130-622: Pyengana is a village in north-east Tasmania , Australia . At the 2006 census , Pyengana had a population of 123. It is part of the Break O'Day Council administrative region, with less than 1% in the Dorset LGA. The regional centre is St Helens which is approximately 27 kilometres to the east. Pyengana is a rural farming region with a number of natural and historical heritage sites. Permanent settlement commenced around 1875 with pioneering settlers such as George and Margaret Cotton who raised
260-696: A European was on 24 November 1642 by Dutch explorer Abel Tasman , who landed at today's Blackman Bay . More than a century later, in 1772, a French expedition led by Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne landed at (nearby but different) Blackmans Bay , and the following year Tobias Furneaux became the first Englishman to land in Tasmania when he arrived at Adventure Bay , which he named after his ship HMS Adventure . Captain James Cook also landed at Adventure Bay in 1777. Matthew Flinders and George Bass sailed through Bass Strait in 1798–1799, determining for
390-585: A Proclamation of Demarcation forbidding Aboriginal people to enter the settled districts without a passport issued by the government. Arthur declared martial 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. 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
520-488: A ticket of leave , permitting some prescribed freedoms . This enabled some convicts to resume a more normal life, to marry and raise a family, and to contribute to the development of the colony. In England in the 17th and 18th centuries criminal justice was severe, later termed the Bloody Code . This was due to both the particularly large number of offences which were punishable by execution (usually by hanging), and to
650-470: A 50-metre canopy and are varied by environmental factors. Emergent growth usually comes from eucalyptus , which can tower another 50 metres higher (usually less), providing the most common choice of nesting for giant wedge-tailed eagles . The human environment ranges from urban or industrial development to farming or grazing land. The most cultivated area is the Midlands , where it has suitable soil but
780-406: A band of Aboriginal Tasmanians who had not been removed from the island. Van Diemen's Land—which thus far had existed as a territory within the colony of New South Wales —was proclaimed a separate colony, with its own judicial establishment and Legislative Council , on 3 December 1825. Transportation to the island ceased in 1853 and the colony was renamed Tasmania in 1856, partly to differentiate
910-512: A bill was proposed to the House of Commons to allow the transporting of felons, and was followed by another bill presented to the Lords to allow the transportation of criminals convicted of felony within clergy or petty larceny. These bills failed, but it was clear that change was needed. Transportation was not a sentence in itself, but could be arranged by indirect means. The reading test, crucial for
1040-465: A business: merchants chose from among the prisoners on the basis of the demand for labour and their likely profits. They obtained a contract from the sheriffs, and after the voyage to the colonies they sold the convicts as indentured servants . The payment they received also covered the jail fees, the fees for granting the pardon, the clerk's fees, and everything necessary to authorise the transportation. These arrangements for transportation continued until
1170-538: A family of nine children at the property they called St Columba. Georges River Post Office opened on 1 December 1885 and was renamed Pyengana in 1888. The area had several tin mines such as the Anchor Tin Mine and Battery situated in the Pyengana Pass. Natural heritage areas include St Columba Falls (a cascading waterfall with the highest plunge of 90 metres), Halls Falls, and Blue Tier. The area
1300-724: A free settlement was established and this settlement later accepted some convict transportation. Until the massive influx of immigrants during the Australian gold rushes of the 1850s, free settlers had been outnumbered by penal convicts and their descendants. However, compared to the British American colonies , Australia received a larger number of convicts. Convicts were generally treated harshly, forced to work against their will, often doing hard physical labour and dangerous jobs. In some cases they were cuffed and chained in work gangs. The majority of convicts were men, although
1430-477: 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. In April 1828, Arthur issued
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#17327727237021560-536: A group of convict ships departed from England to establish the first colonial settlement in Australia, as a penal colony . The First Fleet included boats containing food and animals from London. The ships and boats of the fleet would explore the coast of Australia by sailing all around it looking for suitable farming land and resources. The fleet arrived at Botany Bay , Sydney on 18 January 1788, then moved to Sydney Cove (modern-day Circular Quay ) and established
1690-488: A high concentration of waterfalls . These can be found in small creeks, alpine streams , rapid rivers , or off precipitous plunges. Some of the tallest waterfalls are found on mountain massifs , sometimes at a 200-metre cascade. The most famous and most visited waterfall in Tasmania is Russell Falls in Mount Field due to its proximity to Hobart and stepped falls at a total height of 58 metres. Tasmania also has
1820-516: A landmass of 68,401 km (26,410 sq mi) and is located directly in the pathway of the notorious " Roaring Forties " wind that encircles the globe. To its north, it is separated from mainland Australia by Bass Strait . Tasmania is the only Australian state that is not located on the Australian mainland. About 2,500 kilometres (1,300 nautical miles) south of Tasmania island lies the George V Coast of Antarctica . Depending on which borders of
1950-906: A large number of beaches , the longest of which is Ocean Beach on the West Coast at about 40 kilometres. Wineglass Bay in Freycinet on the east coast is a well-known landmark of the state. The Tasmanian temperate rainforests cover a few different types. These are also considered distinct from the more common wet sclerophyll forests, though these eucalypt forests often form with rainforest understorey and ferns (such as tree-ferns ) are usually never absent. Rainforest found in deep gullies are usually difficult to traverse due to dense understorey growth, such as from horizontal ( 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
2080-638: 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 where takayna / Tarkine is located. The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) divides Tasmania into 9 bioregions: Ben Lomond , Furneaux , King , Central Highlands , Northern Midlands , Northern Slopes , Southern Ranges , South East , and West . Tasmania's environment consistes of many different biomes or communities across its different regions. It
2210-428: A means of suppressing the native threat – or even in some cases, exacting revenge. 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. From 1825 to 1828,
2340-573: A number of years. The American Revolution brought transportation to the North American mainland to an end. The remaining British colonies (in what is now Canada) were regarded as unsuitable for various reasons, including the possibility that transportation might increase dissatisfaction with British rule among settlers and/or the possibility of annexation by the United States – as well as the ease with which prisoners could escape across
2470-601: A party of 49, including 21 male and three female convicts, named the camp Risdon. Several months later, a second settlement was established by Captain David Collins , with 308 convicts, 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) to the south 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
2600-661: A proposal to release women who could not be transported, but this solution was considered absurd: this caused the Lords Justices to order that no distinction be made between men and women. Women were sent to the Leeward Islands , the only colony that accepted them, and the government had to pay to send them overseas. In 1696 Jamaica refused to welcome a group of prisoners because most of them were women; Barbados similarly accepted convicts but not "women, children nor other infirm persons". Thanks to transportation,
2730-420: A public exhibition of the king's mercy. It was a solution to a real problem in the domestic penal system. There was also the hope that transported convicts could be rehabilitated and reformed by starting a new life in the colonies. In 1615, in the reign of James I , a committee of the council had already obtained the power to choose from the prisoners those that deserved pardon and, consequently, transportation to
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#17327727237022860-468: A reputation as "Sanitorium of the South" and a health-focused tourist boom began to grow. The MS Princess of Tasmania began her maiden voyage in 1959, the first car ferry to Tasmania. As part of the boom, Tasmania allowed the opening of the first casino in Australia in 1968. Queen Elizabeth II visited the state in 1954, and the 50s and 60s were charactered by the opening of major public services, including
2990-605: A result of the act. The Transportation, etc. Act 1784 ( 24 Geo. 3. Sess. 2 . c. 56) and the Transportation, etc. Act 1785 ( 25 Geo. 3 . c. 46) also resulted to help alleviate overcrowding. Both acts empowered the Crown to appoint certain places within his dominions, or outside them, as the destination for transported criminals; the acts would move convicts around the country as needed for labour, or where they could be utilized and accommodated. The overcrowding situation and
3120-462: A significant dolerite exposure, though the western half of the state is older and more rugged, featuring buttongrass plains, temperate rainforests, and quartzite ranges, notably Federation Peak and Frenchmans Cap . The presence of these mountain ranges is a primary factor in the rain 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
3250-590: A significant portion were women. Some were as young as 10 when convicted and transported to Australia. Most were guilty of relatively minor crimes like theft of food/clothes/small items, but some were convicted of serious crimes like rape or murder. Convict status was not inherited by children, and convicts were generally freed after serving their sentence, although many died during transportation or during their sentence. Convict assignment (sending convicts to work for private individuals) occurred in all penal colonies aside from Western Australia , and can be compared with
3380-567: A specific term. To provide confinement facilities, the general change in sentencing was passed in conjunction with the Convict Prisons Act 1853 ( 16 & 17 Vict. c. 121), long titled "An Act for providing Places of Confinement in England or Wales for Female Offenders under Sentence or Order of Transportation." The Penal Servitude Act 1857 ( 20 & 21 Vict. c. 3) ended the sentence of transportation in virtually all cases, with
3510-411: Is a significant agricultural exporter, as well as a significant destination for eco-tourism. About 42% of its land area, including national parks and World Heritage Sites (21%), is protected in some form of reserve. The first environmental political party in the world was founded in Tasmania. Tasmania is named after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman , who made the first reported European sighting of
3640-548: Is also the driest part of the state. Tasmania's insularity was possibly detected by Captain Abel Tasman when he charted Tasmania's coast in 1642. On 5 December, Tasman was following the east coast northward to see how far it went. When the land veered to the north-west at Eddystone Point , he tried to keep in with it but his ships were suddenly hit by the Roaring Forties howling through Bass Strait . Tasman
3770-433: Is brought to it by the publican. Anchor Farms began growing organic gourmet potatoes in 1995 and now supply nationwide and export to South East Asia. This Tasmania geography article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tasmania Tasmania ( / t æ z ˈ m eɪ n i ə / ; palawa kani : lutruwita ) is an island state of Australia . It is located 240 kilometres (150 miles) to
3900-558: Is found on the Central Plateau and the Southwest. Cradle Mountain , another dolerite peak, for example, was a nunatak . The combination of these different rock types contributes to scenery which is distinct from any other region of the world. 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
4030-462: Is known for its Pyengana Cheese Factory which is run by 4th generation cheese maker Jon Healey and his family. The factory specialises in cloth bound cheddar. Another local business is the 'Pub in the Paddock' which was established in 1900 and is inside a paddock. It boasted a beer drinking pig which has since passed on, but there is another pig there now that will also drink beer, but only that which
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4160-595: Is the Central Highlands 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 m (5,305 ft). Much of Tasmania is still densely forested, with the Southwest National Park and neighbouring areas holding some of
4290-685: Is the most forested state in Australia, and preserves the country's largest areas of temperate rainforest . A distinctive type of moorland found across the west, and particularly south-west of Tasmania, are buttongrass plains, which are speculated to have been expanded by Tasmanian Aboriginal burning practices . Tasmania also features a diverse alpine garden environment , such as cushion plant . Highland areas receive consistent snowfall above ~1,000 metres every year, and due to cold air from Antarctica , this level often reaches 800 m, and more occasionally 600 or 400 metres. Every five or so years, snow can form at sea level. This environment gives rise to
4420-553: The 1943 federal election and first female to serve in the federal cabinet . In May 1948, Margaret McIntyre achieved another milestone as the first female elected to the Parliament of Tasmania. Less than six months after her election, McIntyre died in the crash of the Lutana near Quirindi on 2 September 1948. After the end of World War II, the state saw major urbanisation, and the growth of towns like Ulverstone . It gained
4550-570: The British 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. A smaller colony was established at Port Dalrymple on
4680-484: The Bruny Island Tasmanian language . George Augustus Robinson recorded it as Loe.trou.witter and also as Trow.wer.nar , probably from one or more of the eastern or Northeastern Tasmanian languages . However, he also recorded it as a name for Cape 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
4810-668: The Dreyfus Affair , and Dreyfus was fully exonerated in 1906. Unlike normal penal transportation, many Soviet people were transported as criminals in forms of deportation being proclaimed as enemies of people in a form of collective punishment . During the Second World War , the Soviet Union transported up to 1.9 million people from its western republics to Siberia and the Central Asian republics of
4940-463: The Furneaux Group of Bass Strait , King Island in the west of Bass Strait, Cape Barren Island south of Flinders Island, Bruny Island separated from Tasmania by the D'Entrecasteaux Channel , Macquarie Island 1,500 km from Tasmania, and Maria Island off the east coast. Tasmania features a number of separated and continuous mountain ranges. The majority of the state is defined by
5070-583: The Home Counties . The "Felons' Act" (as the Transportation Act was called) was printed and distributed in 1718, and in April twenty-seven men and women were sentenced to transportation. The Act led to significant changes: both petty and grand larceny were punished by transportation (seven years), and the sentence for any non-capital offence was at the judge's discretion. In 1723 an Act
5200-624: The Indian Rebellion of 1857 . As the Indian independence movement swelled, so did the number of prisoners who were penally transported. The Cellular Jail in Port Blair , South Andaman Island , also called Kālā Pānī or Kalapani (Hindi for black waters), was constructed between 1896 and 1906 as a high-security prison with 698 individual cells for solitary confinement . Surviving prisoners were repatriated in 1937. The penal settlement
5330-591: The Myall Creek Massacre . In the Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars , a group of Irish convicts joined the Aboriginal coalition of Eora , Gandangara , Dharug and Tharawal nations in their fight against the colonists. Norfolk Island , east of the Australian mainland, was a convict penal settlement from 1788 to 1794, and again from 1824 to 1847. In 1803, Van Diemen's Land (modern-day Tasmania)
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5460-762: The National Firearms Agreement . 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, Premier Jim Bacon died in office from lung cancer. In January 2011 philanthropist David Walsh opened the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart to international acclaim. Within 12 months, MONA became Tasmania's top tourism attraction. The COVID-19 pandemic in Tasmania resulted in at least 230 cases and 13 deaths as of September 2021 . In 2020, after
5590-668: The Nine Years' War ) and the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14) adversely affected merchant shipping and hence transportation. In the post-war period there was more crime and hence potentially more executions, and something needed to be done. In the reigns of Queen Anne (1702–14) and George I (1714–27), transportation was not easily arranged, but imprisonment was not considered enough to punish hardened criminals or those who had committed capital offences, so transportation
5720-522: The Restoration , the penal transportation system and the number of people subjected to it, started to change inexorably between 1660 and 1720, with transportation replacing the simple discharge of clergyable felons after branding the thumb . Alternatively, under the second act dealing with Moss-trooper brigands on the Scottish border, offenders had their benefit of clergy taken away, or otherwise at
5850-643: The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area . The Franklin Dam was blocked by the federal government in 1983, and CSIRO opened its marine studies centre in Hobart. Pope John Paul II would hold mass at Elwick Racecourse in 1986. The 1990s were characterised by the fight for LGBT rights in Tasmania , culminating in the intervention of the United Nations Human Rights Committee in 1997 and
5980-483: The benefit of clergy , was a fundamental feature of the penal system, but to prevent its abuse, this pardoning process was used more strictly. Prisoners were carefully selected for transportation based on information about their character and previous criminal record. It was arranged that they fail the reading test, but they were then reprieved and held in jail, without bail, to allow time for a royal pardon (subject to transportation) to be organised. Transportation became
6110-596: The cypress forests of the Central Plateau and mountainous highlands. In particular, the Walls of Jerusalem with large areas of rare pencil pine , and its closest relative King Billy pine . On the West Coast Range and partially on Mount Field , Australia's only winter- deciduous plant, deciduous beech is found, which forms a carpet or krummholz , or very rarely a 4-metre tree. Tasmania features
6240-540: The prisoners may have been released once the sentences were served, they generally did not have the resources to return home. Banishment or forced exile from a polity or society has been used as a punishment since at least the 5th century BCE in Ancient Greece . The practice of penal transportation reached its height in the British Empire during the 18th and 19th centuries. Transportation removed
6370-474: The rule of law , it was equally unreasonable for them to escape punishment entirely. With the development of colonies, transportation was introduced as an alternative punishment, although legally it was considered a condition of a pardon, rather than a sentence in itself. Convicts who represented a menace to the community were sent away to distant lands. A secondary aim was to discourage crime for fear of being transported. Transportation continued to be described as
6500-658: The 1820s until the 1860s, convicts were sent to the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda (part of British North America ) to work on the construction of the Royal Naval Dockyard and other defence works, including at the East End of the archipelago, where they were accommodated aboard the hulk of HMS Thames at an area still known as " Convict Bay ", at St. George's town. In 1787, the First Fleet ,
6630-690: The Americas from the 1610s until early in the American Revolution in 1776, when transportation to America was temporarily suspended by the Criminal Law Act 1776 ( 16 Geo. 3 . c. 43). The practice was mandated in Scotland by an act of 1785, but was less used there than in England. Transportation on a large scale resumed with the departure of the First Fleet to Australia in 1787, and continued there until 1868 . Transportation
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#17327727237026760-503: The Australian population (about 7 million) had Irish ancestry – the highest percentage outside of Ireland – thanks partially to historical convict transportation. In British India – including the province of Burma (now Myanmar ) and the port of Karachi (now part of Pakistan ) – Indian independence activists were penally transported to the Andaman Islands . A penal colony was established there in 1857 with prisoners from
6890-712: 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, 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 a significant role in the Second Boer War in South Africa, and Tasmanian soldiers in that conflict won
7020-482: The Central Highlands and flow out to the coast. Tasmania's major population centres are mainly situated around estuaries (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 are Flinders Island in
7150-479: The Crown to merchants contracted to take the convicts to America. The Transportation Act made returning from transportation a capital offence . The number of convicts transported to North America is not verified: John Dunmore Lang has estimated 50,000, and Thomas Keneally has proposed 120,000. Maryland received a larger felon quota than any other province. Many prisoners were taken in battle from Ireland or Scotland and sold into indentured servitude , usually for
7280-464: The Greater Hobart area. Tasmania is the most decentralised state in Australia, with the lowest proportion of its residents living within its capital city. Tasmania's main island was inhabited by Aboriginal peoples . It is thought that Aboriginal Tasmanians became separated from the mainland Aboriginal groups about 11,700 years ago, after rising sea levels formed Bass Strait . The island
7410-475: The Old Bailey and the man who gave important information about capital offenders to the cabinet. One reason for the success of this Act was that transportation was financially costly. The system of sponsorship by merchants had to be improved. Initially the government rejected Thomson's proposal to pay merchants to transport convicts, but three months after the first transportation sentences were pronounced at
7540-469: The Old Bailey, his suggestion was proposed again, and the Treasury contracted Jonathan Forward , a London merchant, for the transportation to the colonies. The business was entrusted to Forward in 1718: for each prisoner transported overseas, he was paid £3 (equivalent to £590 in 2023), rising to £5 in 1727 (equivalent to £940 in 2023). The Treasury also paid for the transportation of prisoners from
7670-687: The Settled Districts to join a massive drive to sweep Aboriginal people out of the region and on to the Tasman Peninsula . The campaign failed and was abandoned seven weeks later, but by then Tasmania's Aboriginal population had fallen to about 300. After hostilities between settlers and Aboriginal peoples ceased in 1832, almost all of the remnants of the Indigenous population were persuaded by government agent George Augustus Robinson to move to Flinders Island . Many quickly succumbed to infectious diseases to which they had no immunity, reducing
7800-678: The Tamar River in the island's north in October 1804 and several other convict-based settlements were established, including the particularly harsh penal colonies at Port Arthur in the southeast and Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast. Tasmania was eventually sent 75,000 convicts—four out of every ten people transported to Australia. By 1819, the Aboriginal and British population reached parity with about 5000 of each, although among
7930-613: The Tasmanian Housing Department and Metro Tasmania public bus services. A jail was opened at Risdon in 1960, and the State Library of Tasmania the same year. The University of Tasmania also moved to its present location in 1963. The state was badly affected by the 1967 Tasmanian fires , killing 64 people and destroying over 652,000 acres in five hours. In 1975 the Tasman Bridge collapsed when
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#17327727237028060-406: The Union. Most were persons accused of treasonous collaboration with Nazi Germany, or of Anti-Soviet rebellion. Following death of Joseph Stalin , most of them were rehabilitated. Populations targeted included Volga Germans , Chechens , and Caucasian Turkic populations. The transportations had a twofold objective: to remove potential liabilities from the warfront, and to provide human capital for
8190-563: The aboriginal community, or without having a connection to the place in question. As well as a diverse First Nations geography, where remnants are preserved in rough form by European documentation, Tasmania is known as a place for unorthodox place-names . 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
8320-520: The arrival of 600 colonists from Norfolk Island between 1807 and 1813. They established farms along the River Derwent and east and west of Launceston , 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
8450-477: The border. After the termination of transportation to North America, British prisons became overcrowded, and dilapidated ships moored in various ports were pressed into service as floating gaols known as "hulks". Following an 18th-century experiment in transporting convicted prisoners to Cape Coast Castle (modern Ghana) and the Gorée (Senegal) in West Africa, British authorities turned their attention to New South Wales (in what would become Australia). From
8580-409: The bridge was struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra . It was the only bridge in Hobart, and made crossing the Derwent 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
8710-417: The burgeoning society of free settlers from the island's convict past. The Legislative Council of Van Diemen's Land drafted a new constitution which gained Royal Assent in 1855. The Privy Council also 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-governing colony of
8840-468: The colonies. Convicts were chosen carefully: the Acts of the Privy Council showed that prisoners "for strength of bodie or other abilities shall be thought fit to be employed in foreign discoveries or other services beyond the Seas". During the Commonwealth , Oliver Cromwell overcame the popular prejudice against subjecting Christians to slavery or selling them into foreign parts, and initiated group transportation of military and civilian prisoners. With
8970-410: The colonists men outnumbered women four-to-one. 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 the Van 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
9100-504: The community, and who, by proper care and correction, might be reclaimed from their evil course"; they then passed the Criminal Law Act 1776 ( 16 Geo. 3 . c. 43) "An act to authorize ... the punishment by hard labour of offenders who, for certain crimes, are or shall become liable to be transported to any of his Majesty's colonies and plantations." For the ensuing decade, men were instead sentenced to hard labour and women were imprisoned. Finding alternative locations to send convicts
9230-402: The conditions of convicts in the colonies were inhumane. Although a concerted programme of prison building ensued, the Short Titles Act 1896 lists seven other laws relating to penal transportation in the first half of the 19th century. The system of criminal punishment by transportation, as it had developed over nearly 150 years, was officially ended in Britain in the 1850s, when that sentence
9360-438: The continent, would differentiate it from America, where the use of convicts was only a minor adjunct to its overall policy. In 1787, when transportation resumed to the chosen Australian colonies, the far greater distance added to the terrible experience of exile, and it was considered more severe than the methods of imprisonment employed for the previous decade. The Transportation Act 1790 ( 30 Geo. 3 . c. 47) officially enacted
9490-407: The convict farm labourers. Violence began to spiral rapidly from the mid-1820s in what became described as the " Black War ". 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
9620-594: The decriminalization of homosexuality that year. 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. Following the Port Arthur massacre on 28 April 1996, which resulted in the loss of 35 lives and injured 21 others, the Australian Government conducted a review of its firearms policies and enacted new nationwide gun ownership laws under
9750-699: The early 1600s until the American Revolution of 1776, the British colonies in North America received transported British criminals. Destinations were the island colonies of the West Indies and the mainland colonies that became the United States of America. In the 17th century transportation was carried out at the expense of the convicts or the shipowners. The Transportation Act 1717 allowed courts to sentence convicts to seven years' transportation to America. In 1720, an extension authorized payments by
9880-423: The end of the 17th century and beyond, but they diminished in 1670 due to certain complications. The colonial opposition was one of the main obstacles: colonies were unwilling to collaborate in accepting prisoners: the convicts represented a danger to the colony and were unwelcome. Maryland and Virginia enacted laws to prohibit transportation in 1670, and the king was persuaded to respect these. The penal system
10010-510: The exception of those years, the Transportation Act led to a decrease in whipping of convicts, thus avoiding potentially inflammatory public displays. Clergyable discharge continued to be used when the accused could not be transported for reasons of age or infirmity. Penal transportation was not limited to men or even to adults. Men, women, and children were sentenced to transportation, but its implementation varied by sex and age. From 1660 to 1670, highway robbery, burglary , and horse theft were
10140-405: The first completely electrified city on the island in 1885, followed closely by the township of Zeehan in 1900. The state economy was riding mining prosperity until World War I. In 1901, the state population was 172,475. The 1910 foundation of what would become Hydro Tasmania began to shape urban patterns, as well as future major damming programs. Hydro's influence culminated in the 1970s when
10270-605: The first permanent European settlement in Australia. This marked the beginning of the European colonisation of Australia . Violent conflict on the Australian frontier between indigenous Australians and the colonists began only months after the First Fleet landed, lasting over a century. Convicts forced to work in the bush on the frontier were sometimes the victims of indigenous attacks, while convicts and ex-convicts also attacked indigenous people in some instances, such as
10400-543: The first time that Tasmania was an island. Sealers and whalers based themselves on Tasmania's islands from 1798, and in August 1803 New South Wales Governor Philip King sent Lieutenant John Bowen to establish a small military outpost on the eastern shore of the Derwent River in order to forestall any claims to the island by French explorers who had been exploring the southern Australian coastline. Bowen, who led
10530-611: The first two Victoria Crosses awarded to Australians. In 1901, the Colony of Tasmania united 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. Tasmania was an early adopter of electric street lighting . Australia's first electric street lights were switched on in Waratah in 1886. Launceston became
10660-543: The genocide thesis, arguing that the colonial authorities did not intend to destroy the Aboriginal population in whole or in part. 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". However, as Reynolds, Broome and Clements point out, there was open warfare at
10790-473: The island accounted for about half of all land under cultivation and exports. Tensions between Tasmania's Aboriginal and white inhabitants rose, partly driven by increasing competition for kangaroo and other game. Explorer and naval officer John Oxley in 1810 noted the "many atrocious cruelties" inflicted on Aboriginal people by convict bushrangers in the north, which in turn led to black attacks on solitary white hunters. Hostilities increased further with
10920-623: The island on 24 November 1642. 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 honour of its first European discoverer on 1 January 1856. Tasmania was sometimes referred to as "Dervon", as mentioned in the Jerilderie Letter written by
11050-404: The island's nine nations; Nicholas Clements, citing research by N.J.B. Plomley and Rhys Jones , settled on a figure of 3,000 to 4,000. They engaged in fire-stick farming , hunted game including kangaroo and wallabies , caught seals, mutton-birds, shellfish and fish and lived as nine separate "nations" on the island, which they knew as "Trouwunna". The first reported sighting of Tasmania by
11180-457: The judge's discretion, were to be transported to America, "there to remaine and not to returne". There were various influential agents of change: judges' discretionary powers influenced the law significantly, but the king's and Privy Council's opinions were decisive in granting a royal pardon from execution. The system changed one step at a time: in February 1663, after that first experiment,
11310-534: The last temperate rain forests in the Southern Hemisphere . The Tarkine , containing Savage River National Park located in the island's far north west, is the largest temperate rainforest area in Australia covering about 3,800 square kilometres (1,500 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 hydroelectricity . Many rivers begin in
11440-468: The limited choice of sentences available to judges for convicted criminals. With modifications to the traditional benefit of clergy , which originally exempted only clergymen from the general criminal law, it developed into a legal fiction by which many common offenders of "clergyable" offences were extended the privilege to avoid execution. Many offenders were pardoned as it was considered unreasonable to execute them for relatively minor offences, but under
11570-594: The name is more properly applied to Cape Barren Island, which has had an official dual name of "Truwana" since 2014. A number of palawa 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. 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
11700-471: The northeast and east, continental granites 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 Rosebery , or at Mount Lyell near Queenstown . Also present in the south and northwest is limestone with caves. The quartzite and dolerite areas in the higher mountains show evidence of glaciation , and much of Australia's glaciated landscape
11830-830: The northernmost point on mainland Tasmania is approximately 40°38′26″S 144°43′33″E / 40.64056°S 144.72583°E / -40.64056; 144.72583 in Woolnorth / Temdudheker near Cape Grim / Kennaook . Tasmania lies at similar latitudes to Te Waipounamu / South Island of New Zealand and parts of Patagonia in South America. Areas at equivalent latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere include Hokkaido in Japan, Northeast China ( Manchuria ), Central Italy , and United States cities such as New York and Chicago . The most mountainous region
11960-471: The notorious Australian bushranger Ned 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 the Australia Post abbreviation for the state. In the constructed palawa kani language, the main island of Tasmania is called lutruwita , a name originally derived from
12090-464: The novel Papillon , a semi-autobiographical novel of his incarceration in and escape from a penal colony in French Guiana . The most significant individual transported prisoner is probably French army officer Alfred Dreyfus , wrongly convicted of treason in a trial in 1894, held in an atmosphere of antisemitism . He was sent to Devil's Island. The case became a cause célèbre known as
12220-526: The number of men whipped and released diminished, but whipping and discharge were chosen more often for women. The reverse was true when women were sentenced for a capital offence, but actually served a lesser sentence due to a manipulation of the penal system: one advantage of this sentence was that they could be discharged thanks to benefit of clergy while men were whipped. Women with young children were also supported since transportation unavoidably separated them. The facts and numbers revealed how transportation
12350-506: 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, Governor Sir George Arthur issued
12480-758: The oceans are used, the island can be said to be either surrounded by the Southern Ocean, or to have the Pacific on its east and the Indian to its west. Still other definitions of the ocean boundaries would have Tasmania with the Great Australian Bight to the west, and the Tasman Sea to the east. The southernmost point on mainland Tasmania is approximately 43°38′37″S 146°49′38″E / 43.64361°S 146.82722°E / -43.64361; 146.82722 at South East Cape , and
12610-473: The offences most often punishable with transportation for men. In those years, five of the nine women who were transported after being sentenced to death were guilty of simple larceny, an offence for which benefit of clergy was not available for women until 1692. Also, merchants preferred young and able-bodied men for whom there was a demand in the colonies. All these factors meant that most women and children were simply left in jail. Some magistrates supported
12740-433: The offender from society, mostly permanently, but was seen as more merciful than capital punishment . This method was used for criminals, debtors, military prisoners, and political prisoners. Penal transportation was also used as a method of colonization . For example, from the earliest days of English colonial schemes, new settlements beyond the seas were seen as a way to alleviate domestic social problems of criminals and
12870-597: The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic ( SARS-CoV-2 ) and its spread to Australia, the Tasmanian government issued a public health emergency on 17 March, the following month receiving the state's most significant outbreak from the North-West which required assistance from the Federal government . In late 2021, Tasmania was leading the nationwide vaccination response. Tasmania, the largest island of Australia, has
13000-419: The poor as well as to increase the colonial labour force, for the overall benefit of the realm. Initially based on the royal prerogative of mercy , and later under English law , transportation was an alternative sentence imposed for a felony . It was typically imposed for offences for which death was deemed too severe. By 1670, as new felonies were defined, the option of being sentenced to transportation
13130-400: The population further. Of those removed from Tasmania, the last to die was Truganini , in 1876. The near-destruction of Tasmania's Aboriginal population has been described as an act of genocide by historians including Robert Hughes , James Boyce , Lyndall Ryan and Tom Lawson. However, other historians including Henry Reynolds , Richard Broome and Nicholas Clements do not agree with
13260-609: The practice of convict leasing in the United States. Transportation from Great Britain and Ireland ended at different times in different colonies, with the last being in 1868, although it had become uncommon several years earlier thanks to the loosening of laws in Britain, changing sentiment in Australia, and groups such as the Anti-Transportation League . In 2015, an estimated 20% of the Australian population had convict ancestry. In 2013, an estimated 30% of
13390-537: The presence of Aboriginal 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. At the time of the British occupation and colonisation in 1803, the indigenous population was estimated at between 3,000 and 10,000. Historian Lyndall Ryan's analysis of population studies led her to conclude that there were about 7,000 spread throughout
13520-410: The present Constitution of Tasmania was enacted, and the following year the colony formally changed its name to Tasmania. In 1901, it became a state of Australia through the process of the federation of Australia . Today, Tasmania has the second smallest economy of the Australian states and territories , and comprises principally tourism, agriculture, aquaculture, education, and healthcare. Tasmania
13650-495: The previous orders in council into law, stating "his Majesty hath declared and appointed... that the eastern coast of New South Wales, and the islands thereunto adjacent, should be the place or places beyond the seas to which certain felons, and other offenders, should be conveyed and transported ... or other places". The act also gave "authority to remit or shorten the time or term" of the sentence "in cases where it shall appear that such felons, or other offenders, are proper objects of
13780-533: The resumption of transportation would be initially resolved by Orders in Council on 6 December 1786, by the decision to establish a penal colony in New South Wales , on land previously claimed for Britain in 1770, but as yet not settled by Britain or any other European power. The British policy toward Australia, specifically for use as a penal colony , within their overall plans to populate and colonise
13910-410: The royal mercy" At the beginning of the 19th century, transportation for life became the maximum penalty for several offences which had previously been punishable by death. With complaints starting in the 1830s, sentences of transportation became less common in 1840 since the system was perceived to be a failure: crime continued at high levels, people were not dissuaded from committing felonies, and
14040-485: The settlement and industrialization of the largely underpopulated eastern regions. The policy continued until February 1956, when Nikita Khrushchev in his speech, " On the Personality Cult and Its Consequences ", condemned the transportation as a violation of Leninist principles. Whilst the policy itself was rescinded, the transported populations did not begin to return to their original metropoles until after
14170-466: The south of the Australian mainland , and is separated from it by the Bass Strait . The state encompasses the main island of Tasmania, the 26th-largest island in the world , and the surrounding 1000 islands . It is Australia's smallest and least populous state, with 573,479 residents as of June 2023 . The state capital and largest city is Hobart , with around 40% of the population living in
14300-530: The southeast portions of the island are mostly dolerites. Mount Wellington 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, Precambrian quartzites were formed from very ancient sea sediments and form strikingly sharp ridges and ranges, such as Federation Peak or Frenchmans Cap . In
14430-592: The spread of infectious diseases . The conflict, which peaked between 1825 and 1831 and led to more than three years of martial law, cost the lives of almost 1,100 Aboriginal people and settlers. Under British rule, the island was initially part of the Colony of New South Wales ; however, it became a separate colony under the name Van Diemen's Land (named after Anthony van Diemen ) in 1825. Approximately 80,000 convicts were sent to Van Diemen's Land before this practice, known as transportation , ceased in 1853. In 1855,
14560-552: The state government announced plans to flood environmentally significant Lake Pedder . As a result of the eventual flooding of Lake Pedder, the world's first green party was established; the United Tasmania Group . National and international attention surrounded the campaign against the Franklin Dam in the early 1980s. Tasmanian Enid Lyons became the first female member of the House of Representatives at
14690-541: The terms of sentence initially being of the same duration as transportation. While transport was greatly reduced following enactment of the 1857 act, the last convicts sentenced to transportation arrived in Western Australia in 1868. During the 80 years of its use to Australia, the number of transported convicts totalled about 162,000 men and women. Over time the alternative terms of imprisonment would be somewhat reduced from their terms of transportation. From
14820-461: The time. 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 1838 ethnically cleansed the western half of Van Diemen's Land." Nevertheless, Clements and Flood note that there was another wave of violence in north-west Tasmania in 1841, involving attacks on settlers' huts by
14950-419: Was adjoined to the mainland of Australia until the end of the last glacial period about 11,700 years ago. Much of the island is composed of Jurassic dolerite intrusions (the upwelling of magma ) 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
15080-552: Was allowed. Depending on the crime, the sentence was imposed for life or for a set period of years. If imposed for a period of years, the offender was permitted to return home after serving their time, but had to make their own way back. Many offenders thus stayed in the colony as free persons, and might obtain employment as jailers or other servants of the penal colony. England transported an estimated 50,000 to 120,000 convicts and political prisoners, as well as prisoners of war from Scotland and Ireland , to its overseas colonies in
15210-403: Was also influenced by economics: the profits obtained from convicts' labour boosted the economy of the colonies and, consequently, of England. Nevertheless, it could be argued that transportation was economically deleterious because the aim was to enlarge population, not diminish it; but the character of an individual convict was likely to harm the economy. King William's War (1688–1697) (part of
15340-709: Was also settled as a penal colony, followed by the Moreton Bay Settlement (modern Brisbane , Queensland ) in 1824. The other Australian colonies were established as "free settlements", as non-convict colonies were known. However, the Swan River Colony (Western Australia) accepted transportation from England and Ireland in 1851, to resolve a long-standing labour shortage . Two penal settlements were established near modern-day Melbourne in Victoria but both were abandoned shortly after. Later,
15470-524: Was imposed on prisoners guilty of capital offences pardoned by the king. Returning from the colonies before the stated period was a capital offence. The bill was introduced by William Thomson , the Solicitor General , who was "the architect of the transportation policy". Thomson, a supporter of the Whigs, was Recorder of London and became a judge in 1729. He was a prominent sentencing officer at
15600-593: Was introduced into the House of Commons in 1717 under the Whig government. It legitimised transportation as a direct sentence, thus simplifying the penal process. Non-capital convicts (clergyable felons usually destined for branding on the thumb, and petty larceny convicts usually destined for public whipping) were directly sentenced to transportation to the American colonies for seven years. A sentence of fourteen years
15730-655: Was less frequently applied to women and children because they were usually guilty of minor crimes and they were considered a minimal threat to the community. The outbreak of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) halted transportation to America. Parliament claimed that "the transportation of convicts to his Majesty's colonies and plantations in America ;... is found to be attended with various inconveniences, particularly by depriving this kingdom of many subjects whose labour might be useful to
15860-544: Was not easy, and the act was extended twice by the Criminal Law Act 1778 ( 18 Geo. 3 . c. 62) and the Criminal Law Act 1779 ( 19 Geo. 3 . c. 54). This resulted in a 1779 inquiry by a parliamentary committee on the entire subject of transportation and punishment; initially the Penitentiary Act 1779 was passed, introducing a policy of state prisons as a measure to reform the system of overcrowded prison hulks that had developed, but no prisons were ever built as
15990-627: Was not used by Scotland before the Act of Union 1707 ; following union, the Transportation Act 1717 specifically excluded its use in Scotland. Under the Transportation, etc. Act 1785 ( 25 Geo. 3 . c. 46) the Parliament of Great Britain specifically extended the usage of transportation to Scotland. It remained little used under Scots Law until the early 19th century. In Australia, a convict who had served part of his time might apply for
16120-525: Was on a mission to find the Southern Continent , not more islands, so he abruptly turned away to the east and continued his continent-hunting. Penal transportation Penal transportation (or simply transportation ) was the relocation of convicted criminals, or other persons regarded as undesirable, to a distant place, often a colony , for a specified term; later, specifically established penal colonies became their destination. While
16250-542: Was permanently settled by Europeans in 1803 as a penal settlement of the British Empire to prevent claims to the land by the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars . 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
16380-498: Was presented in Virginia to discourage transportation by establishing complex rules for the reception of prisoners, but the reluctance of colonies did not stop transportation. In a few cases before 1734, the court changed sentences of transportation to sentences of branding on the thumb or whipping, by convicting the accused for lesser crimes than those of which they were accused. This manipulation phase came to an end in 1734. With
16510-520: Was shut down in 1945. An estimated 80,000 political prisoners were transported to the Cellular Jail which became known for its harsh conditions, including forced labor; prisoners who went on hunger strikes were frequently force-fed . France transported convicts to Devil's Island and New Caledonia in the 19th and early-to-mid 20th centuries. Devil's Island, a French penal colony in Guiana ,
16640-453: Was substituted by imprisonment with penal servitude , and intended to punish. The Penal Servitude Act 1853 ( 16 & 17 Vict. c. 99), long titled "An Act to substitute, in certain Cases, other Punishment in lieu of Transportation," enacted that with judicial discretion, lesser felonies, those subject to transportation for less than 14 years, could be sentenced to imprisonment with labour for
16770-420: Was the preferred punishment. There were several obstacles to the use of transportation. In 1706 the reading test for claiming benefit of clergy was abolished ( 6 Ann. c. 9). This allowed judges to sentence "clergyable" offenders to a workhouse or a house of correction . But the punishments that then applied were not enough of a disincentive to commit crime: another solution was needed. The Transportation Act
16900-473: Was used for transportation from 1852 to 1953. New Caledonia became a French penal colony from the 1860s until the end of the transportations in 1897; about 22,000 criminals and political prisoners (most notably Communards ) were sent to New Caledonia. Henri Charrière (16 November 1906 – 29 July 1973) was a French writer, convicted in 1931 as a murderer by the French courts and pardoned in 1970. He wrote
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