Tasmania (/tæzˈmeɪniə/;palawa kani:Lutruwita[14]) is an islandstate ofAustralia.[15] It is located 240 kilometres (150 miles) to the south of theAustralian mainland, and is separated from it by theBass Strait. The state encompasses the main island of Tasmania, the26th-largest island in the world, and thesurrounding 1000 islands.[16] It is Australia's smallest and least populous state, with 573,479 residents as of June 2023[update]. Thestate capital and largest city isHobart, with around 40% of the population living in the Greater Hobart area.[17] Tasmania is the most decentralised state in Australia, with the lowest proportion of its residents living within its capital city.[18]
Tasmania's main island was inhabited byAboriginal peoples.[19] It is thought thatAboriginal Tasmanians became separated from the mainland Aboriginal groups about 11,700 years ago, after rising sea levels formedBass Strait.[20] The island was permanently settled by Europeans in 1803 as apenal settlement of theBritish Empire to prevent claims to the land by theFirst French Empire during theNapoleonic Wars.[21] The Aboriginal population is estimated to have been between 3,000 and 7,000 at the time of British settlement, but was almost wiped out within 30 years during a period of conflicts with settlers known as the "Black War" and the spread ofinfectious diseases. The conflict, which peaked between 1825 and 1831 and led to more than three years of martial law, killed almost 1,100 Aboriginal people and settlers.
Under British rule, the island was initially part of theColony of New South Wales; however, it became a separate colony under the nameVan Diemen's Land (named afterAnthony van Diemen) in 1825.[22] Approximately 80,000convicts were sent to Van Diemen's Land before this practice, known astransportation, ceased in 1853.[23] In 1855, the present Constitution of Tasmania was enacted, and the following year the colony formally changed its name to Tasmania. In 1901, it became astate of Australia through the process of thefederation of Australia.
Tasmania is named afterDutchexplorerAbel Tasman, who made the first reported European sighting of the island on 24 November 1642. Tasman named the islandAnthony van Diemen's Land after his sponsorAnthony van Diemen, the Governor of theDutch East Indies. The name was later shortened toVan Diemen's Land by the British. It was officially renamed "Tasmania" in honour of its first European discoverer on 1 January 1856.[27]
Tasmania was sometimes referred to as "Dervon", as mentioned in theJerilderie Letter written by the notorious AustralianbushrangerNed Kelly in 1879. The colloquial expression for the state is "Tassie". Tasmania is also colloquially shortened to "Tas", mainly when used in business names and website addresses. TAS is also theAustralia Post abbreviation for the state.
In the constructedpalawa kani language, the main island of Tasmania is called "lutruwita",[28] a name originally derived from theBruny Island Tasmanian language.George Augustus Robinson recorded it asLoe.trou.witter and also asTrow.wer.nar, probably from one or more of theeastern orNortheastern Tasmanian languages. However, he also recorded it as a name forCape Barren Island. In the 20th century, some writers used it as an Aboriginal name for Tasmania, spelled "Trowenna" or "Trowunna". It is now believed that the name is more properly applied to Cape Barren Island,[28] which has had an officialdual name of "Truwana" since 2014.[29]
A number ofpalawa kani names, based on historical records of aboriginal names, have been accepted by the Tasmanian government. A dozen of these (below) are 'dual-use' (bilingual) names, and another two are unbounded areas with only palawa names.[30]
putalina: an unbounded area centred on Oyster Cove (including the community ofOyster Cove)
There are also a number of archaeological sites with Palawa names. Some of these names have been contentious, with names being proposed without consultation with the aboriginal community, or without having a connection to the place in question.[31]
As well as a diverse First Nations geography, where remnants are preserved in rough form by European documentation, Tasmania is known as a place forunorthodox place-names.[32] These names often come about from lost definitions, where descriptive names have lost their old meanings and have taken on new modern interpretations (e.g. 'Bobs Knobs'). Other names have retained their original meaning, and are often quaint or endearing descriptions (e.g.'Paradise').
The island was adjoined to the mainland of Australia until the end of thelast glacial period about 11,700 years ago.[20] Much of the island is composed ofJurassicdolerite intrusions (the upwelling ofmagma) 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. Thecentral plateau and the southeast portions of the island are mostly dolerites.Mount Wellington aboveHobart 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 bysandstone and similar sedimentary stones. In the southwest,Precambrianquartzites were formed from very ancient sea sediments and form strikingly sharp ridges and ranges, such as Federation Peak orFrenchmans Cap.
In the northeast and east, continentalgranites 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 atMount Read nearRosebery, or atMount Lyell nearQueenstown. Also present in the south and northwest islimestone with caves.
The quartzite and dolerite areas in the higher mountains show evidence ofglaciation, and much of Australia's glaciated landscape is found on the Central Plateau and the Southwest.Cradle Mountain, another dolerite peak, for example, was anunatak. The combination of these different rock types contributes to scenery which is distinct from any other region of the world.[citation needed] In the far southwest corner of the state, the geology is almost wholly quartzite, which gives the mountains the false impression of having snow-capped peaks year round.
Evidence indicates the presence ofAboriginal people in Tasmania about 42,000 years ago.Rising sea levels cut Tasmania off from mainland Australia about 10,000 years ago and by the time of European contact, the Aboriginal people in Tasmania had nine major nations or ethnic groups.[33] At the time of the British occupation and colonisation in 1803, the indigenous population was estimated at between 3,000 and 10,000.
HistorianLyndall Ryan's analysis of population studies led her to conclude that there were about 7,000 spread throughout the island's nine nations;[34] Nicholas Clements, citing research byN.J.B. Plomley andRhys Jones, settled on a figure of 3,000 to 4,000.[35] They engaged infire-stick farming, hunted game includingkangaroo andwallabies, caught seals, mutton-birds, shellfish and fish and lived as nine separate "nations" on the island, which they knew as "Trouwunna".
European arrival and governance
Tasmania is named after Dutch explorerAbel Tasman, the first European to sight the island, in 1642.
Sealers and whalers based themselves on Tasmania's islands from 1798,[37] and in August 1803New South Wales GovernorPhilip King sent LieutenantJohn Bowen to establish a small military outpost on the eastern shore of theDerwent River in order to forestall any claims to the island by French explorers who had been exploring the southern Australian coastline. Bowen, who led a party of 49, including 21 male and three female convicts, named the camp Risdon.[36][38]
Several months later, a second settlement was established by CaptainDavid Collins, with 308 convicts, 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) to the south inSullivans 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 toHobart, after theBritish Colonial Secretary of the time,Lord Hobart. The settlement at Risdon was later abandoned. Left on their own without further supplies, the Sullivans Cove settlement suffered severe food shortages and by 1806 its inhabitants were starving, with many resorting to scraping seaweed off rocks and scavenging washed-up whale blubber from the shore to survive.[36]
A smaller colony was established at Port Dalrymple on the Tamar River in the island's north in October 1804 and several other convict-based settlements were established, including the particularly harshpenal colonies atPort Arthur in the southeast andMacquarie Harbour on the West Coast. Tasmania was eventually sent 75,000 convicts—four out of every ten people transported to Australia.[36] By 1819, the Aboriginal and British population reached parity with about 5000 of each, although among the colonists men outnumbered women four-to-one.[39] Free settlers began arriving in large numbers from 1820, lured by the promise of land grants and free convict labour. Settlement in the island's northwest corner was monopolised by theVan Diemen's Land Company, which sent its first surveyors to the district in 1826. By 1830, one-third of Australia's non-Indigenous population lived in Van Diemen's Land and the island accounted for about half of all land under cultivation and exports.[40]
Painting of a Tasmanian Aboriginal throwing a spear, 1838
Tensions between Tasmania's Aboriginal and white inhabitants rose, partly driven by increasing competition for kangaroo and other game.[41][42][43] Explorer and naval officerJohn Oxley in 1810 noted the "many atrocious cruelties" inflicted on Aboriginal people by convictbushrangers in the north, which in turn led to black attacks on solitary white hunters.[44] Hostilities increased further with the arrival of 600 colonists fromNorfolk Island between 1807 and 1813. They established farms along the River Derwent and east and west ofLaunceston, occupying ten percent of Van Diemen's Land. By 1824 the colonial population had swelled to 12,600, while the island's sheep population had reached 200,000. The rapid colonisation transformed traditional kangaroo hunting grounds into farms with grazing livestock as well as fences, hedges and stone walls, while police and military patrols were increased to control the convict farm labourers.[45]
Violence began to spiral rapidly from the mid-1820s in what became described as the "Black War".[46] Aboriginal inhabitants were driven to desperation by hunger – that included a desire for agricultural produce, as well as feeling anger at the prevalence of abductions of women and girls. New settlers motivated by fear carried out self-defence operations as well as attacks as a means of suppressing the native threat – or even in some cases, exacting revenge.[47] Van Diemen's Land had an enormous gender imbalance, with male colonists outnumbering females six to one in 1822—and 16 to one among the convict population. Historian Nicholas Clements has suggested the "voracious appetite" for native women was the most important trigger for the explosion of violence from the late 1820s.[48]
From 1825 to 1828, the number of native attacks more than doubled each year, raising panic among settlers. Over the summer of 1826–1827 clans from the Big River, Oyster Bay and North Midlands nations speared stock-keepers on farms and made it clear that they wanted the settlers and their sheep and cattle to move from their kangaroo hunting grounds. Settlers responded vigorously, resulting in many mass-killings. In November 1826, GovernorSir George Arthur issued a government notice declaring that colonists were free to kill Aboriginal people when they attacked settlers or their property, and in the following eight months more than 200 Aboriginal people were killed in the Settled Districts in reprisal for the deaths of 15 colonists. After another eight months, the death toll had risen to 43 colonists and probably 350 Aboriginal people.[49] In April 1828, Arthur issued aProclamation of Demarcation forbidding Aboriginal people to enter the settled districts without a passport issued by the government.[50][51] Arthur declaredmartial law in the colony in November that year, and this remained in force for over three years, the longest period of martial law in Australian history.[52][53]
In November 1830, Arthur organised the so-called "Black Line", ordering every able-bodied male colonist to assemble at one of seven designated places in the Settled Districts to join a massive drive to sweep Aboriginal people out of the region and on to theTasman Peninsula. The campaign failed and was abandoned seven weeks later, but by then Tasmania's Aboriginal population had fallen to about 300.[54]
Removal of Aboriginal people
Four elderly full-blood Tasmanian Aboriginal people,c. 1860s.Truganini, for many years claimed to be the last full-blood Aboriginal person to survive, is seated far right.
After hostilities between settlers and Aboriginal peoples ceased in 1832, almost all of the remnants of the Indigenous population were persuaded by government agentGeorge Augustus Robinson to move toFlinders Island. Many quickly succumbed to infectious diseases to which they had no immunity, reducing the population further.[55][56] Of those removed from Tasmania, the last to die wasTruganini, in 1876.
The near-destruction of Tasmania's Aboriginal population has been described as an act of genocide by historians includingRobert Hughes,James Boyce,Lyndall Ryan and Tom Lawson.[36][57][58] However, other historians includingHenry Reynolds,Richard Broome and Nicholas Clements do not agree with the genocide thesis, arguing that the colonial authorities did not intend to destroy the Aboriginal population in whole or in part.[59][60] Boyce has claimed that the April 1828 "Proclamation Separating the Aborigines from the White Inhabitants" sanctioned force against Aboriginal people "for no other reason than that they were Aboriginal".[61] However, as Reynolds, Broome and Clements point out, there was open warfare at the time.[59][60] Boyce described the decision to remove all Tasmanian Aboriginal people after 1832—by which time they had given up their fight against white colonists—as an extreme policy position. He concluded: "The colonial government from 1832 to 1838ethnically cleansed the western half of Van Diemen's Land."[61] Nevertheless, Clements and Flood note that there was another wave of violence in north-west Tasmania in 1841, involving attacks on settlers' huts by a band of Aboriginal Tasmanians who had not been removed from the island.[62][63]
Aconvict ploughing team breaking up new ground at the farm at Port Arthur
Van Diemen's Land—which thus far had existed as a territory within the colony ofNew South Wales—was proclaimed a separate colony, with its own judicial establishment andLegislative Council, on 3 December 1825. Transportation to the island ceased in 1853 and the colony was renamed Tasmania in 1856, partly to differentiate the burgeoning society of free settlers from the island's convict past.[64]
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, Tasmania enjoyed many fruitful periods in the late 19th century, becoming a world-centre of shipbuilding. It raised a local defence force that eventually played asignificant role in theSecond Boer War in South Africa, and Tasmanian soldiers in that conflict won the first twoVictoria Crosses awarded to Australians.
Federation
In 1901, the Colony of Tasmaniaunited with the five other Australian colonies to form the Commonwealth of Australia. Tasmanians voted in favour of federation with the largest majority of all the Australian colonies.
20th and 21st century
Tasmania was an early adopter ofelectricstreet lighting. Australia's first electric street lights were switched on inWaratah in 1886.[66]Launceston became the first completely electrified city on the island in 1885, followed closely by the township ofZeehan in 1900.
The state economy was riding mining prosperity until World War I. In 1901, the state population was 172,475.[67] The 1910 foundation of what would becomeHydro Tasmania began to shape urban patterns, as well as future major damming programs.[68] Hydro's influence culminated in the 1970s when the state government announced plans to flood environmentally significantLake Pedder. As a result of the eventual flooding of Lake Pedder, the world's first green party was established; theUnited Tasmania Group.[69] National and international attention surrounded the campaign against theFranklin Dam in the early 1980s.[70]
After the end of World War II, the state saw major urbanisation, and the growth of towns likeUlverstone.[68] It gained a reputation as "Sanitorium of the South" and a health-focused tourist boom began to grow. ThePrincess of Tasmania began her maiden voyage in 1959, the first car ferry to Tasmania.[68] As part of the boom, Tasmania allowed the opening of the first casino in Australia in 1968.[68] QueenElizabeth II visited the state in 1954, and the 50s and 60s were charactered by the opening of major public services, including the Tasmanian Housing Department andMetro Tasmania public bus services. A jail was opened at Risdon in 1960, and theState Library of Tasmania the same year. The University of Tasmania also moved to its present location in 1963.
The state was badly affected by the1967 Tasmanian fires, killing 64 people and destroying over 652,000 acres in five hours.[71] In 1975 theTasman Bridge collapsed when the bridge was struck by the bulk ore carrierLake Illawarra. It was the only bridge in Hobart, and made crossing theDerwent River by road at the city impossible. The nearest bridge was approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) to the north, at Bridgewater.
Throughout the 1980s, strong environmental concerns saw the building of the Australian Antarctic Division headquarters, and the proclamation of theTasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. The Franklin Dam was blocked by the federal government in 1983, andCSIRO opened its marine studies centre in Hobart.Pope John Paul II would hold mass atElwick Racecourse in 1986.
The 1990s were characterised by the fight forLGBT rights in Tasmania, culminating in the intervention of theUnited Nations Human Rights Committee in 1997 and the decriminalization of homosexuality that year.[72]Christine Milne became the first female leader of a Tasmanian political party in 1993, and major council amalgamations reduce the number of councils from 46 to 29.
In 2000, Queen Elizabeth II once again visited the state.Gunns rose to prominence as a major forestry company during this decade, only to collapse in 2013. In 2004, PremierJim Bacon died in office from lung cancer. In January 2011 philanthropistDavid Walsh opened theMuseum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart to international acclaim. Within 12 months, MONA became Tasmania's top tourism attraction.[73]
The most mountainous region is theCentral Highlands area, which covers most of the central western parts of the state. TheMidlands 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 isMount Ossa at 1,617 m (5,305 ft).[77] Much of Tasmania is still densely forested, with theSouthwest National Park and neighbouring areas holding some of the last temperate rain forests in theSouthern Hemisphere. TheTarkine, containingSavage River National Park located in the island's far north west, is the largesttemperate rainforest area in Australia covering about 3,800 square kilometres (1,500 sq mi).[78] With its rugged topography, Tasmania has a great number of rivers. Several of Tasmania's largest rivers have been dammed at some point to providehydroelectricity. Many rivers begin in the Central Highlands and flow out to the coast. Tasmania's major population centres are mainly situated aroundestuaries (some of which are named rivers).
Tasmania is in the shape of a downward-facing triangle, likened to a shield, heart, or face. It consists of the main island as well as at least a thousand neighbouring islands within the state's jurisdiction. The largest of these areFlinders Island in theFurneaux Group ofBass Strait,King Island in the west of Bass Strait,Cape Barren Island south of Flinders Island,Bruny Island separated from Tasmania by theD'Entrecasteaux Channel,Macquarie Island 1,500 km from Tasmania, andMaria Island off the east coast. Tasmania features a number of separated and continuous mountain ranges. The majority of the state is defined by a significantdolerite exposure, though thewestern half of the state is older and more rugged, featuringbuttongrass plains, temperate rainforests, andquartzite ranges, notablyFederation Peak andFrenchmans Cap. The presence of these mountain ranges is a primary factor in therain shadow effect, where the western half receives the majority of rainfall, which also influences the types of vegetation that can grow. The Central Highlands feature a large plateau which forms a number of ranges and escarpments on its north side, tapering off along the south, and radiating into the highest mountain ranges in the west. At the north-west of this, another plateau radiates into a system of hills wheretakayna / Tarkine is located.
Satellite image showing snow covering Tasmania's highlands, August 2020
Tasmania's environment consistes of many different biomes or communities across its different regions. It is the most forested state in Australia, and preserves the country's largest areas oftemperate rainforest. A distinctive type ofmoorland found across the west, and particularly south-west of Tasmania, arebuttongrass plains, which are speculated to have been expanded byTasmanian Aboriginalburning practices.[80] Tasmania also features a diversealpine gardenenvironment, such ascushion plant. Highland areas receive consistentsnowfall above ~1,000 metres every year, and due to cold air fromAntarctica, this level often reaches 800 m, and more occasionally 600 or 400 metres. Every five or so years, snow can form at sea level.[81] This environment gives rise to thecypress forests of theCentral Plateau and mountainous highlands. In particular, theWalls of Jerusalem with large areas of rarepencil pine, and its closest relativeKing Billy pine. On theWest Coast Range and partially onMount Field, Australia's only winter-deciduous plant,deciduous beech is found, which forms a carpet orkrummholz, or very rarely a 4-metre tree.[82]
Tasmania features a high concentration ofwaterfalls. These can be found in small creeks, alpinestreams,rapidrivers, or off precipitous plunges. Some of the tallest waterfalls are found on mountainmassifs, sometimes at a 200-metre cascade. The most famous and most visited waterfall in Tasmania isRussell Falls inMount Field due to its proximity toHobart and stepped falls at a total height of 58 metres.[83] Tasmania also has a large number ofbeaches, the longest of which isOcean Beach on theWest Coast at about 40 kilometres.[84] Wineglass Bay inFreycinet on the east coast is a well-knownlandmark of the state.
TheTasmanian temperate rainforests cover a few different types. These are also considered distinct from the more common wetsclerophyll forests, though theseeucalypt forests often form withrainforestunderstorey andferns (such astree-ferns) are usually never absent. Rainforest found in deepgullies are usually difficult to traverse due to dense understorey growth, such as fromhorizontal (Anodopetalum biglandulosum). Higher-elevation forests (~500 to 800 m) have smaller ground vegetation and are thus easier to walk in. The most common rainforests usually have a 50-metre[85]canopy and are varied by environmental factors. Emergent growth usually comes fromeucalyptus, which can tower another 50 metres higher (usually less), providing the most common choice of nesting for giantwedge-tailed eagles.
The human environment ranges from urban or industrial development to farming or grazing land. The most cultivated area is theMidlands, where it has suitable soil but is also the driest part of the state.
Tasmania'sinsularity was possibly detected by CaptainAbel Tasman when he charted Tasmania's coast in 1642. On 5 December, Tasman was following theeast coast northward to see how far it went. When the land veered to the north-west atEddystone Point,[86] he tried to keep in with it but his ships were suddenly hit by theRoaring Forties howling throughBass Strait.[87] Tasman was on a mission to find theSouthern Continent, not more islands, so he abruptly turned away to the east and continued his continent-hunting.[88]
The next European to enter the strait was CaptainJames Cook onHMSEndeavour in April 1770. However, after sailing for two hours westward into the strait against the wind, he turned back east and noted in his journal that he was "doubtful whether they [i.e. Van Diemen's Land and New Holland] are one land or no".[89]
The strait was named after George Bass, after he and Matthew Flinders passed through it while circumnavigating Van Diemen's Land in theNorfolk in 1798–99. At Flinders' recommendation, the Governor of New South Wales, John Hunter, in 1800 named the stretch of water between the mainland and Van Diemen's Land "Bass's Straits".[90] Later it became known as Bass Strait.
The existence of the strait had been suggested in 1797 by the master of Sydney Cove when he reached Sydney after deliberately grounding his foundering ship and being stranded on Preservation Island (at the eastern end of the strait). He reported that the strong south westerly swell and the tides and currents suggested that the island was in a channel linking the Pacific and southern Indian Ocean. Governor Hunter thus wrote to Joseph Banks in August 1797 that it seemed certain a strait existed.[91]
Snow onCradle MountainThe Köppen climate classifications of Tasmania
Tasmania has a relatively cool temperate climate compared to the rest of Australia, spared from the hot summers of the mainland and experiencing four distinct seasons.[92] Summer is from December to February when the average maximum sea temperature is 21 °C (70 °F) and inland areas around Launceston reach 24 °C (75 °F). Other inland areas are much cooler, withLiawenee, located on the Central Plateau, one of the coldest places in Australia, ranging between 4 and 17 °C (39 and 63 °F) in February. Autumn is from March to May, with mostly settled weather, as summer patterns gradually take on the shape of winter patterns.[93] The winter months are from June to August and are generally the wettest and coldest months in the state, with most high lying areas receiving considerable snowfall. Winter maximums are 12 °C (54 °F) on average along coastal areas and 3 °C (37 °F) on the central plateau, as a result of a series of cold fronts from theSouthern Ocean. Inland areas receive regular freezes throughout the winter months. Spring is from September to November, and is an unsettled 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.
Geographically and biological isolated, Tasmania is known for its uniqueendemic flora and fauna.
Flora
Tasmania hasextremely diverse vegetation, from the heavily grazed grassland of the dry Midlands to the tall evergreeneucalypt forest,alpine heathlands and large areas of cooltemperate rainforests and moorlands in the rest of the state. Many species are unique to Tasmania, and some are related to species in South America and New Zealand through ancestors which grew on the supercontinent ofGondwana, 50 million years ago.Nothofagus gunnii, commonly known as Australian beech, is Australia's only temperate native deciduous tree and is found exclusively in Tasmania.[106]
Tasmania has a large percentage ofendemism whilst featuring many types of animals found on mainland Australia. Many of these species, such as theplatypus, are larger than their mainland relatives.[111]The island of Tasmania was home to thethylacine, amarsupial which resembled afossa or some say 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 thedingo, 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. TheTasmanian devil became thelargest carnivorous marsupial in the world following theextinction of thethylacine in 1936 and is now found in the wild only in Tasmania. Tasmania was one of the last regions of Australia to be introduced to domesticated dogs. Dogs were brought from Britain in 1803 for hunting kangaroos andemus. This introduction completely transformed Aboriginal society, as it helped them to successfully compete with European hunters and was more important than the introduction of guns for the Aboriginal people.[112]
Tasmania is a hotspot forfungal diversity. The importance of fungi in Tasmania's ecology is often overlooked; nonetheless, they play a vital role in the natural vegetation cycle.[115] Tasmania's southwestern wilderness hosts a rich diversity of alpinelichens, with at least 162 documented species. The region's alpine lichen flora is particularly notable for its high level of endemism, with approximately 16% of species found nowhere else in the world. The area's coolmaritime climate, Precambrian geology, and extensivepeat formations create unique habitats for these organisms. The lichencommunities differ significantly from those found on Tasmania's eastern dolerite mountains, with the southwestern species showing stronger affinities to New Zealand and sub-Antarctic flora rather than to mainland Australia. Major lichen habitats in the alpine southwest include heathlands, alpine lawns,feldmark (windswept rocky plateaus), and large rock outcrops, each supporting distinct assemblages of species. Some particularly diverse genera in the region includeBunodophoron,Cladia,Cladonia,Menegazzia,Micarea,Pertusaria,Pseudocyphellaria,Psoroma,Siphula, andStereocaulon.[116]
Conservation
Like the rest of Australia, Tasmania suffers from anendangered species problem. In particular, many important Tasmanian subspecies and world-significant species ofanimal are classified as at risk in some way. A famous example is theTasmanian devil, which is endangered due todevil facial tumour disease. Some species have already goneextinct, primarily due tohuman interference, such as in the case of thethylacine or theTasmanian emu.[117][118] In Tasmania, there are about 90 endangered, vulnerable, or threatened vertebrate species classified by the state or Commonwealth governments.[119] Because of a reliance on roads and private vehicle transport, and a high concentration of animal populations divided by this development, Tasmania has the worst (per kilometre)roadkill rate in the world, with 32 animals killed per hour and at least 300,000 per year.[120]
Protected areas of Tasmania cover 21% of the island's land area in the form ofnational parks.[121] TheTasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) was inscribed byUNESCO in 1982, where it is globally significant because "most UNESCO World Heritage sites meet only one or two of the ten criteria for that status. The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) meets 7 out of 10 criteria. Only one other place on earth—China’sMount Taishan—meets that many criteria".[122] Controversy surrounds the decision in 2014 by theAbbott federalLiberal government to request the area's delisting and opening for resource exploration (before it was rejected by the UN Committee at Doha),[123] and the currentmining anddeforestation in the state'sTarkine region, the largest singletemperate rainforest in Australia.[124][125]
The population of Tasmania is the most homogeneous of any Australian state, being mostly ofBritish (primarilyEnglish) descent.[126]
Until 2012, Tasmania was the only state in Australia with an above-replacementtotal fertility rate; Tasmanian women had an average of 2.24 children each.[127] By 2012 the birth rate had slipped to 2.1 children per woman, bringing the state to the replacement threshold, but it continues to have the second-highest birth rate of any state or territory (behind the Northern Territory).[128]
19.3% of the population was born overseas at the 2016 census. The five largest groups of overseas-born were from England (3.7%), New Zealand (1%),Mainland China (0.6%), Scotland (0.4%) and the Netherlands (0.4%).[133][134]
At the2021 census, 86.1% of inhabitants spoke only English at home, with the next most common languages beingMandarin (1.5%),Nepali (1.3%),Punjabi (0.5%) and Spanish (0.3%).[136]
In 2021, 50.0% of people in Tasmania reported having no religious affiliation, a substantial increase from 38.2% in 2016 and just 5.1% in 1971. Meanwhile, Christianity remained the largest religious affiliation in the state, with 38.4% identifying as Christian, though this proportion has steadily declined over time—from 88.7% in 1971 to 49.7% in 2016.[136]
Non-Christian religions accounted for 4.5% of the population in 2021, with Hinduism (1.7%), Buddhism (1.0%), and Islam (0.9%) being the most prevalent among them.[136][133][134]
The form of the government of Tasmania is prescribed inits constitution, which dates from 1934. Since 1901, Tasmania has been a state of the Commonwealth of Australia, and theAustralian Constitution regulates its relationship with the Commonwealth and prescribes which powers each level of government is allowed.
Tasmania is represented in theSenate by 12 senators, on an equal basis with all other states. In theHouse of Representatives, 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'sHouse of Assembly use a system of multi-seatproportional representation known asHare-Clark.
Parliamentary elections
At the2002 state election, theLabor Party won 14 of the 25 House seats. The people decreased their vote for theLiberal Party; representation in the Parliament fell to seven seats. TheGreens won four seats, with over 18% of the popular vote, the highest proportion of any Green party in any parliament in the world at that time.
On 23 February 2004 the PremierJim Bacon announced his retirement, after being diagnosed with lung cancer. In his last months he opened a vigorous anti-smoking campaign which included many restrictions on where individuals could smoke, such as pubs. He died four months later. Bacon was succeeded byPaul Lennon, who, after leading the state for two years, went on to win the2006 state election in his own right. Lennon resigned in 2008 and was succeeded byDavid Bartlett, who formed a coalition government with the Greens after the2010 state election resulted in ahung parliament. Bartlett resigned as Premier in January 2011 and was replaced byLara Giddings, who became Tasmania's first female Premier. In March 2014Will Hodgman's Liberal Party won government, ending sixteen years of Labor governance, and ending an eight-year period for Hodgman himself asLeader of the Opposition.[137] Hodgman then won a second term of government in the2018 state election, but resigned mid-term in January 2020 and was replaced byPeter Gutwein.[138]
In May 2021, theTasmanian state election was held after being calledearly by the incumbentLiberal Party, resulting in their return to government and establishment of a one-seat majority. It was also the first time that the Liberal Party had been elected three-times in a row.[139]
In April 2022, former deputy premierJeremy Rockliff became Premier after Gutwein announced his retirement from politics.[140]
Politics
Tasmania has a number of undeveloped regions. Proposals for local economic development have been faced with requirements for environmental sensitivity, or opposition. In particular, proposals for hydroelectric power generation were debated in the late 20th century. In the 1970s, opposition to the construction of theLake Pedder reservoir impoundment led to the formation of the world's firstGreen party, theUnited Tasmania Group.[141]
In the early 1980s the state debated the proposedFranklin River Dam. The anti-dam sentiment was shared by many Australians outside Tasmania and proved a factor in the election of theHawkeLabor government in 1983, which halted construction of the dam.[142] Since the 1980s the environmental focus has shifted toold growth logging and mining in the Tarkine region, which have both proved divisive.[143] The Tasmania Together process recommended an end to clear felling in high conservation old growth forests by January 2003, but was unsuccessful.
In1996, the House of Assembly consisted of 35 seats with 7 seats per each of the five electorates. By the1998 election, the number of seats had been reduced down to 25, or 5 per each electorate. This resulted in the reduction of the Greens' number of seats from 4 to 1, and increased the proportion of seats held by both the Labor and Liberal parties.[144] This was despite growth in population (five-fold since responsible government) and an increase in the voting percentage required for a majority government. There was also no public consultation, and inquiries at the time had recommended the opposite. The House of Assembly Select Committee in 2020 recommended in its report that the number should be increased again from 25 to 35, arguing that such a small representation would undermine democracy and limit the capabilities of the government. In 2010, the major party leadership had even endorsed reinstating the 35 seat number, but Liberal and Labor support was withdrawn the following year, with only the Greens keeping their commitment.[145]
The campaign to save Lake Pedder led to the 1972 formation of theUnited Tasmania Group, the world's first Green party.
Local government
Tasmania has 29local government areas. Local councils are responsible for functions delegated by the Tasmanian parliament, such as urban planning, road infrastructure and waste management. Council revenue comes mostly from property taxes and government grants.
Traditionally, Tasmania's main industries have been mining (including copper,zinc,tin, and iron), agriculture, forestry, andtourism. Tasmania is onAustralia's electrical grid and in the 1940s and 1950s, a hydro-industrialisation initiative was embodied in the state byHydro Tasmania. 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.[147] The state also has a large number of food exporting sectors, including but not limited to seafood (such assalmon,abalone andcrayfish).
In the 1960s and 1970s there was a decline in traditional crops such as apples and pears,[148] with other crops and industries eventually rising in their place. During the 15 years until 2010, new agricultural products such as wine,saffron,pyrethrum andcherries have been fostered by theTasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research.
Favourable economic conditions throughout Australia, cheaper air fares, and two newSpirit of Tasmania ferries have all contributed to what is now a rising tourism industry.
34% of Tasmanians are reliant on welfare payments as their primary source of income.[152] This number is in part due to the large number of older residents and retirees in Tasmania receiving Age Pensions. Due to its natural environment and clean air, Tasmania is a common retirement selection for Australians.[153]
The FrenchD'Entrecasteaux Expedition of 1792–93 had anchored twice during its search of the missingLa Pérouse in theBaie de la Recherche (Recherche Bay) in far-south Tasmania. During their stay, the crew tookbotanical,astronomical, andgeomagnetic observations which were the first of their kind performed on Australian soil. As well as this, they engaged in amicable relations with the locals and environment, gifting the area a "Frenchgarden", in which "the relatively extensive, well-documented (both pictorially and written) encounters [...] between [them] provided a very early opportunity for meetings and mutual observation".[159]
The longest-running branch of theRoyal Society outside of the United Kingdom is theRoyal Society of Tasmania which was summoned in 1843. The Tasmanian Society of Natural History had been formed previously in 1838 before its merger with the Royal Society in 1849. It had been served by earlybotanists working in Tasmania such asRonald Gunn and his correspondences.[160][161]
Tasmanian Gothic is a literary genre which expresses the island state's "peculiar 'otherness' in relation to the mainland, as a remote, mysterious and self-enclosed place."[169]Marcus Clarke's novelFor the Term of his Natural Life, written in the 1870s and set in convict era Tasmania, is a seminal example. This distinctiveGothic is not just restricted to literature, but can be represented through allthe arts, such as inpainting,music, orarchitecture.
Visual arts
The biennialTasmanian Living Artists' Week is a ten-day statewide festival for Tasmania's visual artists. The fourth festival in 2007 involved more than 1000 artists. Tasmania is home to two winners of the prestigiousArchibald Prize—Jack Carington Smith in 1963 for a portrait ofJames McAuley, andGeoffrey Dyer in 2003 for his portrait ofRichard Flanagan. PhotographersOlegas Truchanas andPeter Dombrovskis are known for works that became iconic in theLake Pedder andFranklin Dam conservation movements. English-born painterJohn Glover (1767–1849) is known for his paintings of Tasmanian landscapes, and is the namesake for the annualGlover Prize, which is awarded to the best landscape painting of Tasmania. TheMuseum of Old and New Art (MONA) opened in January 2011 at theMoorilla Estate inBerriedale,[170] and is the largest privately owned museum complex in Australia.[171]
TheTasmanian Film Corporation, which financedManganinnie, was the successor to the Tasmanian Government Department of Film Production but disappeared after privatisation. Its role is now filled by theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation, Screen Tasmania, and private ventures such as Blue Rocket Productions.
Higher Education
Tasmania is served by theUniversity of Tasmania, a research university established in 1846.
Sport is an important pastime in Tasmania, and the state has produced several famous sportsmen and women and also hosted several major sporting events. TheTasmanian Tigers cricket team represents the state successfully (for example theSheffield Shield in 2007, 2011 and 2013) and plays its home games at theBellerive Oval in Hobart, which is also the home ground for theHobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League. In addition, Bellerive Oval regularly hosts international cricket matches. Famous Tasmanian cricketers includeDavid Boon, former Australian captainsRicky Ponting andTim Paine.
TheSydney to Hobart Yacht Race is an annual event starting in Sydney, NSW, on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart, Tasmania. It is widely considered to be one of the most difficult yacht races in the world.[181]
Tasmanian Aboriginal people had a diverse diet, including native currants, pigface, and native plums, and a wide range of birds and kangaroos. Seafood has always been a significant part of the Tasmanian diet, including its wide range of shellfish, which are still commercially farmed[183] such ascrayfish,orange roughy,salmon[183] andoysters.[183] Seal meat also formed a significant part of the Aboriginal diet.[184]
Tasmania's non-Aboriginal cuisine has a unique history to mainland Australia. It has developed through many subsequent waves of immigration. Tasmanian traditional foods include scallop pies – a pie filled with scallops in curry – and curry powder, which was popularised byKeen's Curry in the 19th century.[185] Tasmania also produces and consumes wasabi, saffron, truffles and leatherwood honey.[186]
Built in Hobart in 1824,Cascade Brewery is Australia's oldest continuously operating brewery.
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,[183] and Tasmanian beer brands such asBoags andCascade are known and sold in Mainland Australia.King Island off the northwestern coast of Tasmania has a reputation for boutique cheeses[183] and dairy products.
TheCentral Cookery Book was written in 1930 byA. C. Irvine and is still popular in Australia and even internationally.[187][188] Tasmanian cuisine is often unique and has won many awards. One example is the Hartshorn Distillery, which has won prizes in the WorldVodka Awards for three years in a row since 2017.[189]
To foster tourism, the state government encourages or supports several annual events in and around the island. The best known of these is theSydney to Hobart Yacht Race, starting onBoxing Day in Sydney and usually arriving atConstitution Dock in Hobart around three to four days later, during theTaste of Tasmania, an annual food and wine festival. Other events include theTarga Tasmaniarally which attracts rally drivers from around the world and is staged all over the state, over five days. Rural or regional events includeAgfest, a three-dayagricultural show held atCarrick (just west of Launceston) in early May andNASA supported TastroFest – Tasmania's Astronomy Festival, held early August inUlverstone (Northwest Tasmania). TheRoyal Hobart Show andRoyal Launceston Show are both held in October annually.
Music events held in Tasmania include theFalls Festival atMarion Bay (aVictorian event now held in both Victoria and Tasmania on New Year's Eve); the Festival of Voices, a national celebration of song held each year in Hobart attracting international and national teachers and choirs in the heart of Winter; andMS Fest, a charity music event held in Launceston to raise money for those withmultiple sclerosis. TheCygnet Folk Festival is one of Australia's most iconicfolk music festivals and is held inCygnet in theHuon Valley every year in January.[190] The Tasmanian Lute Festival is an early music event held in different locations in Tasmania every two years. Recent additions to the state arts events calendar include the10 Days on the Island arts festival,MONA FOMA, run byDavid Walsh and curated byBrian Ritchie andDark Mofo also run byDavid Walsh and curated by Leigh Carmichael.
Tasmania is perceived within Australia and internationally as an island with pristine wildlife, water and air. It is known for itsecotourism for these reasons, and is considered an idyllic location for Australians considering a "tree-" or "sea-change", or are seekingretirement because of Tasmania'stemperate environment and friendly locals.[194] In other parts of the world, Tasmania is considered as the opposite side of the planet to most places, and supposedly home to mythically exotic animals, such as theTasmanian Devil as popularised byWarner Brothers.
Stereotypes
Tasmania has a reputation within Australia that is often at odds with the reality of the state or may have only been true during colonial times and has only persevered on the Australian mainland as amyth. Because of thesestereotypes, Tasmania is often referred to as the primary target (i.e., "butt") of mainland Australian jokes.[195] In more recent times, references to insults against Tasmania are moresarcastic and jovial, but angst against the island still exists. The most commonly cited sarcastic comment is on the supposedly 'two-headed' Tasmanians, which originated due to some colonists developinggoitres from the low amount ofiodine in the island's soil.[196] But as Tasmania receives higher volumes of inter-state tourists, the perceptions are in the process of changing.[197]
The most prominent example of negative stereotype is ofinbreeding due to the relatively small size of Tasmania compared to the rest of Australia (though Tasmania is nearly as large as the Republic of Ireland in area, and more populous thanIceland). This is untrue and if it had once been the case, it would have existed in the rest of colonial Australia as well, though Tasmania's penal establishments were some of the harshest in the entire colony and home to infamous bushrangers. This is a part of the also-receding global stereotype that all Australians are or were derived from criminals, even as mostconvicts were transported for petty crimes. During this period of European settlement, Tasmania was the second centre of power (and a significant port of theBritish Empire) on the continent afterNew South Wales, before being surpassed in the latter half of the 19th century byVictoria and regions sustained bymining booms following the cessation of transportation in 1853.[198]A mentality developed in certain corners of Australia, and led to a general dislike of Tasmania amongst these people, even if the opinion-holder had never properly visited. It can rise to such an extent as to argue for the secession of Tasmania from the rest of Australia, in an effort to 'recover' Australia's reputation from Tasmania.[199]
Tasmania – Hobart in particular – serves as Australia's chief sea link to Antarctica, with theAustralian Antarctic Division located inKingston. Hobart is also the home port of the French shipl'Astrolabe, which makes regular supply runs to theFrench Southern Territories near and in Antarctica.
Within the state, the primary form of transport is by road. Since the 1980s, many of thestate's highways have undergone regular upgrades. These include the HobartSouthern Outlet, Launceston Southern Outlet,Bass Highway reconstruction, and theHuon Highway. Public transport is provided byMetro Tasmania bus services, regular taxis and Hobart only[200] UBER ride-share services within urban areas, withRedline Coaches,Tassielink Transit and Callows Coaches providing bus service between population centres.
Rail transport in Tasmania 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 byTasRail. 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 theWest Coast Wilderness Railway. There is anongoing proposal to reinstate commuter trains to Hobart. This idea however lacks political motivation.
There is a substantial amount of commercial and recreational shipping within Hobart's harbour, and the port hosts approximately 120 cruise ships during the warmer half of the year, and there are occasional visits from military vessels.[201]
Burnie and Devonport on the northwest coast host ports and several other coastal towns host either small fishing ports or substantial marinas. The domestic sea route between Tasmania and the mainland is serviced byBass Strait passenger/vehicle ferries operated by the Tasmanian government-ownedSpirit of Tasmania. The state is also home toIncat, a manufacturer of very high-speed aluminium catamarans that regularly broke records when they were first launched.
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