History of Tasmania: timeline
Tasmania began at the end of the last ice age. About 10,000 years ago.
-BC: Hobart land managed by band of aboriginals called Mouheneeer. They have been here for at least 35,000 years.
1642: Abel Tasman of Dutch East India Company was the first European to see Tasmania. Named it Anthoonij van Diemenslandt after another member of the Dutch East India Company.
1642-1803: Many French, Dutch and British explorers sight and name various parts of Tasmania. The French were interested in observing and cataloging natural flora and fauna.
1798: Bass and Flinders circumnavigate the Island. Bass Straight.
1803: Population of aboriginals was 3,000 to 10,000.
1803: British settle at Risdon Cove. Leader Lieutenant John Bowen. 49 members. They were convicts and military.
1804: Captain David Collins moves the settlement to Sullivan's Cove near Hobart Rivulet.
The name Hobart comes from the British Colonial Secretary. He never visited Hobart.
1804: Rev Knopwood conducts a religious service.
1805: Whaling begins at Ralph’s Bay.
1807: Norfolk Island settlers arrive. They settle at New Norfolk.
1810: David Collins dies.
1810: First St David's Church is built
1811: Governor Macquarie arrives from Sydney. Draws up plans for main Hobart streets and important buildings.
1813: First Post Office opens in postmaster's house on corner of Argyle St and Macquarie St.
1815: Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Davey declares martial law against bushrangers (escaped convicts and military deserters.)
1815: Captain James Kelly circumnavigates the island in whaleboat.
1816: First free settlers arrive from England.
1819: First proper hospital opens
1824: The beginning of Cascade Brewery. Still operating.
1824: Alexander Pearce hung. He escaped from Macquarie Harbour and survived by eating his fellow escapees.
1825: Van Diemen's Land becomes a separate colony. No longer a part of the colony of New South Wales.
1826: Street lighting begins.
1826: The Legislative Council meets for the first time.
1828: Aborigines excluded from settled areas.
1830: The Government launches a military campaign to round up all aborigines. It is unsuccessful.
1830: George Augustus Robinson begins visiting Tasmania’s Aborigines. He aims to resettle aborigines by talking.
1833: Population of aborigines is 300. Relocated to Flinder's Island by George Robinson. Population decrease due to Black War and infectious diseases.
1835: Nearly all remaining Tasmanian Aborigines surrender to George Augustus Robinson and are moved to Flinder's Island.
1835: Batman and Fawkner leave Launceston to start Melbourne.
1836: Charles Darwin visits Hobart and climbs Mt Wellington.
1837: Theater Royal opens
1838: Hobart Regatta begins.
1840: Captain James Ross arrives on his way to Antarctic.
1840: Transportation from Britain to NSW ends. More convicts to Van Diemen's Land.
1842: Colony's first official census: Population 57,471
1842: Hobart proclaimed a city.
1842: Peak year for convict arrivals: 5329.
1845: Hobart Synagogue consecrated.
1848: Hobart peak year as a whaling port. 1046 men. 37 ships.
1848: Colony only place in British Empire accepting transportation.
1849: Tasmanian apple growers export to the United States of America and New Zealand
1850: First secular high school built at Domain
1850: Constitution Dock officially opened
1851: First election for 16 non-appointed members of Legislative Council
1853: Festival in Hobart celebrates end of convict transportation after arrival of last ship, the St Vincent
1856: Self-government begins. Politicians change name to Tasmania. There was a convict stain with the name Van Diemen's land.
1857: Coal gas used to light the streets.
1859: Government House begins on the Domain.
1863: Tasmanian Museum opens on present site.
1866: Hobart Town Hall opens.
1868: First Royal visit. Prince Alfred lays foundation stone for St David’s Cathedral.
1868: Tasmania introduces compulsory state education.
1875: Hobart Hospital begins professional training of nurses
1880: Start of Derwent Sailing Boat Club. To become Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.
1881: Apples shipped from Hobart to Britain.
1895: All of Tasmania moves to standard time.
1898: Electric street lighting begins in Hobart.
1898: Norwegian expedition to Antarctica stops in Hobart. Bernacchi joins the expedition.
1900: End of whaling operations from Hobart.
1901: Royal visit. The future King George V and Queen Mary.
1901: First elections for Federal Parliament.
1904: Native Flora and fauna reserve at Schouten island and Freycinet Peninsular.
1911: Douglas Mawson stops on way to Antarctica.
1912: Roald Amundsen stops in Hobart. He was the first man to reach the South Pole.
1913: End of use of the term “free by servitude.”
1914: The town Bismarck is renamed Collinsvale.
1916: First National Parks. Mt Field and Freycinet.
1919: Spanish flu arrives. One third of population infected. 171 die.
1920: Royal visit. Prince of Wales. The future King Edward VIII.
1923: Lyons becomes State Premier.
1928: Cadbury’s begin.
1932: Lyons becomes Prime Minister of Australia.
1936: Last captive thylacine dies.
1937: Road to Mt Wellington summit opened. A depression relief work project.
1939: Lyons dies in office.
1940: German mines are laid off Hobart. Shipping ceases.
1943: Floating pontoon bridge across Derwent begins.
1954: Queen Elizabeth II is first reigning monarch to visit Tasmania.
1955: Hobart is first Australian city to get parking meters.
1959: Princess of Tasmania begins. Transporting people and their cars across Bass St.
1964: Tasman Bridge constructed.
1967: Bad bushfires.
1968: State abolishes death penalty.
1972: Despite protest Lake Pedder is dammed and flooded.
1973: Blythe Star sinks. Seven survivors spend eight days floating in a lifeboat up and down the coast. They come ashore at a wild inhospitable area.
1973: Wrest Point Casino opens. Australia first legal casino.
1974: Hobart suburban rail services ceases.
1975: Lake Illawarra crashes into Tasman Bridge. Bridge destroyed. 12 dead.
1977: Repaired Tasman Bridge reopens.
1983: Federal politicians and federal laws stop Gordon below Franklin scheme.
1984: Atlantic salmon eggs come to Tasmania.
1996: Lone crazed gunman shoots and kills 35 people at Port Arthur.
1997: State parliament repeals laws making male homosexual behaviour illegal.
1998: Very stormy Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Six dead.
2006: Beaconsfield mine collapse.
-BC: Hobart land managed by band of aboriginals called Mouheneeer. They have been here for at least 35,000 years.
1642: Abel Tasman of Dutch East India Company was the first European to see Tasmania. Named it Anthoonij van Diemenslandt after another member of the Dutch East India Company.
1642-1803: Many French, Dutch and British explorers sight and name various parts of Tasmania. The French were interested in observing and cataloging natural flora and fauna.
1798: Bass and Flinders circumnavigate the Island. Bass Straight.
1803: Population of aboriginals was 3,000 to 10,000.
1803: British settle at Risdon Cove. Leader Lieutenant John Bowen. 49 members. They were convicts and military.
1804: Captain David Collins moves the settlement to Sullivan's Cove near Hobart Rivulet.
The name Hobart comes from the British Colonial Secretary. He never visited Hobart.
1804: Rev Knopwood conducts a religious service.
1805: Whaling begins at Ralph’s Bay.
1807: Norfolk Island settlers arrive. They settle at New Norfolk.
1810: David Collins dies.
1810: First St David's Church is built
1811: Governor Macquarie arrives from Sydney. Draws up plans for main Hobart streets and important buildings.
1813: First Post Office opens in postmaster's house on corner of Argyle St and Macquarie St.
1815: Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Davey declares martial law against bushrangers (escaped convicts and military deserters.)
1815: Captain James Kelly circumnavigates the island in whaleboat.
1816: First free settlers arrive from England.
1819: First proper hospital opens
1824: The beginning of Cascade Brewery. Still operating.
1824: Alexander Pearce hung. He escaped from Macquarie Harbour and survived by eating his fellow escapees.
1825: Van Diemen's Land becomes a separate colony. No longer a part of the colony of New South Wales.
1826: Street lighting begins.
1826: The Legislative Council meets for the first time.
1828: Aborigines excluded from settled areas.
1830: The Government launches a military campaign to round up all aborigines. It is unsuccessful.
1830: George Augustus Robinson begins visiting Tasmania’s Aborigines. He aims to resettle aborigines by talking.
1833: Population of aborigines is 300. Relocated to Flinder's Island by George Robinson. Population decrease due to Black War and infectious diseases.
1835: Nearly all remaining Tasmanian Aborigines surrender to George Augustus Robinson and are moved to Flinder's Island.
1835: Batman and Fawkner leave Launceston to start Melbourne.
1836: Charles Darwin visits Hobart and climbs Mt Wellington.
1837: Theater Royal opens
1838: Hobart Regatta begins.
1840: Captain James Ross arrives on his way to Antarctic.
1840: Transportation from Britain to NSW ends. More convicts to Van Diemen's Land.
1842: Colony's first official census: Population 57,471
1842: Hobart proclaimed a city.
1842: Peak year for convict arrivals: 5329.
1845: Hobart Synagogue consecrated.
1848: Hobart peak year as a whaling port. 1046 men. 37 ships.
1848: Colony only place in British Empire accepting transportation.
1849: Tasmanian apple growers export to the United States of America and New Zealand
1850: First secular high school built at Domain
1850: Constitution Dock officially opened
1851: First election for 16 non-appointed members of Legislative Council
1853: Festival in Hobart celebrates end of convict transportation after arrival of last ship, the St Vincent
1856: Self-government begins. Politicians change name to Tasmania. There was a convict stain with the name Van Diemen's land.
1857: Coal gas used to light the streets.
1859: Government House begins on the Domain.
1863: Tasmanian Museum opens on present site.
1866: Hobart Town Hall opens.
1868: First Royal visit. Prince Alfred lays foundation stone for St David’s Cathedral.
1868: Tasmania introduces compulsory state education.
1875: Hobart Hospital begins professional training of nurses
1880: Start of Derwent Sailing Boat Club. To become Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.
1881: Apples shipped from Hobart to Britain.
1895: All of Tasmania moves to standard time.
1898: Electric street lighting begins in Hobart.
1898: Norwegian expedition to Antarctica stops in Hobart. Bernacchi joins the expedition.
1900: End of whaling operations from Hobart.
1901: Royal visit. The future King George V and Queen Mary.
1901: First elections for Federal Parliament.
1904: Native Flora and fauna reserve at Schouten island and Freycinet Peninsular.
1911: Douglas Mawson stops on way to Antarctica.
1912: Roald Amundsen stops in Hobart. He was the first man to reach the South Pole.
1913: End of use of the term “free by servitude.”
1914: The town Bismarck is renamed Collinsvale.
1916: First National Parks. Mt Field and Freycinet.
1919: Spanish flu arrives. One third of population infected. 171 die.
1920: Royal visit. Prince of Wales. The future King Edward VIII.
1923: Lyons becomes State Premier.
1928: Cadbury’s begin.
1932: Lyons becomes Prime Minister of Australia.
1936: Last captive thylacine dies.
1937: Road to Mt Wellington summit opened. A depression relief work project.
1939: Lyons dies in office.
1940: German mines are laid off Hobart. Shipping ceases.
1943: Floating pontoon bridge across Derwent begins.
1954: Queen Elizabeth II is first reigning monarch to visit Tasmania.
1955: Hobart is first Australian city to get parking meters.
1959: Princess of Tasmania begins. Transporting people and their cars across Bass St.
1964: Tasman Bridge constructed.
1967: Bad bushfires.
1968: State abolishes death penalty.
1972: Despite protest Lake Pedder is dammed and flooded.
1973: Blythe Star sinks. Seven survivors spend eight days floating in a lifeboat up and down the coast. They come ashore at a wild inhospitable area.
1973: Wrest Point Casino opens. Australia first legal casino.
1974: Hobart suburban rail services ceases.
1975: Lake Illawarra crashes into Tasman Bridge. Bridge destroyed. 12 dead.
1977: Repaired Tasman Bridge reopens.
1983: Federal politicians and federal laws stop Gordon below Franklin scheme.
1984: Atlantic salmon eggs come to Tasmania.
1996: Lone crazed gunman shoots and kills 35 people at Port Arthur.
1997: State parliament repeals laws making male homosexual behaviour illegal.
1998: Very stormy Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Six dead.
2006: Beaconsfield mine collapse.