History

The first inhabitants of Tasmania arrived on the island while it was still connected to the Australian mainland, approximately 35,000 years ago. About 10,000 years ago, the Tasmanian population was cut off from the mainland when sea levels rose. The culture of the aboriginal Tasmanian people were left to develop independently from that of mainland Australia.

Tasmania was first seen by Europeans in 1642, but sailors did not land on the island until 1772. Captain Cook visited the island in 1777. It was only during a voyage in 1798 and 1799 that it was first determined by George Bass and Matthew Flinders that Tasmania was definitely an island.

European settlers first arrived on Tasmania in 1803. At this time, the indigenous people were composed of nine main groups, with a total population that is estimated to have been between 5000 and 10,000. This population declined rapidly following colonisation by the Europeans, due to a combination of persecution, war and the spread of infections to which the aboriginal people had no resistance. Just thirty years after the arrival of the first European settlers, the indigenous population had been reduced to just 300 people. Most of these people were relocated by George Augustus Robinson to Flinders Island. It is believed that there were no full-blooded indigenous Tasmanians left after the beginning of the 20th century.

The first European settlements on Tasmania were founded at Ridson Cove in 1803 and Sullivans Cove in 1804. The settlers came from Sydney with the aim of preventing the island from being colonized by the French. The Sullivans Cove settlement would eventually develop into the modern city of Hobart.

Many of the earliest Tasmanian settlers were convicts, together with the military personnel tasked with guarding them. Between the first settlement in 1803 and the year 1853, approximately 75,000 convicts were transported to the island. Various types of penal colonies and convict settlements were established in Tasmania, or Van Diemen’s Land, as it was known at the time. Two of the harshest penal colonies were located at Macquarie Harbour and Port Arthur.

Van Diemen’s Land first became an independent colony, with its own judiciary, in 1825. It was in 1855 that the island changed its name to Tasmania, in honour of the first European explorer to have spotted the island, Abel Tasman. This name change followed the creation of the Colony of Tasmania, a British colony on the island that was granted its own legislative powers. The colony existed between 1856 and 1901, at which point it became part of the Commonwealth of Australia, together with five other colonies in Australia.

Tasmania experienced relatively steady growth in both its economy and its population. The island’s location made it an important link on many trade routes and it became known as an important centre for shipbuilding.