10,000 BC 

Sea levels rose and the land mass of Tasmania became separated from the Australian continent. This allowed its indigenous Aboriginal population to develop a distinct culture. Many species of wildlife and vegetation that later became extinct on the mainland also survived in Tasmania.​

1642

Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to sight Tasmania, naming it Van Diemen’s Land.​

1772

French explorer Marion du Fresne led the first European expedition to step ashore the island. In the following decades, several French expeditions charted Tasmania and many Tasmanian landmarks still bear French names.​

1788​

Amidst competition with other European powers to establish strategic colonies in Australia, the First Fleet arrived from England. The ships carried convicted criminals with the intention of establishing a penal colony, which eventually became the city of Sydney in the state of New South Wales.​

​1798

British explorers, George Bass and Matthew Flinders became the first European sailors to circumnavigate Tasmania. They charted the stretch of water separating the island from the mainland and named it Bass Strait.​

​1803

The British Royal Navy founded the first European settlement in Tasmania and named it Hobart.​

​1806

What became the city of Launceston was founded on the Tamar River in Tasmania’s north.​

​1825

With the growing development of the island’s economy and infrastructure, Van Diemen’s Land was granted self government.​

​1828

The colonial government declared martial law in response to growing conflict with the indigenous population, during a period now known as the Black War.​

​1830

The Port Arthur penal colony was established, quickly becoming one of the most notorious prisons in the new colonies. ​

​1831

Henry Savery, a convict transported to Van Diemen’s Land for forgery, became Australia’s first novelist with the publication of Quintus Servinton, an autobiographical novel.​

​1836

Sir Charles Darwin visited Hobart during his voyages on the HMS Beagle, during which his theories of evolution and natural selection were being developed.​

​1856

Van Diemen’s Land officially changed its name to Tasmania.​

​1868

Tasmania became the first Australian colony to have a government education system that is compulsory for all children. That same year, convict transportation from England came to an end.​

​1877

The Port Arthur penal settlement was closed.​

​1890

The University of Tasmania opened its first campus.​

​1899

The Federation of Australia won overwhelming Tasmanian approval in a public referendum, part of the process which led to the unification of the British colonies into the modern Commonwealth of Australia.​

​1913

The first government high schools were opened in both Hobart and Launceston.​

​1922

The official preservation of the wilderness around Cradle Mountain secured one of Australia’s most famous tourism and natural icons.​

​1936

The last known thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, died in a Hobart zoo. ​

​1942

During World War 2, a Japanese submarine launched a spy plane over Tasmania and entered the Derwent River to survey Hobart.​

​1972

Following a bitter dispute with conservationists, the Tasmanian Government flooded Lake Pedder in the state’s central west, making Tasmania dependent on hydro electric power.​

​1975

The Tasman Bridge, the integral link between Hobart’s western and eastern shores, was demolished when a freighter ship collided with one of the bridge pylons. The devastating collision caused 12 deaths and closed the bridge for two years.​

​1982

Large areas of the Tasmanian wilderness are declared to be World Heritage areas by the United Nations, preserving them as part of the world’s natural and cultural.​

​1983

A Federal Government ruling stopped the Tasmanian Government from constructing a hydro-electric dam on the Franklin River. This ended a long dispute with conservationists and helped to start the modern Green movement in Australia.

​Today

​Tasmania is a modern, unique island of world class natural beauty, with a global outlook.