Tasmania

Tasmania

Tasmania (abbreviated as Tas and known colloquially as "Tassie") is an island state, part of the Commonwealth of Australia, located 240 kilometres to the south of the Australian continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania, the 26th largest island in the world, and the surrounding 334 islands.The state has a population of 507,626 as of June 2010, of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart precinct. Tasmania's area is 68,401 square kilometres of which the main island covers 62,409 square kilometres

Etymology

The state is named after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, who made the first reported European sighting of the island on 24 November 1642. Tasman named the island "Anthony van Diemen's Land" after his sponsor Anthony van Diemen, the Governor of the Dutch East Indies. The name was later shortened to Van Diemen's Land by the British. It was officially renamed Tasmania in honour of its first European discoverer on 1 January 1856.

Tasmania was sometimes referred to as "Dervon", as mentioned in The Jerilderie Letter written by the notorious Australian bushranger Ned Kelly in 1879. The colloquial expression for the state is "Tassie". This name is often used in advertising campaigns, for example by the Bass Strait ferry, Spirit of Tasmania. Tasmania is also colloquially shortened to "Tas"especially when used in business names and website addresses. TAS is also the Australia Post abbreviation for the state.

The name for Tasmania in Palawa kani is "Lutriwita".

History

The island is believed to have been joined to the mainland of Australia until the end of the last glacial period approximately 10,000 years ago. Much of the island is composed of Jurassic dolerite intrusions through other rock types, sometimes forming large columnar joints. Tasmania has the world's largest areas of dolerite, with many distinctive mountains and cliffs formed from this rock type.

The central plateau and the southeast portions of the island are mostly dolerite. Mount Wellington above Hobart is a good example, showing distinct columns known as the Organ Pipes. In the southern midlands as far south as Hobart, the dolerite is underlaid by sandstone and similar sedimentary stones. In the southwest, Precambrian quartzites was formed from very ancient sea sediments and form strikingly sharp ridges

Government

The form of the government of Tasmania is prescribed in its constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then. Since 1901, Tasmania has been a state of the Commonwealth of Australia, and the Australian Constitution regulates its relationship with the Commonwealth and prescribes which powers each level of government enjoys.

Politics

Tasmania is a State in the Australian federation. Its relationship with the Federal Government and Parliament are regulated by the Australian Constitution. Tasmania is represented in the Senate by 12 senators, on an equal basis with all other states. In the House of Representatives, Tasmania is entitled to five seats, which is the minimum allocation for a state guaranteed by the Constitution the number of House of Representatives seats for each state is otherwise decided on the basis of their relative populations, and Tasmania has never qualified for five seats on that basis alone. Tasmania's House of Assembly use a system of multi-seat proportional representation known as Hare-Clark.

At the 2002 state election, the Labor Party won 14 of the 25 House seats. The Liberal Party saw their percentage of the vote decrease dramatically, and their representation in the Parliament fell to seven seats. The Greens won four seats, with over 18% of the popular vote, the highest proportion of any Green party in any parliament in the world at that time.

Economy

Tasmania's erratic economy was first experienced by colonists in the early 19th century.The reasons have been many and varied over the years. Lack of a federal infrastructure highway, lack of a gold rush, lack of open immigration initiatives, lack of population, decline in the wool and mineral economies, lack of early colonial initiatives, or lack of foreign investment have all been attributed as reasons for the erraticism of the economy. For the length of colonial history of Tasmania, a continuing exodus of youth to mainland Australia to seek employment opportunities has occurred.

Transport

Air Tasmania's main air carriers are Jetstar

Airways and Virgin Australia

Port Arthur, Tasmania

Port Arthur is a small town and former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula, in Tasmania, Australia. Port Arthur is one of Australia's most significant heritage areas and an open air museum.

The site forms part of the Australian Convict Sites, a World Heritage property consisting of eleven remnant penal sites originally built within the British Empire during the 18th and 19th centuries on fertile Australian coastal strips. Collectively, these sites, including Port Arthur, now represent, "...the best surviving examples of large-scale convict transportation and the colonial expansion of European powers through the presence and labour of convicts.

Port Arthur is officially Tasmania's top tourist attraction. It is located approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) south east of the state capital, Hobart. In 1996 it was the scene of the worst mass murder event in post-colonial Australian history.

Port Arthur, Tasmania

Mr.Chanon Chantarach No.2 Ms.Jantappha Jaroenjiengchai

No.20 Ms.Jittra Tannarat No.23 Ms.Pantida Duangpearach No.36 Ms.Wichaya Utamamoon No.42