Everything about Tasmania Australia totally explained
Tasmania is an
Australian island and
state of the same name. It is located 240 kilometres (150
mi) south of the eastern side of the
continent, being separated from it by
Bass Strait. The state of Tasmania includes the island of Tasmania, and other
surrounding islands. Tasmania has an estimated population of 493,300 as of June 2007 and an area of 68,401 square kilometres (26,410
sq mi).
Tasmania promotes itself as the
Natural State and the "Island of Inspiration" owing to its large, and relatively unspoiled natural environment. Formally, almost 37% of Tasmania is in reserves,
National Parks and
World Heritage Sites. The island is 364 kilometres long from the northernmost point to the
southernmost point, and 306 kilometres from west to east.
The
state capital and largest city is
Hobart, which encompasses the local government areas of
City of Hobart,
City of Glenorchy and
City of Clarence. Other major population centres include
Launceston in the north, and
Devonport and
Burnie in the northwest.
The subantarctic
Macquarie Island is also under the administration of the state, as part of the
Huon Valley Council local government area.
History
Physical history
It is believed that the island was joined to the mainland until the end of the most recent
ice age approximately 10,000 years ago.
Much of the island is composed of Jurassic
dolerite intrusions (upwellings of magma) through other rock types, sometimes forming large columnar crystals. Tasmania has the world's largest areas of dolerite, with many distinctive mountains and cliffs formed from this rock type. The central plateau and the southeast portions of the island are mostly dolerite.
Mount Wellington above Hobart is a good example, showing distinct columns known as the Organ Pipes. In the southwest,
Precambrian quartzites are formed from very ancient sea sediments and form strikingly sharp ridges and ranges, such as Federation Peak or
Frenchman's Cap. In 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 Mt. Read near
Rosebery, or at
Mt. Lyell near
Queenstown. Also present in the south and northwest is
limestone with some magnificent
caves.
The quartzite and dolerite areas in the higher mountains show evidence of
glaciation and much of Australia's glaciated landscape 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 offers incredible scenery, much of it distinct from any other region of the world.
Indigenous people
Tasmania was first inhabited by the Tasmanian Aborigines, and evidence indicates their presence in the region, later to become an island, at least 35,000 years ago (rising sea levels cut Tasmania off from mainland Australia about 10,000 years ago). The Aboriginal people in Tasmania were divided into nine main ethnic groups (see map). The indigenous population at the time of
British settlement in
1803 has been estimated at between 5,000 and 10,000 people, but through persecution (see
Black War and
Black Line) and
disease the population had dwindled to 300 in
1833. The entire indigenous population was moved to
Flinders Island by
George Augustus Robinson at this time.
Truganini (1812-1876) is generally recognised as the last full-blooded Tasmanian Aborigine, although there's strong evidence that it was in fact
Fanny Cochrane Smith, who was born at Wybalena, and died in
1905.
European arrival
The first reported sighting of Tasmania by a European was on
November 24 1642 by the
Dutch explorer
Abel Tasman who named the island Anthoonij van Diemenslandt, after his sponsor, the Governor of the
Dutch East Indies Anthony van Diemen. The name was later shortened to
Van Diemen's Land by the British. Captain
James Cook also sighted the island in 1777, and numerous other European seafarers made landfalls, adding a colourful array to the names of topographical features.
The first settlement was by the
British at
Risdon Cove on the eastern bank of the
Derwent estuary in 1803, by a small party sent from
Sydney, under Lt. John Bowen for the purpose of preventing the French from claiming the island. An alternative settlement was established by Captain David Collins 5 km to the south in 1804 in
Sullivan's 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 the British Colonial Secretary of the time, Lord Hobart. The settlement at Risdon was later abandoned.
The early settlers were mostly convicts and their military guards, with the task of developing
agriculture and other industries. Numerous other convict-based settlements were made in Van Diemen's Land, including secondary prisons, such as the particularly harsh penal colonies at
Port Arthur in the southeast and
Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast.
Van Diemen's Land was proclaimed a separate colony from
New South Wales, with its own judicial establishment and
Legislative Council, on
December 3 1825.
World attention
Although the state is seldom in the world news, global attention has turned to Tasmania a few times.
Tasmania was badly affected by the
1967 Tasmanian fires in which there was major loss of life and property.
In the 1970s the state government announced plans to flood environmentally significant
Lake Pedder. The collapse of the
Tasman Bridge when struck by the bulk ore carrier
MV Lake Illawarra in 1975 made crossing the
River Derwent at Hobart almost impossible. National and international attention surrounded the campaign against the
Franklin Dam in the early 1980s. This contributed to the start of the
Green movement.
Tasmania has received a position in the top ten of several popular international tourism publications.
On
April 28,
1996 in the incident now known as the
Port Arthur Massacre, lone gunman
Martin Bryant shot and killed 35 people (including tourists and residents) and injured 37 others. The use of
firearms was immediately reviewed, and new gun ownership laws were adopted nationwide, with Tasmania's law one of the strictest in the nation.
The
Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is an annual blue-water sailing event that attracts foreign media attention.
On
May 14 2004 the royal wedding of former Hobart woman
Mary Donaldson to
Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, and their subsequent visit in 2005, again drew some international attention to the state.
In April 2006 the
Beaconsfield Gold Mine created world media attention when a minor earthquake triggered a
mine collapse that killed one person and trapped two others underground for fourteen days.
Geography
temperate climate, and was considered so similar in some ways to pre-industrial
England that it was referred to by some English colonists as 'a Southern England'.
Tasmania has been volcanically inactive in recent geological times, and has rugged mountain ranges over much of its land area.
The most mountainous regions are the
Central Highlands and south western areas, which cover most of the central, west and south west parts of the state. The central east area (the
Midlands) is fairly flat only by comparison, and is predominantly used for agriculture, although various types of farming activity can be seen all around the state.
The West Coast has a high rainfall which powers most of the hydro-electric projects, and its earnings from mineral activities are significant. The
West Coast Range has some of the better known West Coast mines on its slopes – notably the
Mount Lyell mine.
The Southwest region, in particular, is densely forested, the
National Park holding some of the last temperate rainforests in the world. Management of such an isolated and inaccessible area has been made easier and more reliable with the advent of
satellite imaging.
Most of the population lives on and around the coastal rivers – the
Derwent and the
Tamar and
Mersey Rivers in the north.
The temperate climate (Tasmania is the only Australian state with any land south of the 40th
parallel), rustic environment and numerous historic features make Tasmania a popular choice for retirees who prefer a temperate climate over a
tropical one such as
Queensland. Tasmania receives snow in the highlands during winter months, but very little in significantly populated areas.
Tasmania is separated from the Australian mainland by Bass Strait, one of the roughest bodies of water in the world, primarily a result of its shallow depth (typically around 60 m) and its susceptibility to
Southern Ocean currents and swells.
Climate, soils and vegetation
Roaring Forties"
wind that encircles the globe. The Tasmanian climate is extremely variable with high fluctuations in temperature and wind speed during the average week.
Summer lasts from December to February when the average maximum temperature at sea level is 21 °C (70 °F). Winter is from June to August with an average maximum temperature at sea level of 12 °C (54 °F). Inland, temperatures are much cooler. Liawenee on the Central Plateau is regarded as the coldest place in Australia with temperatures even in February ranging only from a still-cold minimum of 4 °C (39 °F) to a maximum of 17 °C (63 °F). In winter the Central Plateau ranges from around -2 °C (28 °F) to 3 °C (37 °F), with much, though very soft, snow.
Highest maximum temperature: 40.8 °C (105.4 °F), Hobart,
4 January 1976
Lowest minimum temperature: -13.0 °C (8.6 °F),
Butlers Gorge and
Shannon,
30 June 1983
Rainfall in Tasmania follows a complicated pattern rather analogous to that found on large continents at the same latitude in the northern hemisphere. On the western side rainfall increases from around 1,600 mm (64 inches) at Strahan on the coast up to 2,700 mm (110 inches) at Cradle Valley in the highlands. There is a strong winter maximum in rainfall: January and February typically averages between 30 and 40 percent the rainfall of July and August, though even in the driest months rain usually falls on every second day and the number of rainy days per year is much greater than on any part of the Australian mainland. Further east in the Lake Country, annual rainfall declines to around 900 mm (35 inches), whilst in the Midlands, annual rainfall is as low as 450 mm (18 inches) at Ross and generally below 600 mm (24 inches). Here the rainfall is more evenly distributed than in the west, and most months receive very similar averages.
The densely populated northern coast is a much drier version of the western side, with annual rainfall ranging from 710 mm (28 inches) at Launceston to 1,050 mm (42 inches) at Burnie in the west and Scottsdale in the east. Most rain falls in winter and in summer the average can be as low as 35 mm (1.5 inches) per month in the Lower Tamar. The east coast is wetter than the Midlands, with an average annual rainfall ranging from 1,000 mm (40 inches) at St. Helens to around 640 mm at Swansea. Here the rainfall is evenly distributed over the year but can be very erratic as heavy rainfalls from the warm Tasman Sea are quite frequent. Whereas a three-day fall of 125 mm (5 inches) occurs only once every fifty years the north coast, it occurs on average once every four or five years around Swansea and Bicheno, and on 7-
8 June 1954 there were many falls as large as 230 mm (9 inches) in two days in that area. The east coast is sometime called the "sun coast" because of its sunny climate due to the rain shadow of the prevailing westerly winds.
Tasmania's reputation in Australia for having high rainfall, however, differs from the true situation: several sections of inland Tasmania, together with
Flinders Island, were declared drought-affected areas by the state government on
1 May 2007.
Soils
Despite the presence of some Quaternary
glaciation, Tasmania's soils are no more fertile than those of mainland Australia, largely because most are severely
leached and the areas with driest climate (thus least leaching) were unaffected by glaciation or alluvia derived therefrom. Most soils on the Bass Strait Islands, the east coast and western Tasmania are very infertile
Spodosols or
Psamments, with some even less fertile "lateritic podzolic soils" in the latter region. Most of these lands are thus not used for agriculture, but there's much productive forestry - which remains the economic mainstay of the state.
On the north coast, apart from some relatively fertile alluvial soils used for fruit growing, there are also deep red, easily workable soils known as "krasnozems" ("red land"). These soils are highly acidic and fix phosphate very effectively, but their extremely favourable physical properties make them extensively used for dairying, beef cattle and fodder crops.
The Midlands and the Lower Derwent present a different story from the rest of the state. Owing to a relatively dry climate and alkaline (mostly
dolerite) parent material, these soils are relatively unleached and contain lime in the deeper subsoil. They are mostly classified as "prairie soils" or "brown earths" and bear some resemblance to the
chernozems of Russia and North America, although they're much lower in available
phosphorus and somewhat acidic in the surface levels. Their higher nutrient levels, however, allow them to support productive pasture and large numbers of sheep are grazed in these regions. Some grain crops are also grown in the driest areas. In the alluvial areas of southeastern Tasmania, rich alluvial soils permit
apples to be grown.
Vegetation
All these factors contribute to the extremely diverse Tasmanian vegetation, from the heavily grazed grassland of the dry Midlands to the tall evergreen
eucalypt forest,
alpine heathlands and large areas of cool
temperate rainforests and moorlands in the rest of the State. Many flora species are unique to Tasmania, and some are related to species in South America and
New Zealand through ancestors which grew on the super continent of
Gondwana, 50 million years ago.
Tasmania is also home to some of the tallest and oldest trees of the world. While individual
Huon Pines are believed to be more than 2.000 years old, which is impressive by itself, a stand of male Huon Pines at
Mount Read has maintained itself by
vegetative reproduction and is estimated to be more than 10.000 years old.
The tallest trees in Australia are found in the
Styx Valley and
Mountain Ashes on the island are more than 90 metres tall. As these are still growing, there's hope that'll surpass the tallest tree ever measured in the country, a Mountain Ash growing at
Thorpdale, Victoria measuring more than 112 metres before it was felled in 1884.
Government
The form of the government of Tasmania is prescribed in its
Constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then. Since 1901 Tasmania has been a state of the Commonwealth of Australia, and the
Australian Constitution regulates its relationship with the Commonwealth, and prescribes which powers each level of government enjoys.
Politics
parochialism. These factors may be due to the relative smallness of the Tasmanian electorate, as well as historical claims of
Launceston being the "northern capital". From 1803 until the proclamation of Van Diemen's Land in 1823, the island had been split into two dependencies of New South Wales, with Hobart and Launceston the administrative centres.
In the Commonwealth Parliament, Tasmania is well represented in the
Senate, where seats are not proportional to population. Between 1975 and 2005, Tasmanian independent senator
Brian Harradine often held the
balance of power. As a result he was able to gain the passage of legislation that, although often matching his conservative religious views, was also very financially rewarding for the state. Harradine successfully defended his seat in six consecutive senate elections and didn't stand for re-election at the
2004 federal election. His term ended in June 2005.
Tasmania's
House of Assembly and local government elections use a system of multi-seat
proportional representation known as
Hare-Clark.
In the
2002 state election, the
Labor Party held 14 of the 25 available seats. The
Liberal Party saw their percentage of the vote decrease dramatically, claiming only 7 seats. The
Greens won four seats, with over 18% of the vote, the highest proportion of any Green party in any parliament in the world.
On
23 February 2004, the Premier
Jim Bacon announced his retirement, due to being diagnosed with
lung cancer from smoking. In his last months he opened a vigorous anti-smoking campaign which included many restrictions of where individuals could smoke, such as pubs. He died four months later.
Bacon was succeeded by
Paul Lennon, who, after leading the state for two years, went on to win the
2006 state election in his own right. Lennon resigned in 2008, who was succeeded by
David Bartlett.
Tasmania has a number of relatively unspoilt,
ecologically valuable regions. Proposals for local economic development have therefore been faced with strong requirements for environmental sensitivity, or outright opposition. In particular, proposals for hydroelectric power generation proved controversial in the late 20th century. In the 1970s, opposition to the construction of the
Lake Pedder impoundment led to the formation of the world's first
green party, the
United Tasmania Group.
In the early 1980s the state was again plunged into often bitter debate over the proposed
Franklin River Dam. The anti-dam sentiment was shared by many Australians outside Tasmania, and proved a factor in the election of the
Hawke Labor government in 1983, which halted construction of the dam. Since the 1980s the environmental focus has shifted to
old growth logging, which has proved a highly divisive issue. The
Tasmania Together process recommended an end to clear felling in high conservation old growth forests by January 2003.
Economy
Tasmania's erratic economy was first experienced by colonists in the early 1800s. The reasons have been many and varied over the years. More recently the reasons have been attributed to: lack of federal infrastructure
highway, lack of a
gold rush, lack of open
immigration initiatives, lack of population, decline in the
wool and mineral economies, lack of early colonial initiatives, or lack of foreign investment. For the length of the history of Tasmania there has been a continuing exodus of youth to mainland Australia in order to seek employment opportunities.
Traditionally Tasmania's main industries have been:
mining, including
copper,
zinc,
tin, and
iron; agriculture;
forestry; and
tourism. Significantly in the 1940s and 1950s there had been a notion of 'Hydro-Industrialisation' embodied in the state by
Hydro Tasmania. These all have had varying fortunes over the last century and more, involved in ebbs and flows of population moving in and away dependent upon the specific requirements of the dominant industries of the time.
There had been a decline in
manufacturing during the 1990s, leading to a drain of some of the island's trained and experienced working population to mainland Australia. The major urban centres such as
Melbourne and
Sydney are popular destinations.
The state has a large number of food exporting sectors, including but not limited to
seafood (for example,
Atlantic salmon,
abalone and
crayfish).
Since 2001, Tasmania has experienced a positive turnaround. Favourable economic conditions throughout Australia, cheaper air fares and two new
Spirit of Tasmania ferries have all contributed to what is now a booming tourism industry.
Today, a significant number of employed Tasmanians work for the government. Other major employers include the
Federal Group, owner of several
hotels and Tasmania's two
casinos, and
Gunns Limited, the state's biggest forestry company. In the late 1990s, many national companies based their
call centres in the state after obtaining cheap access to broad-band fibre-optic connections.
Apparently the state's housing market was undervalued in the early part of 2000, and a large boom in the national housing market finally made Tasmanian housing prices rise dramatically. This has in part been attributed to increased levels of interstate and
overseas migration. A shortage of rental accommodation has caused problems for many of Tasmania's low income earners.
Small business is a large part of the community life and it's believed by many that the business environment in Tasmania isn't an easy one to survive in. However there have been many success stories, such as
International Catamarans,
Moorilla Estate and
Tassal.
Transport
Air
The fastest and cheapest method of travel across Bass Strait is by
air. The main carriers are
Qantas and its subsidiary
JetStar, and
Virgin Blue, which fly direct routes to Melbourne, Sydney,
Brisbane, and
Adelaide. Low cost airline
Tiger Airways commenced services between Melbourne and
Launceston in November 2007 and
Hobart in January 2008. Major airports include
Hobart International Airport and
Launceston Airport; the smaller airports,
Burnie (Wynyard), serviced by
Regional Express and
Devonport, serviced by
Qantaslink have services to
Melbourne.
Sea
The domestic sea route is serviced by Bass Strait passenger/vehicle ferries operated by the Tasmanian Government-owned
TT-Line (Tasmania).
From 1986 the
Abel Tasman made six weekly overnight crossings between
Devonport and Melbourne. It was replaced by the
Spirit of Tasmania in 1993, which performed the same route and schedule. The most recent change was the 2002 replacement of the Spirit by two Superfast ferries -
Spirit of Tasmania I and
Spirit of Tasmania II — which brought the number of weekly overnight crossings up to fourteen, plus additional daylight crossings in peak times. In January 2004 a third ship, the slightly smaller
Spirit of Tasmania III, started the Devonport to Sydney route. This service was axed by the Tasmanian Government in June 2006 quoting low passenger numbers. Two container ships owned by
Toll Shipping also make daily crossings between
Burnie and Melbourne. The port of Hobart also serves as a host to visiting cruise ships.
The state is also home to
International Catamarans, a manufacturer of very high-speed aluminium vessels (commonly known as
SeaCat) that regularly broke records when they were first launched. The state government tried using them on the Bass Strait run, but eventually decided to discontinue the run due to concerns over viability and the suitability of the vessels for the extreme weather conditions sometimes experienced in the strait.
Tasmania, Hobart in particular, serves as Australia's chief sea link to
Antarctica, with the
Australian Antarctic Division located in
Kingston. Hobart is also the home port of the French ship
l'Astrolabe, which makes regular supply runs to the
French Southern Territories near and in Antarctica.
Hobart has the second deepest natural port in the world, second to only
Rio de Janeiro in
Brazil.
Road
Within the state, the primary form of transport is by road. Since the 1980s, many of the state's
highways have undergone regular upgrades. These include the Hobart Southern Outlet, Launceston Southern Outlet,
Bass Highway reconstruction, and the
Huon Highway.
Rail
Rail transport in Tasmania consists of
narrow gauge lines to all four major population centres and to mining and forestry operations on the west coast and in the northwest. Services are operated by
TasRail, a
Pacific National subsidiary. Regular passenger
train services in the state ceased in 1977; the only trains are for freight, and there are tourist trains in specific areas, for example the
West Coast Wilderness Railway. In 2005 there were concerns that the rail service was in so much trouble that it might stop for everything but cement haulage.
Culture
Cuisine
During colonial times typical English
cuisine would have been standard in most areas of Tasmania. The arrival of immigrants and changing cultural patterns has meant Tasmania now has a wide range of restaurants. Scattered across Tasmania are a number of
vineyards and Tasmanian beer brands such as
Boags and
Cascade are known and sold on the mainland.
King Island off the north-western coast of Tasmania has a reputation for boutique cheeses and dairy products.
Events
Sydney to Hobart
Yacht Race, starting on
Boxing Day in Sydney and usually arriving at
Constitution Dock in Hobart around three to four days later, during the
Taste of Tasmania an annual food and wine festival.
Other events include the
road rally Targa Tasmania which attracts world-class rally drivers and is staged all over the state, over five days. Rural or regional events include
Agfest is a three-day agricultural show held at
Carrick (just west of Launceston) in early May, and the
Royal Hobart Show and
Royal Launceston Show, both held in October of each year. Music events held in Tasmania include the
Falls Festival at
Marion Bay (a
Victoria event now held in both Victoria and Tasmania on
New Year's Eve), and the
Southern Roots Festival held in Hobart each Easter. A recent addition to the state has been the
10 Days on the Island arts
festival; however, it has drawn criticism from environmental groups for its acceptance of sponsorship from forestry company
Gunns.
Literature
Tasmania has a relatively small but growing literary culture. Notable titles include
For the Term of His Natural Life by
Marcus Clarke,
The Sound of One Hand Clapping by
Richard Flanagan and
Out of Ireland by
Christopher Koch. The ‘Tasmanian genre’ of fiction includes children's books such as
Tiger Tale by Marion and Steve Isham.
Music
Tasmania has a varied musical scene, ranging from the
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra whose home is the
Federation Concert Hall, to a substantial number of small bands, orchestras, string quintets, saxophone ensembles and individual artists who perform at a variety of venues around the state. Tasmania is also home to a vibrant community of composers including
Constantine Koukias,
Maria Grenfell and
Don Kay, who is the patron of the
Tasmanian Composers Collective which is the representative body for composers in Tasmania. Tasmania is also home to one of Ausralia's leading new music institutions,
IHOS Music Theatre and Opera and gospel choirs, the
Southern Gospel Choir. Death Metal band
Psycroptic hail from Tasmania and are one of the most prominent Australian metal bands. Apart from the Classical musical season and regular gigs across the state by a number of local and interstate groups two of the highlights of the musical year would be the
Falls Festival held during the summer holidays and the
Carols by Candlelight held in the weeks prior to Christmas.
Sport
The dominant sports in Tasmania are
cricket and
Australian rules football. Tasmania has produced two prominent international cricket stars,
David Boon and current Australian captain
Ricky Ponting. The
Tasmanian Tigers cricket team, which plays home games at
Bellerive Oval on the eastern shore, represents the state in limited overs and first-class cricket competitions. In the last few years they've had significant success, with them winning the
ING One Day Cup in 2004-05 for the first time in 10 years, and the
Pura Cup for the first time in 2006-07.
Despite Australian rules football's huge popularity in the state, Tasmania doesn't have a team in the
AFL. They do have a team (the
Tasmanian Devils) in the
VFL (Victorian league), and a team in the national league is a popular topic among supporters as well as the state government (one of the potential sponsors of such a team). From the 2001 season onwards, some AFL teams have played scheduled games at
Aurora Stadium (at York Park in
Launceston). Since 2007, the
Hawthorn Football Club has been in a sponsorship agreement with the Tasmanian government to play four home games a year in Launceston. One of the notable matches to be played at York Park was an infamous match between
St Kilda and
Fremantle which was
controversially drawn after the umpires failed to hear the siren.
In
basketball, the state hasn't been represented in the
National Basketball League since the demise of the
Hobart Devils in 1996; however, strong representation from the state can be found in the
South East Australian Basketball League. Two men's teams: The Oasis
Hobart Chargers, and the Northwest Tasmania Thunder are joined in the women's SEABL by the Launceston Tornadoes and the Women's NW Tasmania Thunder also.
Tasmania isn't being represented in national
association football (see
Association football in Tasmania) and
netball leagues.
In Tasmania, there's a motor racing circuit in
Launceston called
Symmons Plains Raceway. It holds rounds of the
V8 Supercars, the
YMF Loans Australian Superbike Championship, Australian
Formula 3 Championship and the
CAMS Nationals.
Finally, the town of
Bridport in the north-east is home to
Barnbougle Dunes, a public
golf course designed by architect
Tom Doak which opened in 2004 and is ranked among the top 100 courses in the world.
Prominent Tasmanians
Tasmania has produced a number of significant people. These include: the Prime Minister
Joseph Lyons; author
Richard Flanagan the actor
Errol Flynn;
Baywatch actor
Jaason Simmons; drummer
Adam Davison; Dancer and Choreographer
Graeme Murphy; Composer
Peter Sculthorpe;
Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane and Primate of Australia
Phillip Aspinall;
Crown Princess Mary of Denmark (Mary Donaldson); World Champion
Woodchopper;
David Foster, Australian cricket personalities
Ricky Ponting and
David Boon; Motor Racing
Australian Touring car/V8 Supercar; John Bowe (1995 champion)
Marcos Ambrose (2003-4 champion): Marcos now races in the
NASCAR Busch Series.
Indigenous animals
Thylacine
The island of Tasmania was home to the
Thylacine, a
marsupial which resembled a wild dog. Known colloquially as the
Tasmanian Tiger for the distinctive striping across its back, it became extinct in mainland Australia much earlier because of competition by the
dingo, introduced in prehistoric times. Owing to persecution by farmers, government-funded bounty hunters and, in the final years, collectors for overseas museums, it appears to have been exterminated in Tasmania. The last known animal died in
captivity in 1936. Many alleged sightings have been recorded, none of them confirmed.
Tasmanian Devil
The
Tasmanian Devil is a carnivorous
marsupial found exclusively on the island of Tasmania. The size of a small dog but stocky and muscular, the Tasmanian Devil is characterised by black fur with white patches. It has a loud and disturbing screech-like growl, possesses a vicious temperament and is predominantly a scavenger. The Devil survived European settlement and was considered widespread and common throughout Tasmania until recently.
Like a lot of wildlife, fast vehicles on roads are a problem for Tasmanian Devils, which are often killed while feeding on other road-killed animals such as
wallabies.
As of 2005 the Tasmanian Devil population has been reduced by up to 80% in parts of Tasmania by the
devil facial tumour disease, which is gradually spreading throughout the island. It is believed the majority starved when the tumours spread to their mouths, and that the tumours are spread by fighting between devils over carcasses they feed on – typically, fighting devils will bite one another's faces.
There is no known cure for the disease, and intensive research is underway to determine its cause. There is also a captive breeding program being undertaken by the Tasmanian government to establish a disease-free, genetically-diverse population of Tasmanian Devils outside Tasmania. This has been relatively successful so far.
Birds
Many birds of the Australian mainland and surrounding oceans are also found in Tasmania. Tasmania has 12
endemic bird
species:
Frogs
Tasmania is home to 11 species of
frog. Three of these are found only in Tasmania, the
Tasmanian Tree Frog (
Litoria burrowsae), the
Tasmanian Froglet (
Crinia tasmaniensis) and the recently discovered
Moss Froglet (
Bryobatrachus nimbus). Of the 11 species that inhabit Tasmania all are native to Australia. Tasmania is home to the largest breeding population of
Growling Grass Frogs (
Litoria raniformis), a vulnerable species, which has declined over much of its range.
European Red Fox
On
20th June 2001, Tasmania formed a
fox task force to eliminate the European
red fox. Officials planned to spend up to A$ 50 million (US$ 43 million) on an eradication campaign. No foxes have been captured,shot,poisoned or photographed in the Island state in the past six years causing sceptics to claim the fox is an elaborate hoax. Authorities claim foxes (between 50 and 400) could devastate ground-nesting birds and native
rodents.
Experts estimate there are 30 million
foxes on mainland Australia, having been introduced by
European settlers. The member of the Upper house,the Legislative Council member for Windermere Ivan Dean MLC has been publicly critical of the fox evidence used to obtain funding for a taxpayer funded Fox Eradication Branch of the Tasmanian D.P.I.W. Ivan Dean MLC was the Tasmanian Police Commander that led the Police investigation into the alleged importation and release of foxes into Tasmania. The investigation didn't uncover any evidence of illegal importation. Ivan Dean MLC raised the Tasmanian Fox issue in the Tasmanian Parliament on the 17th April 2007
Places in Tasmania
See also: List of Australian
islands,
lakes,
bridges,
highways,
rivers,
mountains and
regions.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Tasmania Australia'.
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External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://tasmania.totallyexplained.com">Tasmania Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
