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on
tasmania directory | about tasmania |
Tasmania-An
Overview
Islands,
especially small ones, have a special something that makes them
inviting and intriguing to continental dwellers. It's probably
something to do with being surrounded by water, a buffer that
protects islands from uncontrolled influence by global forces.
Tasmania,
a state of Australia, lies in the Southern Ocean at latitude 42°S,
longitude 146°E. It covers about 68,300 sq km (about 26,370 sq
miles)-roughly the area of Switzerland, Hokkaido (Japan), Eire
or Portugal.
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coast is complex-5,400 km (3,355 miles) of bays, lagoons, bights,
capes and headlands-and is embellished by groups of smaller islands.
Some are big enough for their own small towns and some are inhabited
only by seals and seabirds. Lighthouses warn seafarers of the treacherous
rocks and reefs. |
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A
potted history
Tasmania is an ancient island, left behind at least 165 million
years ago when Gondwana was breaking up and starting its long
journey north to form the mighty continents of South America,
Africa, India and Australia.
Aboriginal
people were living in Tasmania at least 35,000, and possibly 50,000,
years ago. They were nomads who followed trails laid down by law
and season. They gathered shellfish and plant foods, trapped fish
and hunted wallabies, living undisturbed until European navigators
started exploring the southern oceans.
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The
Dutchman Abel Tasman sailed around the south coast in 1642 (he
named the island Van Diemen's Land). He was followed in the late
1700s by French and British explorers who charted parts of the
coast and landed for supplies of wood and fresh water.
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In
1803, the first British settlers set up camp in the south, on
the shores of the River Derwent. The settlement became Hobart,
and life would never be the same again for the Aborigines.
The
new settlers transformed the island. They laboured in whale boats
and on the land. They brought hundreds of convicts from Britain
to Van Diemen's Land (which in 1853 would be renamed Tasmania).
The convicts' labour was used to get coal from the earth, timber
from the wilderness and to build roads, bridges, towns and villages-a
sad story now mitigated by Tasmania's collection of beautiful
Georgian and Victorian buildings.
The
buildings still stand-civic edifices, churches, bridges, mansions
and cottages-showing the marks of hand-tools in the sandstone
and preserving the 19th century charm of towns and villages. In
the cities the buildings sit alongside the more modern developments,
enriching the streetscapes and waterfronts.
Our
cities and population
Tasmania's population is around 470,000 and our cities are small.
The biggest is Greater Hobart, with a population of about 180,000
that is divided between five municipalities: Brighton, the city
of Clarence, the city of Glenorchy, the city of Hobart (the state
capital), and Kingborough. Greater Hobart sits on the shores of
the Derwent estuary in the south of the island. It has spread
up and down the river, into the foothills of Mount Wellington,
and across the river. Two multi-lane bridges connect the eastern
and western shores.
The
next biggest city is Launceston in the north at the head of the
Tamar estuary. It was settled by the British in 1805, and is now
merged with the municipalities of Lilydale and St Leonards to
form the City of Launceston-population about 63,000. There are
two more cities, both on the north coast. Burnie is a small industrial
city surrounded by beautiful and fertile farming areas and Devonport
is at the mouth of the Mersey River, the dock for the Spirit of
Tasmania ferry that plies three times a week across Bass Strait
to Melbourne.
CONTINUE
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