in Victoria.-Fauna:...
- Schouten Island
Schouten Island is a 28 km2 island in eastern Tasmania, Australia. It lies 1.6 kilometres south of Freycinet Peninsula and is a part of Freycinet National Park.-History:...
- Smooth Island (Tasmania)
Smooth Island is a privately owned island, with an area of 59 ha, in south-eastern Australia. It is part of the Sloping Island Group, lying close to the south-eastern coast of Tasmania around the Tasman and Forestier Peninsulas.-Flora and fauna:...
Lakes:
- Dove Lake
Dove Lake is a corrie lake near Cradle Mountain in Tasmania, Australia. It lies in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. The lake is a very popular visitor attraction and is encircled by well maintained walking paths which which also lead up onto Cradle Mountain .Like several other lakes...
- Great Lake
The Great Lake is a half man made lake located in the central north region of Tasmania, Australia, within the sparsely inhabited Central Highlands municipality. Its original size was much smaller, it is dammed at its southern outflow for hydro-electricity production...
- Lake Burbury
Lake Burbury is a man-made lake created by the Crotty Dam made by Hydro Tasmania inundating the upper King River valley that lies east of the West Coast Range. It has a surface area of 54 square kilometres....
- Lake Echo
- Lake Gordon
Lake Gordon is a reservoir created by the Gordon Dam on the upper reaches of the Gordon River in south-west Tasmania, Australia. The reservoir was formed in the early 1970s as a result of the dam construction by the HEC...
- Lake King William
- Lake Dulverton
Lake Dulverton is a large shallow lake/lagoon associated with the town of Oatlands in Southern Midlands of Tasmania. The lake has an uneven shoreline with many low sandstone cliffs and overhangs. The only island in the lake, Mary's Island, is a small sandstone rock roughly 80 m long with...
- Lake Rosebery
- Lake Margaret
Lake Margaret is the name of a lake high up on the north side of Mount Sedgwick,in the West Coast Range, West Coast of Tasmania in Australia.-Dam:...
- Lake Pedder
Lake Pedder was once a natural lake, located in the southwest of Tasmania, Australia but the name is now used in an official sense to refer to the much larger artificial impoundment and diversion lake formed when the original lake was expanded by damming in 1972 by the Hydro Electric Commission of...
- Lake St Clair
Lake St Clair is a lake in the Central Highlands area of Tasmania, Australia. It forms part of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. It has a maximum depth of 200 m, making it Australia's deepest lake....
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Significant bridges:
- Batman Bridge
The Batman Bridge is a modern bridge spanning the Tamar River in northern Tasmania. The bridge is on the Batman Highway connecting the West Tamar Highway to the East Tamar Highway . The eastern end of the bridge is located at Whirlpool Reach, George Town Council and the western end is located...
- Bowen Bridge
The Bowen Bridge is a four-lane road bridge crossing the Derwent River in Tasmania, Australia. The Bridge lies on the river approximately half way between the Tasman Bridge and the Bridgewater Bridge. The Bridge links the East Derwent Highway with the Brooker Highway at Glenorchy some 10...
- Kings Bridge
- Bridgewater Bridge
- Richmond Bridge
- Ross Bridge
Ross Bridge is an historic bridge in the town of Ross in central Tasmania, Australia, completed in July 1836. It crosses the Macquarie River.The sandstone bridge was constructed by convict labour, and is the third oldest bridge still in use in Australia...
- Sorell Causeway
The Sorell Causeway is a causeway that stretches from the western side of Midway Point across Orielton Lagoon to Sorell. Together with Mcgees Bridge they connect Sorell with Hobart via the Tasman Highway....
- Tasman Bridge
The Tasman Bridge is a five-lane bridge crossing the Derwent River, near the CBD of Hobart, Tasmania. The bridge has a total length of 1,395 metres . It provides the main traffic route from the CBD to the eastern shore - particularly Hobart International Airport and Bellerive Oval...
Beaches:
- Ansons Bay
Ansons Bay is the name of both a geographical feature and a small township on the extreme north eastern coast of Tasmania. For much of the 20th century it was mostly engaged in the timber industry but is now mostly involved in fishing and tourism. The Ansons Bay postcode was officially changed...
- Bay of Fires
- Bellerive Beach
Bellerive is a suburb of the City of Clarence, part of the greater Hobart area, Tasmania, Australia. It stretches from Kangaroo Bay where it borders Rosny Park, around the curved shoreline of Bellerive Esplanade to Kangaroo Bluff, then down to Bellerive Beach and east to Second Bluff, where...
- Bicheno
Bicheno is a town on the east coast of Tasmania, Australia, 185 km north-east of Hobart on the Tasman Highway, with a population of 640. It is part of the municipality of Glamorgan/Spring Bay...
- Binalong Bay
- Boat Harbour
Boat Harbour is both a geographical location and a population region on the north west coast of Tasmania. It was originally named Jacobs' Boat Harbour after Captain John Jacobs, master of small vessels owned by the Van Diemen's Land Company trading between its establishments at Circular Head and...
- Coles Bay
Coles Bay, the hub of Tourism on Tasmania's east coast, is an Australian town on the east Coast of Tasmania located 192 km north east of Hobart and 209 km south east of Launceston, being the main entrance point for visitors to the Freycinet National Park...
- Hawley Beach
Hawley Beach, Tasmania is a seaside resort town from the nearest main town . At the 2006 census, the town had a population of 596. Nearby is the small town of Port Sorell and locality of Shearwater....
- Howrah Beach
Howrah is a suburb of the City of Clarence, part of the greater Hobart area, Tasmania, Australia. It is south of Bellerive and north of Tranmere.Howrah is a beachside suburb, with views across the Derwent River and Storm Bay to Hobart City...
- Ocean Beach
- Roches Beach
Roches Beach is a suburb of Hobart, capital of Tasmania, Australia. It is in the City of Clarence Local Government Area, between Lauderdale and Seven Mile Beach....
- Seven Mile Beach
Lauderdale is a town on the outskirts of Hobart, capital of Tasmania, Australia. The population of Lauderdale is approximately 2,388 . It is in the local government area of City of Clarence. The town is situated on the eastern side of a thin Isthmus that connects the South Arm peninsula to the...
- Sisters Beach
Sisters Beach is a small town located in the Waratah-Wynyard municipality of Tasmania within fifteen minutes of Wynyard, in Tasmania's North West...
- Turners Beach
Turners Beach is a small town on the north coast of Tasmania. Almost equidistant between the cities of Devonport and Ulverstone, it is located at the western mouth into Bass Strait of the Forth River, opposite the village of Leith located on its eastern mouth. Its population as at 2006 was 1 477...
- Wineglass Bay, Freycinet National Park
Freycinet is a national park on the east coast of Tasmania, Australia, 125 km northeast of Hobart. It occupies a large part of the Freycinet Peninsula, named after French navigator Louis de Freycinet, and Schouten Island....
- Wynyard
Wynyard is a rural town on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. It lies west of Burnie on the Bass Highway at the mouth of the Inglis River....
- Ulverstone
Ulverstone is a town on the northwest coast of Tasmania, Australia. It lies at the mouth of the Leven River, on Bass Strait. It is on the Bass Highway, west of Devonport and east of Penguin....
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Main highways:
- Arthur Highway
The Arthur Highway is a Tasmanian highway which runs from Sorell in the near south to Port Arthur in the far south-east.It is notorious for crashes and was the focus of a media campaign to make it safer until late 2004, where it was superseded in danger by the equally notorious Lyell Highway....
- Bass Highway
- Brooker Highway
The Brooker Highway is a highway in the State of Tasmania, Australia. Also known as the Northern Outlet, the highway is the major arterial route through Hobart's northern suburbs and is Hobart's major road connection to the cities and towns of Northern Tasmania...
- East Tamar Highway
The East Tamar Highway is a highway in Tasmania, Australia. It covers the eastern edge of the Tamar River, from Launceston to the lighthouse at Low Head.It is labelled as state route A8.-External links:*...
- Esk Highway
The Esk Highway is a highway in Tasmania, Australia. It connects the Midland Highway, located down the centre of the state, with the Tasman Highway, which is located on the east coast of the state....
- Huon Highway
The Huon Highway is an highway in southern Tasmania, Australia. The highway forms part of the and connects Hobart with the southern parts of Tasmania. The original Huon Highway was a twisty two-lane road skirting around Mount Wellington, but that section of the Highway was bypassed in stages...
- Lake Highway
- Lyell Highway
The Lyell Highway is a highway in Tasmania, running from Hobart to Queenstown. The name is derived from Mount Lyell, the mountain peak where copper was found in the late 19th century, and the site of the Mount Lyell copper mine, and the sole reason for the existence of Queenstown...
- Midland Highway
- Murchison Highway
The Murchison Highway runs from the West Coast of Tasmania to Burnie, and was opened on 13 December 1963. The part of the Highway from Waratah to Burnie was known as the Waratah Highway until 1973 at the latest....
- Tasman Highway
The Tasman Highway is a highway in Tasmania, Australia. Like the Midland Highway, it connects the major cities of Hobart and Launceston — however it takes a different route, via the north-eastern and eastern coasts of the state. The Highway also acts as a major commuter road to Hobart...
- West Tamar Highway
The West Tamar Highway is a highway in Tasmania, Australia. It covers the western edge of the Tamar River, from Launceston to the beach town of Greens Beach.It is labelled as state route A7.-External links:*...
- Zeehan Highway
Significant Valleys:
- Upper Florentine Valley
- Weld Valley
The Weld Valley, located in southern Tasmania, is an area of aboriginal cultural heritage and unique natural history within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.It stretches north-west of Huonville and is approximetely west of Hobart...
- Styx Valley
The Styx Valley is located adjacent to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Site on the island of Tasmania. The Styx River is the main drainage system of the valley. It lies about 100 km northwest of Hobart, with the nearest town being Maydena....
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Rivers:
- Arthur River
Arthur River is the name of both a river and a small township on the northern part of the West Coast of Tasmania, Australia. At the 2006 census, Arthur River and the surrounding area had a population of 121.It is south of the town of Marrawah...
- Derwent River
The Derwent is a river in Tasmania, Australia. It was named after the River Derwent, Cumbria by British Commodore John Hayes who explored it in 1793. The name is Brythonic Celtic for "valley thick with oaks"....
- Franklin River
The Franklin River lies in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park at the mid northern area of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Its source is situated at the western edge of the Central Highlands and it continues west towards the West Coast of Tasmania...
- Davey River
- Gordon River
The Gordon River is one of the major rivers of Tasmania, Australia. It rises in the centre of the island at Lake Richmond and flows westward for about 193km where it empties into Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast of Tasmania. Major tributaries include the Serpentine River and the Franklin...
- Henty River
- Huon River
The Huon River is the fourth largest river in Tasmania, Australia. It is 170 km in length, and runs through the fertile Huon Valley. From Scotts Peak Dam at Lake Pedder where it begins, it flows south-east to the Tahune Airwalk, where the Picton River joins, before heading through the rural...
- King River
- Upper reaches :It rises in the vicinity of the Eldon Range, passes through the West Coast Range between Mount Huxley and Mount Jukes and empties in Macquarie Harbour near Strahan....
- Leven River
- Meander River
- Mersey River
The Mersey River is a river on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. The city of Devonport is situated at the river's mouth on Bass Strait. It is fed by the Dasher and Fisher Rivers....
- North Esk River
The North Esk River is a river in Tasmania, Australia. It is one of the tributaries of the Tamar River together with the South Esk River. It starts in the Northallerton Valley below Mt Ben Nevis in the states North East joining with the St Patricks River, flowing through Launceston. Launceston's...
- Pieman River
The Pieman River is a river on the West Coast of Tasmania, Australia. It was dammed with the 122m high Reece Dam in 1986 - creating Lake Pieman.-Name:...
- Picton River
- Queen River
The Queen River is a river that flows through Queenstown Tasmania, to the west of the West Coast Range in particular Mount Lyell and Mount Owen....
- Savage River
- South Esk River
The South Esk River is the longest river in Tasmania. It starts in the mountains near Fingal flowing through Avoca, Evandale, Longford, Hadspen and finally Launceston. The river is dammed at Trevallyn Dam near Launceston and used for the city's Hydro Electricity scheme...
- Styx River
The Styx River is a river in the centre of southern Tasmania. The upper reaches of the Styx River are located in the Tasmanian Wilderness, south west of Maydena. The river is a popular destination for river-rafting and canoeing....
- Tamar River
The Tamar River is a 70 kilometre estuarine in northern Tasmania formed by the merging of the North Esk River and South Esk Rivers at Launceston to its mouth at Low Head, north of the second largest settlement George Town and into the Bass Strait...
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Mountains:
- Ben Lomond
Ben Lomond, 1,570 m AHD , is a mountain in the north of Tasmania. It is east of Launceston in the Ben Lomond National Park...
- Cradle Mountain
Cradle Mountain is a mountain in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, Tasmania, Australia. Rising to 1,545 metres above sea level it is one of the principal tourist sites in Tasmania, owing to its natural beauty...
- Federation Peak
Federation Peak is a prominent mountain located in the Southwest National Park of Tasmania, Australia. The peak, 90 km from Hobart, was named after the Federation of Australia and is often described as one of the hardest Bushwalking challenges in Australia.-History:The first westerner to...
- Mount Barrow
Mount Barrow is a mountain located 46 kilometres north east of Launceston, Tasmania. The three kilometre long plateau reaches a maximum altitude of 1413 metres above sea level and receives regular snowfalls in winter. Mount Barrow State Reserve occupies 459 hectares and is an important subalpine...
- Mt Olympus
- Mount Field
Mount Field is a mountain in the Wellington Ranges northwest of the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is frequently snow covered, sometimes even in summer. It is a major feature of the Mount Field National Park, and is a popular destination for bushwalkers...
- Frenchmans Cap
- Mount Geryon
Mount Geryon is a mountain in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park in Tasmania, Australia. It is the ninth highest mountain in Tasmania.It is a major feature of the national park, and is a popular venue with bushwalkers and mountain climbers...
- Mount Pelion East
Mount Pelion East is in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park in Tasmania, Australia. It is the sixteenth highest mountain in Tasmania at 1461 metres, slightly higher than the better known Frenchmans Cap at 1446 metres...
- Mount Pelion West
Mount Pelion West is a mountain located in the Central Highlands of Tasmania and in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park It is located at the eastern most boundary of the Murchison River, Tasmania river catchment.-Height:...
- Great Western Tiers
The Great Western Tiers are a collection of small mountain bluffs in the northern part of the Tasmanian Central Highlands.They stretch from Western Bluff, near the town of Mole Creek, towards the east, passing south of the town of Meander, north of the Great Lake, and ending at Millers Bluff,...
- Quamby Bluff
Quamby Bluff is a mountain situated in the Great Western Tiers, Northern Tasmania, Australia. It is located 23 km from Deloraine and is one of the easier peaks to ascend in the Great Western Tiers...
- Mt Roland
Mount Roland is a Conservation area in Tasmania. It is in the north of the island, near the town of Sheffield. It rises to 1234 metres and there are a number of well-marked bushwalks suitable for a day of pleasant exercise. There are walking tracks from both Claude Road and Gowrie Park to the summit....
- Mount Ossa
- Mount Wellington
Mount Wellington is a mountain on whose foothills is built much of the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is often referred to simply as 'the Mountain' by the residents of Hobart, and it rises to AHD over the city....
- West Coast Range
Regions:
- Huon Valley
The Huon Valley Council is a Local Government Area of Tasmania. It is the southern-most local government area in Australia.It encompasses the town of Huonville, on the Huon River, some surrounding towns, and many protected areas and forestry plantations...
- Fingal Valley
- Central Highlands
Central Highlands is a region in Tasmania where geographical and administrative boundaries closely coincide. It is also known as The Lake Country of Tasmania -Geographical region:...
- Derwent Valley
- East Coast
- Freycinet Peninsula
Freycinet Peninsula is a large peninsula in eastern Tasmania, Australia. It is located north of Schouten Island, at . It is the site of Freycinet National Park....
- Midlands
The Midlands is a region of Tasmania between Launceston and Hobart. It also refers to the relatively flat, dry agricultural area, so named because it covers the region between the two cities. Its name is probably also influenced from the Midlands in the United Kingdom. It lends its name to the...
- North West Coast
The North West Coast is a region of Tasmania on the north coast of Tasmania to the west of Port Sorell, Tasmania.It includes towns such as Devonport, Burnie, Penguin, Smithton, Stanley. The water to the north is called Bass Strait. The term Cradle Coast has also been in fashion for the last...
- South West Wilderness
The South West Wilderness of Tasmania, Australia is a remote and inaccessible corner of the island state containing unspoilt scenery, rugged peaks, wild rivers, unique flora and fauna, and a long and rugged coastline...
- Tamar Valley
The Tamar Valley is a picturesque valley in Tasmania. It runs north-west from the northern city of Launceston to the coast either side of the Tamar River, a distance of approximately 50 km....
- Tasman Peninsula
Tasman Peninsula is located around by road south-east of Hobart, at the south east corner of Tasmania, Australia.-Description:The Tasman Peninsula lies south and west of Forestier Peninsula, to which it is connected by an isthmus called Eaglehawk Neck...
- Tarkine
The Tarkine is a large wilderness area in north-west Tasmania, Australia. The area has a high concentration of Aboriginal sites and has been described by the Australian Heritage Council as "one of the world's great archaeological regions"...
- West Coast of Tasmania
The West Coast of Tasmania is the part of the state that is strongly associated with wilderness, mining and tourism, rough country and isolation...
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See also
- Grand Duchy of Avram
- List of schools in Tasmania
- Protected areas of Tasmania
-Conservation areas:*Adamsfield*Alpha Pinnacle*Ansons Bay*Arthur-Pieman*Asbestos Range*Badger Corner*Bay Of Fires*Bernafai Ridge*Boltons Beach*Bouchers Creek*Briggs Islet*Brougham Sugerloaf*Burnie Fernglade*Calverts Lagoon*Cape Portland*Cat Island...
- University of Tasmania
The University of Tasmania is a medium-sized public Australian university based in Tasmania, Australia. Officially founded on 1 January 1890, it was the fourth university to be established in nineteenth-century Australia...
Further reading
- Robson, L. L. (1983). A History of Tasmania. Volume I. Van Diemen's Land From the Earliest Times to 1855. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-554364-5.
- Robson, L. L. (1991). A History of Tasmania. Volume II. Colony and State From 1856 to the 1980s. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-553031-4.
External links