Van Diemens Land Van Diemens Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the island ofTasmania, now part of Australia. The Dutchexplorer Abel Tasman was the first European to land on the shores of Tasmania. Landing at Blackmans Bay and later having the Dutch flag flown at North Bay, Tasman named the island in honour of Anthony van Diemen, the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies who had sent Tasman on his voyage of discovery in 1642. Between 1772 and 1798 only the southeastern portion of the island was visited. Tasmania was not known to be an island until Matthew Flinders and George Bass circumnavigated it in the Norfolk in 1798-99. In 1803, the island was colonised by theBritish as a penal colony with the name Van Diemens Land, and became part of the British colony of New South Wales. Major-General Ralph Darling was appointed Governor of New South Wales In 1825, and in the same year he visited Hobart Town, and on December 3 proclaimed the establishment of the independent colony, of which he actually became Governor for three days.[1] The demonym for Van Diemens Land was Van Diemonian, though contemporaries used the spelling , perhaps in reference to the Tasmanian Devil, or possibly as a play on words relating to the colonys penal origins.[2] In 1856 the colony was granted responsible self-government with its own representative parliament, and the name of the island and colony was officially changed to Tasmania on 1 January 1856.[3][4] In 1856 Van Diemens Land was renamed. This removed the unsavoury criminal connotations with the name Van Diemens Land, (and the demon connotation) while honouring Abel Tasman, the first European to find the island. The last penal settlement in Tasmania at Port Arthurfinally closed in 1877.[7] The term is not used much, but in a review of a new book of the era the Australiannewspaper chose the title of the review asVandemonian vanity.[8]
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 10:08:17 +0000