Tasmania


I INTRODUCTION

Tasmania, state in south-eastern Australia, consisting of the island of Tasmania some 240 km (150 mi) south of the mainland of continental Australia, many nearby small islands, and the uninhabited, subarctic volcanic island of Macquarie. Tasmania is bounded on the south and west by the southern Indian Ocean, on the east by the Tasman Sea, and on the north by the Bass Strait separating it from the mainland. It was the second British colony established in Australia and is the only island state. Tasmania has a total area, including the smaller islands incorporated within its official boundaries, of 68,331 sq km (26,383 sq mi), equivalent to just under 1 per cent of the total area of Australia. The capital of Tasmania is Hobart. The emblem of Tasmania is the Tasmanian blue gum.


II LAND AND RESOURCES

Tasmania was part of the mainland of continental Australia until only about 13,500 to 8,000 years ago, when rising sea levels created the shallow Bass Strait. Its topography, the most mountainous of all the states, reflects the fact that it is geologically part of the Great Dividing Range. Eight mountains exceed 1,500 m (4,920 ft), 28 are higher than 1,220 m (4,000 ft), and the central plateau is mostly above 900 m (2,952 ft). Mount Ossa (1,617 m/5,305 ft), Tasmania's highest peak, rises from the central plateau. A network of lakes and rivers laces the surface of the mountainous terrain. Tasmania's coastline is generally ragged and (excluding the islands) is some 3,225 km (2,000 miles) long. Substantial coastal plains are found only in the north-west and north-east. The longest river in the state is the South Esk, which runs for 214 km (133 mi).
This island's fast-flowing rivers and heavy rainfall (2,500 mm/98 in a year in the west) provide ideal conditions for hydroelectric power plants, and many have been built, though not without conservationist controversy. Timber and zinc, especially the former, are other important resources, as is tourism. The island contains many species of plants unique to Australia; national parks cover more than one-fifth of the land area. The largest, Southwest National Park, is a World Heritage site, covering 618,000 hectares (1.5 million acres). The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, which covers 1.3 million hectares (3.2 million acres), was originally inscribed in 1982 and extended in 1989.
Tasmania has two species of mammals listed in the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995. They are the Tasmanian wolf or thylacine, which is probably extinct, and the New Holland mouse, which is listed as rare. Twenty-five species of birds are noted as threatened, including the orange-bellied parrot and the wandering albatross. The King Island emu is extinct, along with three subspecies—the Tasmanian emu, the Macquarie Island buff-banded rail, and the Macquarie Island parakeet. Tasmania is also the home of Australia's most endangered fish, the threatened Pedder galaxias, along with six other fish species.
Tasmania lies at the edge of the “Roaring Forties” wind belt, and the nearest land mass to the west is South America. As a result, strong winds and heavy rain occur in the south and west of the island. In general, however, the island's climate is equable, mild, and moist.


III POPULATION

Tasmania's population, estimated at 471,900 in 1998, is the smallest of the Australian states. Over 48 per cent of Tasmanians live in the Greater Hobart-Southern region. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population comprise 3.2 per cent of the Tasmanian population. The original population of Aborigines in Tasmania, estimated as having been about 5,000 before the incursion of the whites, was virtually wiped out by the effects of European settlement, including violent conflict and the transmission of disease. In the 1820s, the few remaining indigenous inhabitants were removed to Flinders Island, where they all perished. The census of 1847 showed that just over 50 per cent of the total Tasmanian population of 70,000 were or had been convicts.


IV MAJOR CITIES

Hobart (population, 1998, 195,000) is Tasmania's main port as well as its capital city. It is an attractive city spread out over the lower slopes of Mount Wellington, and overlooking the broad Derwent estuary. Founded in 1804, Hobart is Australia's second oldest city and is distinguished by fine colonial architecture and picturesque wharves and warehouses. Launceston (95,400), the key city of northern Tasmania, is located on the 65 km tidal estuary of the river Tamar and is the state's major freight centre. Devonport (24,667); Burnie (19,665); and Ulverstone are other important towns.


V ECONOMY

Wool, apples, vegetables, beef, fat lambs, and dairy products are all traditionally important components of the Tasmanian economy. Over half the gross value of Tasmania's agricultural production comes from livestock and livestock products, such as dairying (20 per cent), wool (17 per cent), and beef cattle (17 per cent). Apples represent 90 per cent of the total value of all fruit grown in Tasmania. Grape production has more than quadrupled, from 629 tonnes in 1991 to 3,136 tonnes in 1997. A silver and copper-mining boom in western Tasmania mitigated slightly the effects of the 1890s depression, but federation resulted in damaging competition from the mainland. After 1945, industrialization was boosted by the construction of large hydroelectric projects, notably on the Derwent, Forth, and Mersey rivers, providing cheap power. Other mining (iron, lead, tungsten, and zinc ores) developed, but in the late 1990s its value fell slightly. Timber-based industries have expanded in the past 20 years. Both the hydroelectric schemes and the timber industry have been at the centre of fierce conservation conflicts. Tourism is also an important source of income; the many national parks and the former penal settlement of Port Arthur on the Tasman Peninsula are popular attractions.
Notwithstanding the economic diversification and industrialization of the past 50 years, Tasmania generally has lagged significantly behind the mainland states. Net losses to interstate migration has meant that, in the 20 years to 1998, Tasmania's resident population growth was the lowest of all states. In 1996 the state had a negative growth rate—for the first time since 1940—of 0.2 per cent; the trend continued the following year. Lack of jobs is the most likely cause of migration, with unemployment equalling or exceeding 10 per cent for long periods throughout the 1990s.


VI GOVERNMENT

Tasmania has a bicameral legislature with a 15-member upper house, or Legislative Council, and a 25-member lower house, the House of Assembly, following a reduction of overall numbers in parliament by 26 per cent in 1998. The Tasmanian electoral system, known as the Hare-Clark system, is unique in Australia where all other states use proportional representation. For local government purposes Tasmania is divided into 29 municipal councils. The only two inhabited of the small islands, King and Flinders islands are organized as municipalities.


VII HISTORY

Aboriginal people crossed the land bridge into Tasmania more than 35,000 years ago. They were subsequently isolated from Aborigines on the mainland by the inundation of the Bass Plain that formed the shallow Bass Strait. Various European sightings and landings occurred from about 1600 onwards. The official British landing at Risdon Cove (Hobart) by Lieutenant John Bowen with 29 convicts, 8 soldiers, and 10 free settlers occurred in 1803. Tasmania became a dedicated convict settlement for the next 50 years, with 5,329 convicts arriving in the peak year, 1842. The end of transportation in 1853 paved the way for self-government in 1856, but Tasmania had already been deeply scarred by the convict system.
Tasmania was always vulnerable to economic recession and to population depletion by periodic emigrations to the mainland. This has largely remained true this century, with bursts of growth being counteracted by stagnation and exodus. Tasmania has been dependent on financial grants from the Commonwealth since federation. Successive Tasmanian governments have emphasised development, especially hydroelectricity. Since the 1970s, however, intense conservationist opposition to damming and logging has profoundly altered the course of political debate. Green candidates in 1989 won the balance of power in the House of Assembly and have continued to maintain a parliamentary presence.
In 1995 the Tasmanian parliament passed the Aboriginal Land Act, which saw significant cultural sites returned to Tasmanian Aborigines. On April 28, 1996 a gunman killed 35 people and wounded 21 in the historic tourist resort of Port Arthur. In 1997 Tasmania became the first state to formally apologize to the nation's Aboriginal people for past events, especially those relating to the "Stolen Generation". The Parliamentary Reform Act was passed in 1998, reducing the number of state parliamentarians. Traditionally, Tasmania had by far the greatest ratio of politicians to population compared to all other states and the commonwealth. The elections for the House of Assembly in August 1998 resulted in the Labor Party winning 14 seats and the Liberals 10. The reform saw the decline of the Tasmanian Greens parliamentary presence to a single seat, as a result of the higher quota needed for election.

Contributed By:
Brian Matthews
Microsoft ® Encarta ® Encyclopedia 2005. © 1993-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Great info.!
Thanks!