Tasmania

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For other uses, see Tasmania (disambiguation).
"Tasmanian people" redirects here. For "first nation" Tasmanians, see Aboriginal Tasmanians.

Tasmania

State

Flag

Coat of arms

Nickname(s): 

 The Apple Isle;

 Holiday Isle
Motto(s): 

Ubertas et Fidelitas
(Fertility and Faithfulness)
 Location of Tasmania in Australia

Coordinates:  42°S 147°ECoordinates:  42°S 147°E

Country  Australia

Crown colony 1825

as Van Diemen's Land

Responsible government 1856

as Colony of Tasmania

Federation 1 January 1901

Australia Act 3 March 1986

Capital Hobart

Largest city Hobart

Government

 • Type Constitutional monarchy

 • Body Tasmanian Government

 • Governor Kate Warner

 • Premier Peter Gutwein (Liberal)

Legislature Parliament of Tasmania

 Legislative Council (15 seats)
 Upper
house House of Assembly (25 seats)
 Lower
house
Judiciary  Supreme Court of TAS
 Magistrates Court of
TAS
Federal representation Parliament of Australia

 House seats 5/151
 Senate seats 12/76

Area
 • Total 68,401 km2 (26,410 sq mi)

 • Land 67,031 km2 (25,881 sq mi)

 • Water 1,370.42 km2 (529.12 sq mi)

Area rank 7th

Highest elevation 1,617 m (5,305 ft)

 (Mount Ossa)

Population

 (June 2020)[1]

 • Total 540,569

 • Rank 6th

 • Density 7.9/km2 (20/sq mi)

 • Density rank 4th

Demonym(s)  Tasmanian

Time zone UTC+10:00 (AEST)

 • Summer (DST) UTC+11:00 (AEDT)

Postal code TAS

ISO 3166 code AU-TAS

 GSP year 2019–20

GSP ($A million) $32,102[2] (8th)

GSP per capita $59,779 (7th)

Website www.tas.gov.au

Symbols

Mammal Tasmanian devil

(Sarcophilus harrisii)[3]

Bird Yellow wattlebird (unofficial)

(Anthochaera paradoxa)[4]

Flower Tasmanian blue gum

(Eucalyptus globulus)[5]

Mineral Crocoite[6]
(PbCrO4)[7]

Colour Dark green, red & gold

Tasmania from space

Tasmania (/tæzˈmeɪniə/;[8] abbreviated as TAS, nicknamed Tassie, Bruny Island

Tasmanian: Lutruwita; Palawa kani: Lutruwita) is an island state of Australia. It is
located 240 km (150 mi) to the south of the Australian mainland, separated by Bass
Strait. The state encompasses the main island of Tasmania, the 26th-largest island in
the world, and the surrounding 334 islands.[9] The state has a population of about
540,600 people as of June 2020.[1] The state capital and largest city is Hobart, with
around 40 percent of the population living in the Greater Hobart area. [10]
Tasmania's area is 68,401 km2 (26,410 sq mi), of which the main island covers
64,519 km2 (24,911 sq mi).[11] It is promoted as a natural state, and protected areas of
Tasmania cover about 42% of its land area, which includes national parks and World
Heritage Sites.[12] Tasmania was the founding place of the first environmental political
party in the world.[13]
The island is believed to have been occupied by Aboriginal peoples for 30,000 years
before British colonisation.[14] It is thought that Aboriginal Tasmanians were separated
from the mainland Aboriginal groups about 11,700 years ago after the sea rose to
form Bass Strait.[15] The Aboriginal population is estimated to have been between 3,000
and 7,000 at the time of colonisation, but was almost wiped out within 30 years by a
combination of violent guerrilla conflict with settlers known as the "Black War", intertribal
conflict, and from the late 1820s, the spread of infectious diseases to which they had no
immunity. 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.
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. The island was initially part of the Colony of New South Wales but
became a separate, self-governing colony under the name Van Diemen's Land (named
after Anthony van Diemen) in 1825.[16] Approximately 75,000 convicts were sent to Van
Diemen's Land before transportation ceased in 1853. [17] In 1854 the present Constitution
of Tasmania was passed, and the following year the colony received permission to
change its name to Tasmania. In 1901 it became a state through the process of
the Federation of Australia.