145-654: Moulting Lagoon Important Bird Area is a composite wetland site in eastern Tasmania , Australia . It comprises two adjacent and hydrologically continuous wetlands – Moulting Lagoon and the Apsley Marshes – at the head of Great Oyster Bay , near the base of the Freycinet Peninsula , between the towns of Swansea and Bicheno . Both components of the site are listed separately under the Ramsar Convention as wetlands of international significance. Moulting Lagoon
290-685: 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
435-574: 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
580-465: 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
725-406: 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
870-408: A board to inquire into the conditions at Wybalenna that rejected Robinson's claims regarding improved living conditions and found the settlement to be a failure. The report was never released and the government continued to promote Wybalenna as a success in the treatment of Aboriginal people. In March 1847 six Aboriginal people at Wybalenna presented a petition to Queen Victoria , the first petition to
1015-573: A document claiming they were extinct. A dispute exists within the Tasmanian Aboriginal community, however, over what constitutes Aboriginality . The Palawa, mainly descendants of white male sealers and Tasmanian Aboriginal women who settled on the Bass Strait Islands, were given the power to decide who is of Tasmanian Aboriginal descent at the state level (entitlement to government Aboriginal services). Palawa recognise only descendants of
1160-483: A dozen and, by 1869, there was only one, who died in 1876. Commenting in 1899 on Robinson's claims of success, anthropologist Henry Ling Roth wrote: While Robinson and others were doing their best to make them into a civilised people, the poor blacks had given up the struggle, and were solving the difficult problem by dying. The very efforts made for their welfare only served to hasten on their inevitable doom. The white man's civilisation proved scarcely less fatal than
1305-410: A drastic drop in numbers within three decades, so that by 1835 only some 400 full-blooded Tasmanian Aboriginal people survived, most of this remnant being incarcerated in camps where all but 47 died within the following 12 years. No consensus exists as to the cause, over which a major controversy arose. The traditional view, still affirmed, held that this dramatic demographic collapse was the result of
1450-414: A few months after the establishment of the first British settlements at Risdon Cove and Hobart. The 1804 Risdon Cove massacre resulted in a large number of Aboriginal people being killed after an attack by British soldiers and settlers. A boy whose parents were killed in the massacre was taken and given the name Robert Hobart May . This boy became the first Indigenous Tasmanian to have extended contact with
1595-469: 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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#17330932856721740-482: 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
1885-512: 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
2030-895: 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
2175-638: 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
2320-428: 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,
2465-423: A number of distinct ethnic groups . For much of the 20th century, the Tasmanian Aboriginal people were widely, and erroneously, thought of as extinct and intentionally exterminated by white settlers. Contemporary figures (2016) for the number of people of Tasmanian Aboriginal descent vary according to the criteria used to determine this identity, ranging from 6,000 to over 23,000. First arriving in Tasmania (then
2610-582: 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
2755-546: A peninsula of Australia) around 40,000 years ago, the ancestors of the Aboriginal Tasmanians were cut off from the Australian mainland by rising sea levels c. 6000 BC. They were entirely isolated from the outside world for 8,000 years until European contact. Before British colonisation of Tasmania in 1803, there were an estimated 3,000–15,000 Aboriginal Tasmanians. The Aboriginal Tasmanian population suffered
2900-521: A position whereby they were willing to surrender to Robinson and move to Flinders Island . European and Aboriginal casualties, including the Aboriginal residents who were captured, may be considered as reasonably accurate. The figures for the Aboriginal population shot is likely a substantial undercount. In late 1831, Robinson brought the first 51 Aboriginal people to a settlement on Flinders Island named The Lagoons, which turned out to be inadequate as it
3045-516: A reigning monarch from any Aboriginal group in Australia, requesting that the promises made to them be honoured. In October 1847, the 47 survivors were transferred to their final settlement at Oyster Cove station. Only 44 survived the trip (11 couples, 12 single men and 10 children) and the children were immediately sent to the orphan school in Hobart. Although the housing and food was better than Wybalenna,
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#17330932856723190-404: A representative, James Munro , to appeal to Governor George Arthur and argue for the women's return, on the basis that they wanted to stay with their sealer husbands and children rather than marry Aboriginal men unknown to them. Arthur ordered the return of some of the women. Shortly thereafter, Robinson began to disseminate stories, told to him by James Munro, of atrocities allegedly committed by
3335-464: 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
3480-462: 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
3625-418: A significant debate was generated which split the colonists along class lines. The "higher grade" saw the hanging as a dangerous precedent and argued that Aboriginal people were only defending their land and should not be punished for doing so. The "lower grade" of colonists wanted more Aboriginal people hanged to encourage a "conciliatory line of conduct". Governor Arthur sided with the "lower grade" and 1825 saw
3770-514: Is Hobart , with around 40% of the population living in 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
3915-411: 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
4060-535: 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
4205-485: Is an island state of Australia . It is located 240 kilometres (150 miles) to 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
4350-546: 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
4495-535: Is mainly used for agriculture and livestock grazing; the eastern shore retains much of its native vegetation. Zostera seagrasses cover about 25 km of the lagoon bed. The margins support successive bands of beaded glasswort , jointed rush and Poa grass tussocks , swamp paperbark and silver wattle , and Oyster Bay pine or pasture . Apsley marshes contain areas of woody vegetation dominated by paperbarks , some saltmarsh, large areas of common reed and freshwater aquatic herbland . The lagoon and
Moulting Lagoon Important Bird Area - Misplaced Pages Continue
4640-472: Is so named because it is a traditional moulting place for black swans . It is an important site for waterbirds . Moulting Lagoon is a coastal lagoon, or largely enclosed estuary , formed at the mouths of the Swan and Apsley Rivers , which have a combined catchment area of 900 km, and sheltered from the ocean by Nine Mile Spit. It is adjacent to the Apsley Marshes which store and filter floodwater from
4785-507: Is strongly opposed by the Palawa and has drawn an angry reaction from some quarters, as some have claimed " spiritual connection" with Aboriginality distinct from, but not as important as the existence of a genetic link. The Lia Pootah object to the current test used to prove Aboriginality as they believe it favours the Palawa, a DNA test would circumvent barriers to Lia Pootah recognition, or disprove their claims to Aboriginality. In April 2000,
4930-577: 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
5075-685: 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
5220-543: 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
5365-552: 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
5510-648: The British Museum returning ashes to two descendants in 2007. During the 20th century, the absence of Aboriginal people of solely Aboriginal ancestry, and a general unawareness of the surviving populations, meant many non-Aboriginal people assumed they were extinct , after the death of Truganini in 1876. Since the mid-1970s Tasmanian Aboriginal activists such as Michael Mansell have sought to broaden awareness and identification of Aboriginal descent. After campaigning by Tasmanian Aboriginal people in April 2023 UNESCO removed
5655-474: 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
5800-507: The Cape Grim massacre in 1828 demonstrates the level of frontier violence towards Aboriginal Tasmanians. The Black War of 1828–1832 and the Black Line of 1830 were turning points in the relationship with European settlers. Even though many of the Aboriginal people managed to avoid capture during these events, they were shaken by the size of the campaigns against them, and this brought them to
5945-456: 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
Moulting Lagoon Important Bird Area - Misplaced Pages Continue
6090-537: The Mara languages seem to be a relic of ancient conquests mirroring the hostilities during colonial times. After the sea rose to create Bass Strait, the Australian mainland and Tasmania became separate land masses, and the Aboriginal people who had migrated from mainland Australia became cut off from their cousins on the mainland. Archeological evidence suggests remnant populations on the King and Furneaux highlands were stranded by
6235-694: 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
6380-609: 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
6525-577: 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
6670-474: The (a community of people descended from European men and Tasmanian Aboriginal women on the Furneaux Islands off Tasmania, which survives to the present) and there are some efforts to reconstruct a language from the available wordlists. Today, some thousands of people living in Tasmania describe themselves as Aboriginal Tasmanians, since a number of Tasmanian Aboriginal women bore children to European men in
6815-483: The 19th century sealer communities of Bass Strait. Between 1803 and 1823, there were two phases of conflict between the Aboriginal people and the British colonists. The first took place between 1803 and 1808 over the need for common food sources such as oysters and kangaroos, and the second between 1808 and 1823, when only a small number of white females lived among the colonists, and farmers, sealers and whalers took part in
6960-414: The 19th century, also point to the significant role of epidemics and infertility without clear attribution of the sources of the diseases as having been introduced through contact with European, and Bonwick notes that Tasmanian Aboriginal women were infected with venereal diseases by Europeans. Introduced venereal disease not only directly caused deaths but, more insidiously, left a significant percentage of
7105-591: The Aboriginal Tasmanians although gifts were left for them in unoccupied shelters found on Bruny Island. The first known British contact with the Aboriginal Tasmanians was on Bruny Island by Captain Cook in 1777. The contact was peaceful. Captain William Bligh also visited Bruny Island in 1788 and made peaceful contact with the Aboriginal Tasmanians. More extensive contact between Aboriginal Tasmanians and Europeans resulted when British and American seal hunters began visiting
7250-441: The Aboriginal Tasmanians was identified by the colonists. Rapid pastoral expansion, a depletion of native game and an increase in the colony's population triggered Aboriginal resistance from 1824 onwards when it has been estimated by Lyndall Ryan that 1000 Aboriginal people remained in the settled districts. Whereas settlers and stock keepers had previously provided rations to the Aboriginal people during their seasonal movements across
7395-564: The Aboriginal Tasmanians. Trading relationships developed between sealers and Tasmanian Aboriginal tribes. Hunting dogs became highly prized by the Aboriginal people, as were other exotic items such as flour, tea and tobacco. The Aboriginal people traded kangaroo skins for such goods. However, a trade in Aboriginal women soon developed. Many Tasmanian Aboriginal women were highly skilled in hunting seals, as well as in obtaining other foods such as seabirds, and some Tasmanian tribes would trade their services and, more rarely, those of Aboriginal men to
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#17330932856727540-464: The Aboriginal Tasmanians. Bonwick also recorded a strong Aboriginal oral tradition of an epidemic even before formal colonisation in 1803. "Mr Robert Clark, in a letter to me, said: 'I have gleaned from some of the Aborigines, now in their graves, that they were more numerous than the white people were aware of, but their numbers were very much thinned by a sudden attack of disease which was general among
7685-496: The Apsley River for gradual release into the lagoon. The geology of the site is dominated by Holocene alluvial gravels and sands with smaller areas of Jurassic dolerite and Triassic sandstone . Average annual rainfall (recorded at Swansea) is 611 mm; average maximum temperatures are 13 °C in winter and 22 °C in summer. The tidal range of the lagoon varies from 0.3 m in its upper reaches to 0.8 m at
7830-544: The Bass Strait Island community as Aboriginal and do not consider as Aboriginal the Lia Pootah , who claim descent, based on oral traditions, from Tasmanian mainland Aboriginal communities. The Lia Pootah feel that the Palawa controlled Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre does not represent them politically. Since 2007 there have been initiatives to introduce DNA testing to establish family history in descendant subgroups. This
7975-550: The Ben Lomond language meant "dwellings" but is generally translated as "black man's houses". Robinson befriended Truganini, learned some of the local language and in 1833 managed to persuade the remaining 154 "full-blooded" people to move to the new settlement on Flinders Island, where he promised a modern and comfortable environment, and that they would be returned to their former homes on the Tasmanian mainland as soon as possible. At
8120-688: 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
8265-574: The British colonial society. By 1816, kidnapping of Aboriginal children for labour had become widespread. In 1814, Governor Thomas Davey issued a proclamation expressing "utter indignation and abhorrence" in regards to the kidnapping of the children and in 1819 Governor William Sorell not only re-issued the proclamation but ordered that those who had been taken without parental consent were to be sent to Hobart and supported at government expense. A number of young Aboriginal children were known to be living with settlers. An Irish sealer named Brien spared
8410-474: 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
8555-711: The Furneaux Islands and mainland Tasmania. People crossed into Tasmania approximately 40,000 years ago via a land bridge between the island and the rest of mainland Australia, during the Last Glacial Period . Genetic studies show that once the sea level rose to flood the Bassian Plain , the island's population was isolated for approximately 8,000 years, until European exploration in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The discovery of 19,000-year-old deposits at Kutikina (or Fraser) Cave demonstrated occupation of
8700-512: The King highlands (now King Island ). The archeological, geographic and linguistic record suggests successive waves of occupation of Tasmania, and coalescence of three language groups into one broad group. Colonial settlers found two main language and ethnic groups in Tasmania upon their arrival, the western Nara and eastern Mara. The admixture of Nara toponyms (place-names) in the Eastern territory of
8845-457: The Orphan School in Hobart. Lyndall Ryan reports fifty-eight Aboriginal people, of various ages, living with settlers in Tasmania in the period up to 1835. Some historians argue that European disease did not appear to be a serious factor until after 1829. Other historians including Geoffrey Blainey and Keith Windschuttle , point to introduced disease as the main cause of the destruction of
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#17330932856728990-673: 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
9135-602: 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
9280-577: The Tasmanian Government Legislative Council Select Committee on Aboriginal Lands discussed the difficulty of determining Aboriginality based on oral traditions. An example given by Prof. Cassandra Pybus was the claim by the Huon and Channel Aboriginal people who had an oral history of descent from two Aboriginal women. Research found that both were non-Aboriginal convict women. The Tasmanian Palawa Aboriginal community
9425-587: 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
9570-481: The Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment on Flinders Island, described by historian Henry Reynolds as the "best equipped and most lavishly staffed Aboriginal institution in the Australian colonies in the nineteenth century", they were provided with housing, clothing, rations of food, the services of a doctor and educational facilities. Convicts were assigned to build housing and do most of the work at
9715-563: 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
9860-623: The adjacent marshes have been identified by BirdLife International as a 63 km Important Bird Area (IBA) because they regularly support over 1% of the world populations of black swans and pied oystercatchers . Other waterbirds sometimes present on the lagoon in substantial numbers include Australian shelducks , chestnut teals , Australasian shovellers , musk ducks , black-faced and little pied cormorants , hoary-headed and great crested grebes , crested and Caspian terns , white-faced herons , masked lapwings , red-capped and double-banded plovers , and red-necked stints . It supports
10005-550: The approximately 200 surviving Aboriginal Tasmanians to surrender themselves with assurances that they would be protected and provided for, and eventually have their lands returned. These assurances were no more than a ruse by Robinson or Lieutenant-Governor Arthur to transport the Tasmanians quietly to a permanent exile in the Furneaux Islands . The survivors were moved to Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment on Flinders Island , where disease continued to reduce their numbers. In 1847,
10150-576: 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
10295-536: 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
10440-417: 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
10585-481: The capture of those without passes, £5 (equivalent to about £540 or AU$ 1010 in 2023 ) for an adult and £2 for children, a process that often led to organised hunts resulting in deaths. Every dispatch from Governor Arthur to the Secretary of State during this period stressed that in every case where Aboriginal people had been killed it was colonists that initiated hostilities. Though many Aboriginal deaths went unrecorded,
10730-515: 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
10875-409: The colony was founded is traceable, as far as our proofs allow us to judge, to the prevalence of epidemic disorders. ' " Roth was referring to James Erskine Calder who took up a post as a surveyor in Tasmania in 1829 and who wrote a number of scholarly papers about the Aboriginal people. "According to Calder, a rapid and remarkable declension of the numbers of the Aborigines had been going on long before
11020-407: 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
11165-834: The custom of the sealers was to each have "two to five of these native women for their own use and benefit". A shortage of women available "in trade" resulted in abduction becoming common, and in 1830 it was reported that at least fifty Aboriginal women were "kept in slavery" on the Bass Strait islands. Harrington, a sealer, procured ten or fifteen native women, and placed them on different islands in Bass's Straits, where he left them to procure skins; if, however, when he returned, they had not obtained enough, he punished them by tying them up to trees for twenty-four to thirty-six hours together, flogging them at intervals, and he killed them not infrequently if they proved stubborn. There are numerous stories of
11310-579: 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
11455-456: The early times of the colony, may be safely added ... Robinson always enumerates the sexes of the individuals he took; ... and as a general thing, found scarcely any children amongst them; ... adultness was found to outweigh infancy everywhere in a remarkable degree ..." Robinson recorded in his journals a number of comments regarding the Aboriginal Tasmanians' susceptibility to diseases, particularly respiratory diseases. In 1832 he revisited
11600-451: The entire population previous to the arrival of the English, entire tribes of natives having been swept off in the course of one or two days' illness. ' " Such an epidemic may be linked to contact with sailors or sealers. Henry Ling Roth, an anthropologist, wrote: "Calder, who has gone more fully into the particulars of their illnesses, writes as follows ...: 'Their rapid declension after
11745-405: 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
11890-534: The first official acceptance that Aboriginal people were at least partly to blame for conflict. In 1826 the Government gazette, which had formerly reported "retaliatory actions" by Aboriginal people, now reported "acts of atrocity" and for the first time used the terminology "Aborigine" instead of "native". A newspaper reported that there were only two solutions to the problem: either they should be "hunted down like wild beasts and destroyed" or they should be removed from
12035-477: 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
12180-596: 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
12325-471: The full-blooded Tasmanian Aboriginal population. Keith Windschuttle argues that while smallpox never reached Tasmania, respiratory diseases such as influenza , pneumonia and tuberculosis and the effects of venereal diseases devastated the Tasmanian Aboriginal population whose long isolation from contact with the mainland compromised their resistance to introduced disease. The work of historian James Bonwick and anthropologist H. Ling Roth, both writing in
12470-476: 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
12615-463: The ground, with an opening at the top to let out the smoke, and closed at the ends, with the exception of a doorway. They were twenty feet long by ten feet wide. In each of these from twenty to thirty blacks were lodged ... To savages accustomed to sleep naked in the open air beneath the rudest shelter, the change to close and heated dwellings tended to make them susceptible, as they had never been in their wild state, to chills from atmospheric changes, and
12760-704: The highlands since the Ice Age. In 1990, archaeologists excavated material in the Warreen Cave in the Maxwell River valley of the south-west, proving Aboriginal occupation from as early as 34,000 BP , making Aboriginal Tasmanians the southernmost population in the world during the Pleistocene era. Digs in southwest and central Tasmania turned up abundant finds, affording "the richest archaeological evidence from Pleistocene Greater Australia" from 35,000 to 11,000 BP. Tasmania
12905-577: The impact of introduced diseases, rather than the consequence of policy. Others attributed the depletion to losses in the Black War , and the prostitution of women. Many historians of colonialism and genocide consider that the Tasmanian decimation qualifies as genocide by the definition of Raphael Lemkin adopted in the UN Genocide Convention . By 1833, George Augustus Robinson , sponsored by Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur , had persuaded
13050-473: 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
13195-602: 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
13340-404: 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
13485-442: The islands in Bass Strait as well as the northern and eastern coasts of Tasmania from the late 1790s. Shortly thereafter (by about 1800), sealers were regularly left on uninhabited islands in Bass Strait during the sealing season (November to May). The sealers established semi-permanent camps or settlements on the islands, which were close enough for the sealers to reach the main island of Tasmania in small boats and so make contact with
13630-412: The lagoon was proclaimed a sanctuary for waterfowl, though in 1928 it reverted to crown land . In 1959 and 1980 some parts of the lagoon were given legislative protection; however, attempts to give protection to the whole area was resisted by duck hunters and local residents. It was eventually proclaimed a game reserve in 1988, with seasonal hunting over much of the area continuing to take place, though
13775-486: The largest flock of common greenshanks in Tasmania. The area was extensively used by the Oyster Bay Tribe , especially for harvesting swan eggs, prior to European settlement in the early 19th century. By the late 1820s most arable land in the region had been taken by European settlers. Subsequently, it became a popular site for waterfowl hunting , especially of chestnut teal and Australian shelduck. In 1918 much of
13920-504: The last 47 survivors on Wybalenna were transferred to Oyster Cove , south of Hobart . Two individuals, Truganini (1812–1876) and Fanny Cochrane Smith (1834–1905), are separately considered to have been the last people solely of Tasmanian descent. The complete Aboriginal Tasmanian languages have been lost; research suggests that the languages spoken on the island belonged to several distinct language families . Some original Tasmanian language words remained in use with Palawa people in
14065-525: 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
14210-543: The life of the baby son of a native woman he had abducted, explaining, "as (he) had stolen the dam he would keep the cub". When the child grew up he became an invaluable assistant to Brien but was considered "no good" by his own people as he was brought up to dislike Aboriginal people, whom he considered "dirty lazy brutes". Twenty-six were definitely known (through baptismal records) to have been taken into settlers' homes as infants or very small children, too young to be of service as labourers. Some Aboriginal children were sent to
14355-499: The living conditions had deteriorated to the extent that in October Robinson personally took charge of Wybalenna, organising better food and improving the housing. However, of the 220 who arrived with Robinson, most died in the following 14 years from introduced disease and inadequate shelter. As a result of their loss of freedom, the birth rate was extremely low and few children survived infancy. In 1839, Governor Franklin appointed
14500-478: The mouth. Although the lagoon's hydrology is usually dominated by its estuarine nature, during peak flows of the Swan River these are overridden by large quantities of fresh water. During hot, dry weather, salinity levels may reach twice that of seawater in some areas. The lagoon contains areas of both deep and shallow water and is surrounded by tidal mudflats and saltmarsh . The western shore has been cleared and
14645-534: The murdered. Amalie Dietrich for example became famous for delivering such specimens. Aboriginal people have considered the dispersal of body parts as being disrespectful, as a common aspect within Aboriginal belief systems is that a soul can only be at rest when laid in its homeland. Body parts and ornaments are still being returned from collections today, with the Royal College of Surgeons of England returning samples of Truganini's skin and hair (in 2002), and
14790-537: 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
14935-520: The new commander for the station, and moved the Aboriginal people back to The Lagoons. Darling ensured a supply of plentiful food and permitted "hunting excursions". In October 1832, it was decided to build a new camp with better buildings ( wattle and daub ) at a more suitable location, Pea Jacket Point. Pea Jacket Point was renamed Civilisation Point but became more commonly known as the Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment . Wybalenna in
15080-471: 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
15225-805: 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
15370-464: 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
15515-501: 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
15660-779: 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
15805-581: 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
15950-400: 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
16095-542: The population unable to reproduce. Josephine Flood, archaeologist, wrote: "Venereal disease sterilised and chest complaints – influenza, pneumonia and tuberculosis – killed." Bonwick, who lived in Tasmania, recorded a number of reports of the devastating effect of introduced disease including one report by a Doctor Story, a Quaker , who wrote: "After 1823 the women along with the tribe seemed to have had no children; but why I do not know." Later historians have reported that introduced venereal disease caused infertility amongst
16240-537: 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
16385-410: 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
16530-402: The process. By 1810 seal numbers had been greatly reduced by hunting so most seal hunters abandoned the area, however a small number of sealers, approximately fifty mostly "renegade sailors, escaped convicts or ex-convicts", remained as permanent residents of the Bass Strait islands and some established families with Tasmanian Aboriginal women. Some of the women were taken back to the islands by
16675-523: The rapid depletion of the numbers of Aboriginal women in the northern areas of Tasmania – "by 1830 only three women survived in northeast Tasmania among 72 men" – and thus contributed in a significant manner to the demise of the full-blooded Aboriginal population of Tasmania. However, a mixed-race community of partial Tasmanian Aboriginal descent formed on the Islands, where it remains to the present, and many modern day Aboriginal Tasmanians trace their descent from
16820-424: The remnants were gathered together on Flinders Island. Whole tribes (some of which Robinson mentions by name as being in existence fifteen or twenty years before he went amongst them, and which probably never had a shot fired at them) had absolutely and entirely vanished. To the causes to which he attributes this strange wasting away ... I think infecundity , produced by the infidelity of the women to their husbands in
16965-427: The rising waters and died out. Abel Jansen Tasman, credited as the first European to discover Tasmania (in 1642) and who named it Van Diemen's Land, did not encounter any of the Aboriginal Tasmanians when he landed. In 1772, a French exploratory expedition under Marion Dufresne visited Tasmania. At first, contact with the Aboriginal people was friendly; however the Aboriginal Tasmanians became alarmed when another boat
17110-469: The sealers against Aboriginal people, and against Aboriginal women in particular. Brian Plomley , who edited Robinson's papers, expressed scepticism about these atrocities and notes that they were not reported to Archdeacon William Broughton 's 1830 committee of inquiry into violence towards Tasmanians. Abduction and ill-treatment of Aboriginal Tasmanians certainly occurred, but the extent is debated. The raids for and trade in Aboriginal women contributed to
17255-527: The sealers being confident that they would return. Bonwick also reports a number of claims of brutality by sealers towards Aboriginal women including some of those made by Robinson. An Aboriginal woman by the name of Bulrer related her experience to Robinson, that sealers had rushed her camp and stolen six women including herself "the white men tie them and then they flog them very much, plenty much blood, plenty cry." Sealing captain James Kelly wrote in 1816 that
17400-476: The sealers for dogs and flour. Walyer was later to gain some notoriety for her attempts to kill the sealers to escape their brutality. Walyer, a Punnilerpanner, joined the Plairhekehillerplue band after eventually escaping and went on to lead attacks on employees of the Van Diemen's Land Company . Walyer's attacks are the first recorded use of muskets by Aboriginal people. Captured, she refused to work and
17545-416: The sealers for the seal-hunting season. Others were sold on a permanent basis. This trade incorporated not only women of the tribe engaged in the trade but also women abducted from other tribes. Some may have been given to incorporate the new arrivals into Aboriginal society through marriage. Sealers engaged in raids along the coasts to abduct Aboriginal women and were reported to have killed Aboriginal men in
17690-473: The sealers involuntarily and some went willingly, as in the case of a woman called Tarenorerer (Eng: Walyer). Differing opinions have been given on Walyer's involvement with the sealers. McFarlane writes that she voluntarily joined the sealers with members of her family, and was responsible for attacking Aboriginal people and white settlers alike. Ryan comes to a different conclusion, that Walyer had been abducted at Port Sorell by Aboriginal people and traded to
17835-490: The sealers' brutality towards the Aboriginal women; with some of these reports originating from Robinson. In 1830, Robinson seized 14 Aboriginal women from the sealers, planning for them to marry Aboriginal men at the Flinders Island settlement. Josephine Flood , an archaeologist specialising in Australian mainland Aboriginal peoples, notes: "he encountered strong resistance from the women as well as sealers". The sealers sent
17980-413: The settled districts, and recognised this practice as some form of payment for trespass and loss of traditional hunting grounds, the new settlers and stock keepers were unwilling to maintain these arrangements and the Aboriginal people began to raid settlers' huts for food. The official Government position was that Aboriginal people were blameless for any hostilities, but when Musquito was hanged in 1825,
18125-431: The settled districts. The colonial Government assigned troops to drive them out. A Royal Proclamation in 1828 established military posts on the boundaries and a further proclamation declared martial law against the Aboriginal people. As it was recognised that there were fixed routes for seasonal migration, Aboriginal people were required to have passes if they needed to cross the settled districts with bounties offered for
18270-422: The settlement including the growing of food in the vegetable gardens. After arrival, all Aboriginal children aged between six and 15 years were removed from their families to be brought up by the storekeeper and a lay preacher. The Aboriginal people were free to roam the island and were often absent from the settlement for extended periods on hunting trips as the rations supplied turned out to be inadequate. By 1835
18415-524: 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
18560-588: 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,
18705-584: 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
18850-406: The station was a former convict station that had been abandoned earlier that year due to health issues as it was located on inadequately drained mudflats . According to the guards, the Aboriginal people developed "too much independence" by trying to continue their culture which they considered "recklessness" and "rank ingratitude". Their numbers continued to diminish, being estimated in 1859 at around
18995-461: 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
19140-422: The trading, and the abduction, of Aboriginal women as sexual partners. These practices also increased conflict over women among Aboriginal tribes. This in turn led to a decline in the Aboriginal population. Historian Lyndall Ryan records 74 Aboriginal people (almost all women) living with sealers on the Bass Strait islands in the period up to 1835. In 1804, the first major massacre of Aboriginal Tasmanians occurred
19285-649: The use of lead shot ended in 2005. Contemporary use of the lagoon includes recreational boating and fishing as well as oyster farming . On 16 November 1982 most of what was to become the 4760 ha Moulting Lagoon Game Reserve in 1988 was designated Ramsar site 251, and a 940 ha area of the Apsley Marshes was designated Ramsar site 255, mainly because of their value as waterbird habitat, especially for black swans. 42°01′33″S 148°11′25″E / 42.02583°S 148.19028°E / -42.02583; 148.19028 Tasmania Tasmania ( / t æ z ˈ m eɪ n i ə / ; palawa kani : lutruwita )
19430-416: The use of clothes had a most mischievous effect on their health. By January 1832 a further 44 captured Aboriginal residents had arrived and conflicts arose between the tribal groups. To defuse the situation, Sergeant Wight took the Big River group to Green Island , where they were abandoned, and he later decided to move the rest to Green Island as well. Two weeks later Robinson arrived with Lieutenant Darling,
19575-408: The west coast of Tasmania, far from the settled regions, and wrote: "The numbers of Aborigines along the western coast have been considerably reduced since the time of my last visit [1830]. A mortality has raged amongst them which together with the severity of the season and other causes had rendered the paucity of their number very considerable." Between 1825 and 1831 a pattern of guerilla warfare by
19720-703: The white man's musket. The Oyster Cove people attracted contemporaneous international scientific interest from the 1860s onwards, with many museums claiming body parts for their collections. Scientists were interested in studying Aboriginal Tasmanians from a physical anthropology perspective, hoping to gain insights into the field of paleoanthropology . For these reasons, they were interested in individual Aboriginal body parts and whole skeletons . Tasmanian Aboriginal skulls were particularly sought internationally for studies into craniofacial anthropometry . Truganini herself entertained fears that her body might be exploited after her death and two years after her death her body
19865-419: 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
20010-771: Was banished to Penguin Island . Later imprisoned on Swan Island she attempted to organise a rebellion. Although Aboriginal women were by custom forbidden to take part in war, several Aboriginal women who escaped from sealers became leaders or took part in attacks. According to Lyndall Ryan , the women traded to or kidnapped by sealers became "a significant dissident group" against European/white authority. Historian James Bonwick reported Aboriginal women who were clearly captives of sealers but he also reported women living with sealers who "proved faithful and affectionate to their new husbands", women who appeared "content" and others who were allowed to visit their "native tribe", taking gifts, with
20155-507: Was colonised by successive waves of Aboriginal people from southern Australia during glacial maxima , when the sea was at its lowest. The archeological and geographic record suggests a period of drying during the colder glacial period, with a desert extending from southern Australia into the midlands of Tasmania, with intermittent periods of wetter, warmer climate. Migrants from southern Australia into peninsular Tasmania would have crossed stretches of seawater and desert, and finally found oases in
20300-731: Was dispatched towards the shore. It was reported that spears and stones were thrown and the French responded with musket fire, killing at least one Aboriginal person and wounding several others. Two later French expeditions led by Bruni d'Entrecasteaux in 1792–93 and Nicolas Baudin in 1802 made friendly contact with the Aboriginal Tasmanians; the d'Entrecasteaux expedition doing so over an extended period of time. The Resolution under Captain Tobias Furneaux (part of an expedition led by Captain James Cook ) had visited in 1773 but made no contact with
20445-490: Was exhumed and sent to Melbourne for scientific study. Her skeleton was then put up for public display in the Tasmanian Museum until 1947, and was only laid to rest, by cremation, in 1976. Another case was the removal of the skull and scrotum – for a tobacco pouch – of William Lanne , known as King Billy, on his death in 1869. However, many of these skeletons were obtained from Aboriginal "mummies" from graves or bodies of
20590-567: Was exposed to gales, had little water and no land suitable for cultivation. Supplies to the settlement were inadequate and if sealers had not supplied potatoes, the Aboriginal people would have starved. The Europeans were living on oatmeal and potatoes while the Aboriginal people, who detested oatmeal and refused to eat it, survived on potatoes and rice supplemented by mutton birds they caught. Within months 31 Aboriginal people had died. Roth wrote: They were lodged at night in shelters or "breakwinds." These "breakwinds" were thatched roofs sloping to
20735-535: 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. Tasmanian Aborigines The Aboriginal Tasmanians ( Palawa kani : Palawa or Pakana ) are the Aboriginal people of the Australian island of Tasmania , located south of the mainland. At the time of European contact, Aboriginal Tasmanians were divided into
20880-434: Was only too well calculated to induce those severe pulmonary diseases which were destined to prove so fatal to them. The same may be said of the use of clothes ... At the settlement they were compelled to wear clothes, which they threw off when heated or when they found them troublesome, and when wetted by rain allowed them to dry on their bodies. In the case of Tasmanians, as with other wild tribes accustomed to go naked,
21025-582: 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
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