Tasmania, the island state of the Commonwealth of Australia (1901), approximately corresponds in latitude and longitude with southern France and northern Italy in the northern hemisphere; and occupies an area of 26,215 sq. m.—about that of Scotland. It is bounded on the N. by Bass Strait, while its other coasts are swept by the waters of the great Southern Ocean. It may be assumed with reasonable safety that Tasmania was at one, if a remote, period a constituent part of the continent of Australia. It is confirmatory of this that the great Cordillera range (as Sir Roderick Murchison termed it), which is traceable along the eastern border of Australia across Torres Straits to New Guinea, may similarly be traced across Bass Strait by the chain of islands which almost continuously links Tasmania with Australia. See map at SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
Although it possesses wide stretches of comparatively level plains and tableland, the prevailing characteristics of Tasmania are those of a mountainous country. It has within its borders fifty mountains of heights from 2500 feet upwards, whereof the loftiest is Cradle Mountain (5069 feet); the higher tiers are snow-capped through the winter and suggestive of Switzerland or the Tyrol. Its streams (which are perennial) are as to their gravelly, boulder-strewn bed, their environments of hill and foliage—even as to their trout and salmon, as the rivers and burns of Scotland. The lakes, notably Lake St Clair, are suggestive of a Loch Katrine or Loch Lomond on a large scale. The lakes of Tasmania, hitherto neglected save by the very occasional tourist or angler, should in the course of time become summer-resorts and sanatoria for the whole people of Australasia. The Great Lake is about 90 miles in circumference. It is a peculiar feature of these lakes that they are found upon an elevated plateau averaging more than 3000 feet above sea-level. The extent of this plateau, from Dry's Bluff in the north-west to Denison Range in the south-west, is over 60 miles, while from Dry's Bluff two other plateaus branch (1) to Cradle Mountain, a distance of nearly 50 miles, and (2) to Table Mountain, over 43 miles.
Tasmania has many rivers, but of these only the Derwent, Tamar, Gordon, Pieman, and Huon are navigable for many miles from their mouths for ships of fair size. The Derwent is thus navigable for over 60 miles—i.e. 22 above Hobart, the capital; Launceston, the northern city, stands at the head of navigation on the Tamar.
Hobart is the principal harbour of Tasmania, and is second to none in the southern hemisphere. The Launceston port has been improved by dredging so as to admit of large ocean steamers mooring at its wharves. At Emu Bay harbourage for large vessels has been secured by a breakwater, and on that portion of the coast-line (the north- west), as well as on the east, north-east, and south coast, there are many harbours for small craft. The west coast has but one harbour worthy of the name—Macquarie Harbour, a noble sheet of water fed by the Gordon and other streams, but, like the river-ports of the north, a bar harbour, requiring an expenditure of some £180,000 in dredging the mouth, &c. before it will admit vessels of large tonnage.
The character of the soil varies very considerably. In the north-western, north-eastern, midland, and south-eastern divisions, where settlement has mostly taken place, the plains and valleys have been enriched by extensive outbursts of basalt with accompanying tufts, which have produced a very rich chocolate soil. Here the associations are those of the ancient Tertiary lake systems. Towards the extreme west and south granites, metamorphic mica, and quartzose schists, with overlying slates, grits, and limestone of Cambro-Silurian age, re-appear again and again in anticlinal and synclinal ridges which trend north and south. These rocks may also be seen following the south coast and evidently occupying nearly all that extensive mountain-region to the south of the river Huon.
The western vegetation as compared with that of the east presents as marked a contrast as do the prevailing rocks upon which it flourishes. The most remarkable trees are the Eucalypts. Many of these are known to exceed 280 feet in height, with a girth of from 40 to 50 feet, and one is mentioned whose height was estimated at 330 feet. Lady Franklin's tree, near Hobart, is stated to have a circumference of 107 feet at a height of 4 feet from the ground. These Eucalypts have a substantial value as timber-trees, and a considerable trade is done in the hard-wood boards, palings, &c. sawn or split from them. But the most valuable trees are the blackwood, Huon pine, King William pine, and musk, all of which furnish highly ornamental woods that are beginning to make their way in the English market. The most picturesque trees of a Tasmanian landscape are the magnificent tree-ferns that lend the glories of tropical foliage to many a stream and gully, and the wattle, with its delicate and fragrant mimosa-like bloom. It is worthy of note that all Tasmanian trees and shrubs are evergreens.
The fauna, like the flora, of Tasmania is almost identical with that of Australia. Of the forty-six species of terrestrial mammals inhabiting the island two belong to the Monotremata, of which order the platypus or ornithorhynchus is the most remarkable. There are twenty-seven representatives of the Marsupialia or pouched animals, nine of which are peculiar to Tasmania, the most remarkable of these being the Tasmanian devil (see DASYURE) and the hyæna-like native tiger (see THYLACINE). The bats have four representatives. Of rodents there are thirteen, of which the most conspicuous is the common water-rat or yellow-bellied musk-rat (Hydromys chrysogaster). Comparatively few birds are peculiar to the colony, though there are in all 187 indigenous species. For the sportsman there are four varieties of quail, four of pigeons, nine of snipe and curlew, ten of plovers, and twelve of black swans, Cape Barren geese, and wild duck. For the epicure there is the wattle-bird (family Melyphagidae). Reptiles are few and not of a deadly character. There are three snakes: the tiger or banded snake (Hoplocephalus curtus), the copper-headed snake (H. superbus), and the whip-snake (H. coronoides). All these are in a greater or less degree poisonous, and human beings are occasionally bitten, but the death of a human being from snake-bite has not occurred for many years. There are seventeen species of lizards, all small and harmless; and at rare intervals a small scorpion (probably just imported) is met with. Sea and fresh-water fishes (including the seven species of salmon, salmon-trout, and trout brought from the United Kingdom and successfully acclimatised) number 213 species, about one-third of which are good edible fish. It is known that large shoals of sand smelts, sprats, and anchovies appear upon the coasts at regular seasons, but because of the lack of proper appliances to catch them, these escape capture. And, in the absence of proper curing establishments, large quantities of such fish as are caught have been wasted at times, although there has been, and is, a ready market for them in Australia, the trumpeter and other fishes of the Tasmanian waters being unknown in the warmer regions of the north.
Natives (in the sense of aborigines of Tasmania) there are none. There are a few half-castes, the descendants of European sealers by native jins, and these are found with one exception on the islands of Bass Strait; but the aboriginal Tasmanian has died out—the last male in 1869, the last female in 1876. It is probable that there were never more than 5000 of these people. It is certain that they were a very inferior race, and it was a logical, if cruel, consequence of their contact with Europeans that they should disappear off the earth. That they were inferior even to the low order of humanity found on the mainland is proved by the comparative poorness of their resources for sustaining existence; the Tasmanian was as far behind the Pacific Islanders in regard to civilisation as those islanders are behind the European of the 19th century. The Tasmanian was a savage, suspicious, treacherous, and untamable. He first came into collision with the early French explorers. Blood continued to flow during the racial war waged between the natives and the early British settlers. But this was not quite a war of extermination; in 1830 an effort was made to save the race; the remainder of them were induced to come into a settlement where they were carefully provided for, with the untoward result that slowly but surely this remnant of a people died out.
The climate is peculiarly temperate and genial. The difference between the mean temperature of summer and winter is 15°. The meteorological observations of Hobart give a maximum of 96.3 against 92.2 recorded at Greenwich, and a minimum of 32.0 against 15.5. It is cooler on the hills, and it is more equable at other places in the plains, notably at Circular Head, where the maximum has never risen above 78° or the minimum fallen below 34°. Snow is very rarely seen except on the mountains. The rainfall varies considerably in different localities. A mean of thirty-five to forty years gives as the result for Hobart 22.93 inches; on the east coast and some parts of the midlands it is probably less; on the north-west and north-east, where timber-clad hills more abound, it is greater; and on the west coast, where the prevailing wind off the Southern Ocean meets a barrier of ranges often clothed with forest to their summits, it is greatest of all. The average for the island as a whole may be put down at something like that of England; but the amount of sunshine recorded in Tasmania is very materially in excess of that of Great Britain. The air is drier, the atmosphere clearer, and the extremes of heat and cold less trying than in the mother-country.
Tasmania was discovered in 1642 by Abel Jans Tasman (c. 1602–59), who was despatched by Antony Van Diemen (1593–1645), governor-general of the Dutch settlement in Batavia, on an expedition in search of the 'Great South Land.' Until 1798 it was regarded as a portion of New Holland (or Australia); but in that year Lieutenant Flinders and
Dr Bass explored the strait which divides the continent from Tasmania, and which was named after the adventurous doctor. Curiously enough, while the early explorers ignored this dividing strip of water, they imagined a north and south dividing stream which cut Australia into sections, and it was over the portion to the east of this imaginary stream that Holland for some years boasted of a shadowy sovereignty.
Subsequent to the discovery of 1642 Tasmania was visited by French and English explorers in 1772, 1773, 1777 (Captain Cook's third and last expedition), 1789, 1792 (when Lieutenant Bligh, notorious for the mutiny of his crew, paid his second visit), 1793, 1794, 1798, and 1802. On the 12th September 1803 the first settlement was made by Lieutenant Bowen, acting under instructions from Governor King of New South Wales. Tasmania was the second colony founded in Australasia, that of New South Wales (or Port Jackson) having been founded fourteen years before. The first settlement in Victoria was made by Tasmanian colonists in 1834-37, and Tasmania may therefore claim the honour of being the mother of Victoria. For many years sheep-farming was the principal industry. The merino stud-sheep, for which the colony is now renowned, are possibly the direct descendants of the lambs, originally drawn from the royal stud at Kew, imported in 1820. These sheep have been exported to other colonies continuously for many years, and with a value for one year of £66,743; and as much as 1125 guineas has been realised as the price of one ram.
Whaling in the south seas was largely carried on from Hobart for some years. In 1848 thirty-eight whalers sailed from Hobart, and in 1869 twenty-three; but by 1891 Hobart's whalers had dwindled down to two, though whales in that southern region have not died out.
Tasmania (as Van Diemen's Land) was originally a penal settlement. In 1852 transportation to this colony was abolished; and now all traces of the convict element have died out. In 1855 Tasmania was the first colony of Australasia to receive the privileges of local representative government. The population in 1881 was 115,705; in 1891 it had increased (by 27 per cent.) to 146,667.
While Tasmania has made relatively immense strides since 1860 as an agricultural-colony, the industry that has most stimulated the hope of her people is mining. From shore to shore gold, silver, tin, copper, coal, and many other minerals are found, sometimes in wide-spread fields, at other times in more restricted areas. Gold in any quantity was only obtained in 1867, and tin, first discovered in 1871, was not found in quantity for export until 1874. In 1898 there were in force 436 gold, 441 silver, and 205 tin mining leases. The value of the gold exported in 1897 was £230,282; of silver, £216,893; and of tin, £150,586. Owing to the cessation of alluvial gold-mining, the number of persons employed in this industry has decreased, being 1461 in 1896. The total output of coal in 1897 amounted to 42,530 tons. Copper ore and iron pyrites were exported to the value of £317,437 in 1897. Of the exports (1897) from Tasmania, £807,433 went to Victoria, £583,273 to New South Wales, and £289,369 to the United Kingdom—the latter largely wool, £181,134, and fruit, £74,917. The chief imports from the United Kingdom in the same year were: apparel and haberdashery, £71,374; iron, wrought and unwrought, £37,562; cottons, £65,065; woollens, £40,863.
Of the total area of Tasmania (16,778,000 acres), up to 1898, 4,768,901 acres had been taken up by settlers, and 833,575 acres leased as sheep-runs. The amount of wheat and oats grown increased from 871,490 bushels in 1894 to 2,770,626 bushels in 1898; fruit is a very important crop; hay, potatoes, and hops are also grown in large quantities.
The total imports were, in 1897, £1,367,608, and the total exports, £1,744,461. The registered shipping amounted, in 1897, to 155 sailing-vessels and 44 steamers, with a total tonnage of 14,376; while 699 vessels, with a tonnage of 542,049, entered the ports, and 717 of 542,189 tons cleared, about two-thirds being from and to Hobart. The total revenue was, in 1897, £845,019, and the expenditure, £785,026; and the public debt was £8,390,026, nearly all raised for public works. In 1898 there were 495 miles of railway open for traffic. The telegraph system belongs to the government, and in 1898 there were 1884 miles of line in operation, with 225 stations; there is also a submarine cable connection with the Australian continent. There are 570 miles of telephone wires, with exchanges in Hobart, Launceston, New Norfolk, and Zeehan. Education is compulsory, and there are 282 public elementary schools and 173 private schools, besides secondary and technical schools and a university. The defence of Tasmania is provided for by a force of volunteers, consisting of two rifle regiments, engineer, artillery, and auxiliary forces, with a total complement of 1779 officers and men.
See, besides official statistics and parliamentary papers, James Bonwick, The Lost Tasmanian Race (1884); Jas. Fenton, History of Tasmania (1885); W. T. May, Tasmania as It Is (1886); R. M. Johnston, Geology of Tasmania (Hobart, 1888); H. Ling Roth, The Aborigines of Tasmania (1890); Louisa A. Meredith, Last Series of Bush Friends (Flowers, Fruits, and Insects) in Tasmania (1891); Crozet's Voyage to Tasmania, New Zealand, &c. in 1771-72 (trans. by H. Ling Roth, 1891). For map, see SOUTH AUSTRALIA.