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Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. The island, inhabited by Aborigines, was first encountered by the Dutch ship captained by Abel Tasman in 1642, working under the sponsorship of Anthony van Diemen, the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.
Some maps show the administrative divisions which, by 1852, had covered the eastern part of the island, such as this 1831 map and 1852 map. These were the forerunners of Local Government Areas and in 1852 were Launceston , Norfolk Plains , Campbelltown , Clyde , Oatlands , Oyster Bay , New Norfolk , Richmond and Hobart Town .
Map of Hobart showing locations of Risdon and Sullivans Cove. In 1803 Lieutenant John Bowen was sent to establish a settlement in Van Diemen's Land. On the advice of the explorer George Bass he had chosen Risdon Cove. While the site was a good one from a defensive point of view, the soil was poor and water scarce.
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 ...
The first permanent British settlement in Van Diemen's Land had begun on 8 September 1803, at Risdon Cove on the Derwent River's eastern shore. However, the arrival of Lieutenant-Governor David Collins on 16 February 1804, saw him make the decision to relocate the settlement to Sullivans Cove on the western shore of the Derwent River.
Known as Van Diemen's Land, the name changed to Tasmania, when the British government granted self-governance in 1856. [1] It was a colony from 1856 until 1901, at which time it joined five other colonies to form the Commonwealth of Australia.
In 1824, Bent, as proprietor of the Hobart Town Gazette, established the first free press in Australia. The first Australian novel, Quintus Servinton, was written in 1831 by convict Henry Savery and published in Hobart. [114] Written during his imprisonment, it is a semi-autobiographical work about the life of a convict in Van Diemen's Land.
The etymology of the name of Hobart comes from the first Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land, David Collins, who named the new settlement in honour of the then Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire, the Lord Hobart. It was originally referred to as 'Hobart Town', which was often shortened ...