THE ISLAND STATE OF TASMANIA

LOCATION

Part of the Commonwealth of Australia located 240 kilometers (150 mi) to the south of the Australian continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania, the 26th largest island in the world, and the surrounding 334 islands. The state capital and largest city is Hobart, which encompasses the local government areas of City of Hobart, City of Glenorchy, and City of Clarence, while the satellite town of Kingston (part of the Municipality of Kingsborough) is generally included in the Greater Hobart area.

Hobart New Norfolk Brighton Derwent Valley Hobart Brighton New Norfolk Derwent Valley Port Arthur

TASMANIA ISLAND HISTORY The state is named after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman who made the first reported European sighting of the island on 24 November Tasman named the island "Anthony van Diemen's Land" after his sponsor Anthony van Diemen, the Governor of the Dutch East Indies. The name was later shortened to Van Diemen's Land by the British. It was officially renamed Tasmania in honor of its first European discoverer on 1 January 1856

In 1803 Risdon Cove, on the Derwent River, became the site of Australia’s second British colony. One year later the settlement moved to the present site of Hobart, where fresh water ran plentifully off Mt Wellington. AustraliaHobart Convicts accompanied the first settlers as labourers, but penal settlements weren’t built until later: on Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour in 1822, on Maria Island in 1825 and at Port Arthur in In subsequent decades, Van Diemen’s Land loomed apocalyptically in British convicts’ minds – the most fearsome, terrible of destinations. By the 1850s, every second islander was a convict, and Hobart Town and Launceston festered with disease, prostitution and drunken lawlessnessHobartLaunceston TASMANIA ISLAND HISTORY

Gold was discovered in the 1870s, fevered prospectors exploring much of the state in search of glimmering wealth. So began the exploitation of Tasmania’s natural resources, a pattern locked on a collision course with environmental concerns. In the 1960s and ’70s bushwalkers and conservationists fought unsuccessfully to stop the hydroelectric flooding of Lake Pedder. In the 1980s this issue flared again – this time the fledgling Green movement successfully campaigned against flooding the Franklin River for similar purposes. The tug-of-war between conservation and industry (especially logging and mining) remains the most divisive issue on Tasmanian political, economic and social agendas. TASMANIA ISLAND HISTORY

INDIGENOUS HISTORY The story of Tasmania’s indigenous people since European settlement is a tragic one. Isolated when the land bridge to Victoria drowned beneath rising sea levels 10, 000 years ago, the island’s Aborigines developed a distinct, sustainable, seasonal culture of hunting, fishing and gathering. When European pastoralists arrived, they fenced off sections of fertile land for farming. As the Aborigines lost more and more of their traditional hunting grounds, battles erupted between blacks and whites, the so-called ‘Black Wars’. In 1828 martial law was declared by Lieutenant-Governor Arthur, and Aboriginal tribes were systematically murdered, incarcerated or forced at gunpoint from districts settled by whites. Many more succumbed to European diseases.

Between 1829 and 1834, a misguided attempt to resettle, ‘civilize’ and Christianize Tasmania’s remaining indigenous population on Flinders Island occurred. Most of them died of despair, poor food or respiratory disease. Of the 135 taken to the island, only 47 survived to be transferred to Oyster Cove in Tasmania’s south in Within 32 years, the entire Aboriginal population at Oyster Cove had perished. INDIGENOUS HISTORY

By 1847 an Aboriginal community, with a lifestyle based on both Aboriginal and European ways, had emerged on Flinders and other islands in the Furneaux Group. Although the last full-blooded Tasmanian Aborigine died in the 19th century, the strength of this community helped save the race from oblivion. Today, thousands of descendants of this community survive in Tasmania INDIGENOUS HISTORY

THE ROARING 40’S The Roaring Forties is the name given to strong westerly winds found in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40 and 50 degrees. The strong west-to-east air currents are caused by the combination of air being displaced from the Equator towards the South Pole and the Earth's rotation, and there are few landmasses to serve as windbreaks.

THE ROARING 40’S The Roaring Forties was a major aid to ships sailing from Europe to the East Indies or Australasia during the Age of Sail, and in modern usage is favored by yachtsmen on round-the-world voyages and competitions. The boundaries of the Roaring Forties are not consistent, and shift north or south depending on the season.

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 represented in the Senate by 12 senators, on an equal basis with all other states. In the House 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. At the 2002 state election, the Labor Party won 14 of the 25 House seats. The Liberal Party saw their percentage of the vote decrease dramatically, and their representation in the Parliament fell to seven seats. The Greens 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.

POLITICS Composition of the Parliament of Tasmania Political Party House of Assembly Legislative Council ALP102 Liberal101 Greens50 Independent012 Source: Tasmanian Electoral Commission

POLITICS 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 Pedder reservoir impoundment led to the formation of the world's first green party, the United Tasmania Group. In the early 1980s the state was again plunged into often bitter debate over the proposed Franklin River Dam. The anti-dam sentiment was shared by many Australians outside Tasmania and proved a factor in the election of the Hawke Labor 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, but was unsuccessful.