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Tasmania

Tasmania is located 200 kilometres (125 mi) south of the eastern side of the continent. Bass Strait seperates Tasmain from the Mainland of Australia. Tasmania is also know as the Apple Isle. Hobart is the state capital and also the largest city, which encompasses the local government areas of City of Hobart, City of Glenorchy and City of Clarence. Other major population centers include Launceston in the north, and Devonport and Burnie in the northwest. The state of Tasmania includes the island of Tasmania, and other surrounding islands. Tasmania has a population of 484,700 (March 2005, ABS) and an area of 68,332 square kilometres (26,383 sq mi).

Tasmania was discovered by Abel Janszen Tasman on November 24th, 1642, and by him was named Van Diemen's Land, after the Governor of the Dutch Possessions in the East Indies, who had fitted out the expedition which Tasman commanded. The ceremony of hoisting a flag and taking possession of the country in the name of the Government of the Netherlands was actually performed, but the description of the wildness of the country, and of the fabulous giants by which Tasman's sailors believed it to be inhabited, deterred the Dutch from occupying the island, and by the international principle of "non-user" it passed from their hands. Some hundred and thirty years after Tasman's voyage the bland was again visited-this time by a French expedition under Captain Du Fresne. In 1773, Captain Furneaux, of the "Adventure," one of the great Cook's squadron, anchored in Storm Bay; and later, in 1777, Captain Cook himself visited the same locality.

On his first voyage, in 1770, Cook had some grounds for the belief that Van Diemen's Land, as Tasmania was then called, was a separate island. The observations of Captain Furneaux, however, did not strengthen this belief, and when making his final voyage, the great navigator appears to have definitely concluded that it was part of the mainland of Australia. During the whole of this period it was believed that Van Diemen's Land was only a southward projection of the great Australian Continent, and, indeed, it figured on the maps as such. Its insularity was proved by Lieutenant Flinders, who completed its circumnavigation in the sloop " Norfolk" in 1798. He was accompanied on the expedition by Surgeon Bass, who had previously discovered the strait bearing his name.

In 1802 the French expedition under Commodore Baudin visited the island, and it was partly the fear of French occupation that led to the foundation of a British settlement in the new land. In the month of September, 1803, Lieutenant Bowen was despatched by Governor King in the "Lady Nelson " to establish a settlement at Risdon Cove, or Restdown, as it was sometimes called, which is situated on the banks of the Derwent River, some 4 miles above the site of Hobart, but on the opposite side of the stream.

By the end of the 18th century, British prisons were seriously overcrowded. The government's solution was to lock convicts in hulks - old ships anchored in river estuaries. When the hulks were full the government decided to get rid of the convicts to the new colony of New South Wales (Australia), where they could be used as cheap labor to build the new colony. The first British convicts arrived in New South Wales in 1788. By the end of that century Governor King of New South Wales needed somewhere to send incorrigible convicts - those who re-offended.

In 1803 the Lady Nelson sailed from Sydney under the command of 23-year-old Lieutenant John Bowen. Most of the 49 people on board were soldiers and settlers, but 21 men and three women were Van Diemen's Land's first convicts. They all settled on the banks of the River Derwent at Risdon but a few weeks later moved downriver to settle what would soon become the town of Hobart.

Convicts came from all walks of life. Most had little education, forced into crime to survive in a rapidly industrialising Britain. Many of their crimes were petty, such as stealing a sheep or some clothing. But there were also educated convicts, with skills that enabled them to be used as clerks or draughtsmen, or with training in professions such as medicine, architecture, printing or building - all essential in building a new colony. For about the first 10 years there were more convicts than free settlers. This meant that convicts, as well as doing hard labouring work such as digging new coalmines, had to fill positions of responsibility such as medical assistants or 'trusties' in the gaols. Many, especially the women, were assigned to settlers as servants.

In the 1830s the authorities designed a probation system, with 19 probation stations around Van Diemen's Land. When a convict had served (or survived!) a term in one of the penal settlements he/she was to be given a paid job for a time with one of the colony's public works. At the end of this period he/she could get a job as a paid servant to a settler. Eventually the British government admitted that transportation and probation, far from solving a problem, were creating one. In 1852, after about 70,000 convicts had been transported to Van Diemen's Land, the system ended and the colony's name was officially changed to Tasmania, a name that had been used unofficially for some years.

Tasmania is Australia's only island state. It is a heart-shaped island of lush green valleys, uncrowded towns and villages and still undeveloped coastlines. It is one of the world's most mountainous islands and while the peaks do not tower to great heights, they are unique in their serrated profile. Tasmania's geology reflects connection millions of years ago to Antarctica, and Tasmania is one of the few places in the world where ancient dolorite rocks dominates the landscape. Tasmania's climate is mild and rainfall is regular. The Roaring Forty winds that travel across the island bring with them the cleanest air in the world. But in less than 300 kilometres the weather patterns change dramatically. On the west coast the average rainfall is around three meters a year, while on the east coast it's less than 20 centimetres. Hobart, the capital is incongruously Australia's second driest large city. The Tasmanian World Heritage Area has a greater range of natural and cultural values than any other region on earth. With 40 per cent of the island protected as national parks and reserves, you don't have to travel far to be walking through ancient rainforest. With accessible wilderness and plenty of wildlife sanctuaries, Tasmania is the ideal destination to get up close with native Australian animals. See wombats, wallabies, pademelons, endemic birds and more. In Tasmania, visitors can stop by road side stalls with lush berries, shuck oysters fresh from the sea, sample fine Belgian truffles and pick up a bottle of bubbly from wine country so fine, it's rumoured to be second only to Champagne itself.

Tasmania's isolation from mainland Australia has ensured the survival of many plants, animals and birds that are rare, or even extinct, elsewhere in the country. Tasmania has many unique mammals found nowhere else in the world. Some, like the Tasmanian devil and the now extinct Tasmanian tiger are well-known. Others, such as the eastern quoll, pademelon and bettong are less well-known. Tasmania has many species which have become, or are on the verge of extinction on mainland Australia. The lack of introduced predators, such as the fox, and the relatively large amount of intact habitat on the island, make Tasmania a final refuge - a last chance - for many species.

The Tasmanian devil, the world's largest surviving carnivorous marsupial, cannot be mistaken for any other animal. Its spine-chilling screeches, dark colour and reputed bad temper led early European settlers to call it The Devil. Although only the size of a small dog, it can look and sound incredibly fierce. Powerful jaws (nine times as strong as a dog's and comparable to a shark or crocodile) and teeth enable it to completely devour its prey - bones, fur and all. The only thing devils won't eat are echidna quills. It is mainly a scavenger and feeds on what is available, mostly carrion (particularly roadkill, which can easily lead to devils becoming roadkill themselves) although it will occasionally hunt young or wounded animals. Devils are famous for their rowdy communal feeding at carcasses - the noise and displays are used to establish dominance. They can eat nearly 40 per cent of their body weight in 30 minutes.