Discovery and Settlement

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22519, 29 September 1938, Page 5 (Supplement)

Discovery and Settlement

Tasmania was discovered by-the Dutch explorer Tasman, who was sent on a voyage of discovery in 1642. with two ships, the Zeehan and the Heemskirk. ~He first saw land on the west coast. He .then sailed down to the south of the island, which he called Van . Diemen’s Land after the Governor of Batavia, who helped to finance his expedition. He first landed on the Tasman peninsula' in the extreme south. An amusing story is told of this first- landing. Sailors sent ashore to get water reported that the island was inhabited by . a race of giant savages, with the result that no one else? would land. The reason for this belief is probably that the men saw their first kangaroo, bounding away in T sft leaps. Also the aborigine method of treeclimbing was by cutting notches between alternate branches, with the result that the notches were often 10ft apart, although of course the branches were used in the climbing. Eventually the ship’s carpenter plucked up enough courage, to swim ashore with a board, which he nailed to a tree, stating the name of the'expedition and the date of the visit. Tasman then sailed up the east coast, and later crossedthe Tasman to New Zealand. Tasmania was then visited about 1800 by the French explorer D’Entrecasteaux. This French activity was noticed by the Sydney authorities, and Lieutenant Bowen was sent down in 1803 to annex the island formally. Bowen sailed up the Derwent estuary, and landed at Risdon on the eastern side of the river. I myself have, seen the steps, which mark his place of landing. He soon saw that the ideal site for a township was on the western side, on Sullivan’s Cove, at the foot of Mount Wellington. Here Hobart Town was founded. For a long time Hobart was regarded as a penal settlement to harbour the worst types of convict. However, the penal settlement was finally shifted to Port Arthur, where the ruins of the prison are . still standing—a source of interest to thousands of tourists.

of Tasmania

(By J. Gi Malthus)

Port Arthur is at the southenunoi extremity - of Tasman peninsuli which is joined to the mainland by Eagle-Hawk neck, a narrow spit a land about 100 yards wide. Acrpi this . neck were kennelled hUR savage, half-starved dogs, while.it; the sea on either side huge main eating : shark* were imprisoned Naturally the chances of escape :f«Bi the prison were very slim. Pod Arthur plays'a large part in tb well-known book. “’For the Tea of his Natural Life." “The colonists were often troubled by the aborigines of the intend*; who raided outposts, killing the to habitants. A suggestion was mad that all these natives should b transported ■ to. islands in Bai strait, which divides Tasmania fros the mainland. Accordingly Cover nor Robinson, then in command gathered together all the availaW red-coats, and began a drive, com mencing from the north and moting, towards the south. The wft aborigines found the soldiers ess) to outwit, and when the drive ito ished- it was found that the o« natives caught" were an extreme® aged woman and a small bojH Naturally this did not improve JM| tempers of the colonists. Ttt® numbers of aborigines decreta® very quickly as the white popuj™ Uon poured in, and in the end vetM few-remained to be transported the Bass Strait islands. 'H The north of the island settled very soon after the south, a road; was built connecting Mining’ began, chiefly for go» t ; silver, copper, and tin, and, as Jp; Australia, trouble was had wit* > bushrangers. One Hobart prinwn i school, which I myself attendeig boasted a huge oak-tree from ' | bough of which Brady, a notonOO I bushranger, was hung. This ntofS or may not be true, but b®“| masters and pupils believed it „T*> school grounds were mainly fonn*.| from the old colonial cemeten i which supports the belief to a cff >, tain extent. “Rocky” Whelan i another notorious bushranger. ‘ J have visited his cave on MoU>t Wellington, which he used as a ba*., for his raids.