Tasmania
State of Australia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
State of Australia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tasmania (/tæzˈmeɪniə/; palawa kani: lutruwita[14]) is an island state of Australia.[15] 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.[16] It is Australia's smallest and least populous state, with 573,479 residents as of June 2023[update]. The state capital and largest city is Hobart, with around 40% of the population living in the Greater Hobart area.[17] Tasmania is the most decentralised state in Australia, with the lowest proportion of its residents living within its capital city.[18]
Tasmania | ||||
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Nickname(s):
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Motto: | ||||
Country | Australia | |||
Before federation | Colony of Tasmania | |||
Federation | 1 January 1901 | |||
Named for | Abel Tasman | |||
Capital and largest city | Hobart 42°52′50″S 147°19′30″E | |||
Administration | 29 local government areas | |||
Demonym(s) | ||||
Government | ||||
• Monarch | Charles III | |||
• Governor | Barbara Baker | |||
• Premier | Jeremy Rockliff (Liberal) | |||
Legislature | Parliament of Tasmania | |||
Legislative Council | ||||
House of Assembly | ||||
Judiciary | Supreme Court of Tasmania | |||
Parliament of Australia | ||||
• Senate | 12 senators (of 76) | |||
5 seats (of 151) | ||||
Area | ||||
• Total | 68,402 km2 (26,410 sq mi) (7th) | |||
Highest elevation | 1,617 m (5,305 ft) | |||
Population | ||||
• March 2022 estimate | 571,165[4] (6th) | |||
• Density | 8.9/km2 (23.1/sq mi) (4th) | |||
GSP | 2020 estimate | |||
• Total | AU$32.102 billion[5] (8th) | |||
• Per capita | AU$59,779 (7th) | |||
Gini (2016) | 44.8[6] medium · 3rd | |||
HDI (2021) | 0.921[7] very high · 8th | |||
Time zone | UTC+10:00 (AEST) | |||
UTC+11:00 (AEDT) | ||||
Postal abbreviation | TAS | |||
ISO 3166 code | AU-TAS | |||
Symbols | ||||
Bird | Yellow wattlebird (unofficial) (Anthochaera paradoxa)[8] | |||
Flower | Tasmanian blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus)[9] | |||
Mammal | Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii)[10] | |||
Plant | Leatherwood (unofficial) (Eucryphia lucida)[11] | |||
Colour(s) | Bottle Green (PMS 342), Yellow (PMS 114), & Maroon (PMS 194)[12] | |||
Mineral | Crocoite (PbCrO4)[13] | |||
Website | tas |
Tasmania's main island was inhabited by Aboriginal peoples.[19] 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.[20] The island 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.[21] 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 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.[22] Approximately 80,000 convicts were sent to Van Diemen's Land before this practice, known as transportation, ceased in 1853.[23] In 1855, 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.[24] Tasmania 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.[25] The first environmental political party in the world was founded in Tasmania.[26]
Tasmania is named after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who made the first reported European sighting of 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.[27]
Tasmania was sometimes referred to as "Dervon", as mentioned in the Jerilderie Letter written by 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,[28] a name originally derived from 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 the name is more properly applied to Cape Barren Island,[28] which has had an official dual name of "Truwana" since 2014.[29]
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.[30]
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 the aboriginal community, or without having a connection to the place in question.[31]
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.[32] 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 was adjoined to the mainland of Australia until the end of the last glacial period about 11,700 years ago.[20] 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 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 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 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.[citation needed] 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 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.[33] 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 the island's nine nations;[34] Nicholas Clements, citing research by N.J.B. Plomley and Rhys Jones, settled on a figure of 3,000 to 4,000.[35] 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 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 the first time that Tasmania was an island.[36]
Sealers and whalers based themselves on Tasmania's islands from 1798,[37] 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 a party of 49, including 21 male and three female convicts, named the camp Risdon.[36][38]
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 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.[36]
A smaller colony was established at Port Dalrymple on 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.[36] By 1819, the Aboriginal and British population reached parity with about 5000 of each, although among the colonists men outnumbered women four-to-one.[39] 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 the island accounted for about half of all land under cultivation and exports.[40]
Tensions between Tasmania's Aboriginal and white inhabitants rose, partly driven by increasing competition for kangaroo and other game.[41][42][43] 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.[44] Hostilities increased further with 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 the convict farm labourers.[45]
Violence began to spiral rapidly from the mid-1820s in what became described as the "Black War".[46] 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 a means of suppressing the native threat – or even in some cases, exacting revenge.[47] 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.[48]
From 1825 to 1828, 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 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.[49] In April 1828, Arthur issued a Proclamation of Demarcation forbidding Aboriginal people to enter the settled districts without a passport issued by the government.[50][51] 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.[52][53]
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 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.[54]
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 the population further.[55][56] 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.[36][57][58] However, other historians including Henry Reynolds, Richard Broome and Nicholas Clements do not agree with the genocide thesis, arguing that the colonial authorities did not intend to destroy the Aboriginal population in whole or in part.[59][60] 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".[61] However, as Reynolds, Broome and Clements point out, there was open warfare at the time.[59][60] 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."[61] Nevertheless, Clements and Flood note that there was another wave of violence in north-west Tasmania in 1841, involving attacks on settlers' huts by a band of Aboriginal Tasmanians who had not been removed from the island.[62][63]
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 the burgeoning society of free settlers from the island's convict past.[64]
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 the British Empire.[65]
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 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.[66] Launceston became 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.[67] The 1910 foundation of what would become Hydro Tasmania began to shape urban patterns, as well as future major damming programs.[68] Hydro's influence culminated in the 1970s when 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.[69] National and international attention surrounded the campaign against the Franklin Dam in the early 1980s.[70]
Tasmanian Enid Lyons became the first female member of the House of Representatives at 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.[68] It gained 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.[68] As part of the boom, Tasmania allowed the opening of the first casino in Australia in 1968.[68] Queen Elizabeth II visited the state in 1954, and the 50s and 60s were charactered by the opening of major public services, including 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.[71] In 1975 the Tasman Bridge collapsed when 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 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 the decriminalization of homosexuality that year.[72] 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 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.[73]
The COVID-19 pandemic in Tasmania resulted in at least 230 cases and 13 deaths as of September 2021[update].[74] In 2020, after 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,[75] 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.[76]
This article or section may need to be cleaned up or summarized because it has been split from/to Geography of Tasmania. |
Tasmania, the largest island of Australia, has a landmass of 68,401 km2 (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 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 at South East Cape, and the northernmost point on mainland Tasmania is approximately 40°38′26″S 144°43′33″E 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 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).[77] Much of Tasmania is still densely forested, with the Southwest National Park and neighbouring areas holding some of 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).[78] 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 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 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 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 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:[79] 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 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.[80] 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.[81] This environment gives rise to 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.[82]
Tasmania features 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.[83] Tasmania also has a large number of beaches, the longest of which is Ocean Beach on the West Coast at about 40 kilometres.[84] 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 a 50-metre[85] 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 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,[86] he tried to keep in with it but his ships were suddenly hit by the Roaring Forties howling through Bass Strait.[87] Tasman 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.[88]
The next European to enter the strait was Captain James Cook on HMS Endeavour in April 1770. However, after sailing for two hours westward into the strait against the wind, he turned back east and noted in his journal that he was "doubtful whether they [i.e. Van Diemen's Land and New Holland] are one land or no".[89]
The strait was named after George Bass, after he and Matthew Flinders passed through it while circumnavigating Van Diemen's Land in the Norfolk in 1798–99. At Flinders' recommendation, the Governor of New South Wales, John Hunter, in 1800 named the stretch of water between the mainland and Van Diemen's Land "Bass's Straits".[90] Later it became known as Bass Strait.
The existence of the strait had been suggested in 1797 by the master of Sydney Cove when he reached Sydney after deliberately grounding his foundering ship and being stranded on Preservation Island (at the eastern end of the strait). He reported that the strong south westerly swell and the tides and currents suggested that the island was in a channel linking the Pacific and southern Indian Ocean. Governor Hunter thus wrote to Joseph Banks in August 1797 that it seemed certain a strait existed.[91]
Tasmania has a relatively cool temperate climate compared to the rest of Australia, spared from the hot summers of the mainland and experiencing four distinct seasons.[92] Summer is from December to February when the average maximum sea temperature is 21 °C (70 °F) and inland areas around Launceston reach 24 °C (75 °F). Other inland areas are much cooler, with Liawenee, located on the Central Plateau, one of the coldest places in Australia, ranging between 4 and 17 °C (39 and 63 °F) in February. Autumn is from March to May, with mostly settled weather, as summer patterns gradually take on the shape of winter patterns.[93] The winter months are from June to August and are generally the wettest and coldest months in the state, with most high lying areas receiving considerable snowfall. Winter maximums are 12 °C (54 °F) on average along coastal areas and 3 °C (37 °F) on the central plateau, as a result of a series of cold fronts from the Southern Ocean. Inland areas receive regular freezes throughout the winter months. Spring is from September to November, and is an unsettled season of transition, where winter weather patterns begin to take the shape of summer patterns, although snowfall is still common up until October. Spring is generally the windiest time of the year with afternoon sea breezes starting to take effect on the coast.
Climate data for Hobart (Battery Point) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 41.8 (107.2) |
40.1 (104.2) |
39.1 (102.4) |
31.0 (87.8) |
25.7 (78.3) |
20.6 (69.1) |
22.1 (71.8) |
24.5 (76.1) |
31.0 (87.8) |
34.6 (94.3) |
36.8 (98.2) |
40.6 (105.1) |
41.8 (107.2) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 22.7 (72.9) |
22.2 (72.0) |
20.7 (69.3) |
17.9 (64.2) |
15.3 (59.5) |
12.7 (54.9) |
12.6 (54.7) |
13.7 (56.7) |
15.7 (60.3) |
17.6 (63.7) |
19.1 (66.4) |
21.0 (69.8) |
17.6 (63.7) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 13.0 (55.4) |
12.8 (55.0) |
11.6 (52.9) |
9.4 (48.9) |
7.6 (45.7) |
5.5 (41.9) |
5.2 (41.4) |
5.6 (42.1) |
6.9 (44.4) |
8.3 (46.9) |
10.0 (50.0) |
11.6 (52.9) |
9.0 (48.2) |
Record low °C (°F) | 3.3 (37.9) |
3.4 (38.1) |
1.8 (35.2) |
0.7 (33.3) |
−1.6 (29.1) |
−2.8 (27.0) |
−2.8 (27.0) |
−1.8 (28.8) |
−0.8 (30.6) |
0.0 (32.0) |
0.3 (32.5) |
3.3 (37.9) |
−2.8 (27.0) |
Average rainfall mm (inches) | 43.7 (1.72) |
37.8 (1.49) |
37.0 (1.46) |
42.6 (1.68) |
39.2 (1.54) |
46.0 (1.81) |
44.5 (1.75) |
63.0 (2.48) |
55.6 (2.19) |
52.8 (2.08) |
50.7 (2.00) |
53.0 (2.09) |
565.9 (22.28) |
Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 9.5 | 9.1 | 11.3 | 11.1 | 12.0 | 12.4 | 14.1 | 15.3 | 15.7 | 15.0 | 13.5 | 11.7 | 150.7 |
Average afternoon relative humidity (%) | 51 | 52 | 52 | 56 | 58 | 64 | 61 | 56 | 53 | 51 | 53 | 49 | 55 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 257.3 | 226.0 | 210.8 | 177.0 | 148.8 | 132.0 | 151.9 | 179.8 | 195.0 | 232.5 | 234.0 | 248.0 | 2,393.1 |
Percent possible sunshine | 59 | 62 | 57 | 59 | 53 | 49 | 53 | 58 | 59 | 58 | 56 | 53 | 56 |
Source 1: Bureau of Meteorology (1991–2020 averages;[98] extremes 1882–present)[99][100][101] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: Bureau of Meteorology, Hobart Airport (sunshine hours)[102] |
Climate data for Launceston (Ti Tree Bend) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 39.0 (102.2) |
34.4 (93.9) |
33.0 (91.4) |
27.7 (81.9) |
22.0 (71.6) |
18.4 (65.1) |
18.4 (65.1) |
20.3 (68.5) |
24.8 (76.6) |
28.7 (83.7) |
30.7 (87.3) |
33.8 (92.8) |
39.0 (102.2) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 24.8 (76.6) |
24.6 (76.3) |
22.7 (72.9) |
18.9 (66.0) |
15.8 (60.4) |
13.3 (55.9) |
12.8 (55.0) |
13.8 (56.8) |
15.7 (60.3) |
18.2 (64.8) |
20.5 (68.9) |
22.7 (72.9) |
18.7 (65.7) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 12.6 (54.7) |
12.5 (54.5) |
10.3 (50.5) |
7.5 (45.5) |
5.0 (41.0) |
2.9 (37.2) |
2.5 (36.5) |
3.5 (38.3) |
5.2 (41.4) |
7.0 (44.6) |
9.1 (48.4) |
10.9 (51.6) |
7.4 (45.3) |
Record low °C (°F) | 2.5 (36.5) |
3.4 (38.1) |
0.5 (32.9) |
−1.5 (29.3) |
−3 (27) |
−4.9 (23.2) |
−5.2 (22.6) |
−3.6 (25.5) |
−3.4 (25.9) |
−1.4 (29.5) |
−2.0 (28.4) |
2.0 (35.6) |
−5.2 (22.6) |
Average rainfall mm (inches) | 51.5 (2.03) |
35.2 (1.39) |
38.8 (1.53) |
51.0 (2.01) |
63.1 (2.48) |
66.9 (2.63) |
78.3 (3.08) |
83.8 (3.30) |
65.5 (2.58) |
48.0 (1.89) |
52.9 (2.08) |
45.8 (1.80) |
680.8 (26.80) |
Average rainy days (≥ 1 mm) | 4.8 | 4.6 | 4.4 | 6.5 | 7.6 | 8.3 | 9.7 | 10.9 | 10.0 | 7.5 | 7.0 | 5.8 | 87.1 |
Average afternoon relative humidity (%) | 48 | 49 | 48 | 56 | 63 | 69 | 69 | 63 | 59 | 54 | 52 | 49 | 57 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 285.2 | 256.9 | 241.8 | 198.0 | 155.0 | 135.0 | 142.6 | 170.5 | 201.0 | 254.2 | 267.0 | 282.1 | 2,589.3 |
Source 1: Bureau of Meteorology (1991–2020 averages;[103] extremes 1980–present)[104] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: Bureau of Meteorology, Launceston Airport (1981–2004 sunshine hours)[105] |
Geographicall