Tasmania

The island state of the Commonwealth of Australia owes its name to the Dutch navigator-explorer Abel Tasman, the first European to discover the island in 1642. Until 1856 it was known as Van Diemen's Land, after the governor of the East Indies who had sent Tasman on his voyage of exploration.

Land

A mountainous island where in the west the highest peak on the island is Mount Ossa which reaches a height of 5,305 feet. Extensive plains are confined to the far northwest, the lower South Esk River valley, and the northeast. In the southeast, postglacial submergence has produced one of the finest drowned coastlines in the world.

Flora and Fauna

In certain areas, particularly in the forest of the south and southwest, an almost impenetrable thicket known as horizontal scrub develops. On the mountain plateaus are found many plants having sub Antarctic affinities, including Tasmania's only deciduous tree or shrub, the myrtle beech and certain cushion plants.

Animal life is virtually absent from the true rain forest but abounds in the extensive eucalypt forest. The Tasmanian tiger became extinct in the 1930's. In the sedge land and moorland is the wombat and the coastal heath for the green Rosella, the platypus, and the short-nosed echidna.

Cultural

Home of Australia's oldest theater (1834). Its residents achieved distinction in the late 20 ^th century in such diverse areas as the writing of poetry and research into astronomical physics.

New South Wales

Northern Territory

Queensland

South Australia

Tasmania

Victoria

Australian Capital Territory

Western Australia