Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a separate colony in 1825. Its penal colonies became notorious destinations for the transportation of convicts due to the harsh environment, isolation and reputation for being inescapable. Macquarie Harbour and Port Arthur are among the most well-known penal settlements on the island.
Truganini, also known as Lallah Rookh was an Aboriginal Tasmanian woman. She was one of the last native speakers of the Tasmanian languages and one of the last individuals solely of Aboriginal Tasmanian descent.
The history of Tasmania begins at the end of the Last Glacial Period when it is believed that the island was joined to the Australian mainland. Little is known of the human history of the island until the British colonisation of Tasmania in the 19th century.
Bruny Island is a 362-square-kilometre (140 sq mi) island located off the southeastern coast of Tasmania, Australia. The island is separated from the Tasmanian mainland by the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, and its east coast lies within the Tasman Sea. Located to the island's northeast Storm Bay, is the river mouth to the Derwent River estuary, and serves as the main port of Hobart, Tasmania's capital city. Both the island and the channel are named after French explorer, Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux. Its traditional Aboriginal name is lunawanna-allonah, which survives as the name of two island settlements, Alonnah and Lunawanna.
Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni, chevalier d'Entrecasteaux was a French naval officer, explorer and colonial governor. He is perhaps best known for his exploration of the Australian coast in 1792, while searching for the La Pérouse expedition. Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux is commonly referred to simply as Bruni d'Entrecasteaux or Bruny d'Entrecasteaux, each of which is a compound surname.
Cataraqui was a British barque which sank off the south-west coast of King Island in Bass Strait on 4 August 1845. The sinking was Australia's worst ever maritime civil disaster incident, claiming the lives of 400 people.
Recherche Bay is an oceanic embayment, part of which is listed on the National Heritage Register, located on the extreme south-eastern corner of Tasmania, Australia. It was a landing place of the d’Entrecasteaux expedition to find missing explorer La Pérouse. It is named in honour of the Recherche, one of the expedition's ships. The Nuenonne name for the bay is Leillateah.
Neva was a three-masted barque launched in 1813. She made two voyages transporting convicts to Australia. On her second voyage carrying convicts she wrecked in Bass Strait on 13 May 1835. Her loss was one of the worst shipwrecks in Australian history; 224 people died.
SS Lake Illawarra was a handysize bulk carrier of 7,274 tons in the service of the Australian National Line. This ship is known for causing the Tasman Bridge disaster when she collided with pylon 19 of Hobart's giant high concrete arch style Tasman Bridge on the evening of 5 January 1975 at 9.27 pm, resulting in the deaths of 12 people.
Frederick Henry Bay is a body of water in the southeast of Tasmania, Australia. It is located to the east of the South Arm Peninsula, and west of the Tasman Peninsula. Towns on the coast of the bay include Lauderdale, Seven Mile Beach, Dodges Ferry and Primrose Sands. The bay is accessible via Storm Bay from the south, and provides further access to Norfolk Bay to its east.
Buckingham Land District is one of the twenty land districts of Tasmania which are part of the Lands administrative divisions of Tasmania. It was formerly Buckingham County, one of the 18 counties of Tasmania and one of the first eleven proclaimed in 1836 and is bordered to the north by the River Derwent, and to the south by the Huon River. It includes Bruny Island. Hobart is located in the county. It was named after the then county of England.
Triabunna is a rural residential locality in the local government area (LGA) of Glamorgan–Spring Bay in the South-east LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about 86 kilometres (53 mi) north-east of the city of Hobart. The 2021 census has a population of 905 for the state suburb of Triabunna.
HMAS Goorangai was a 223-ton auxiliary minesweeper of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). She was built in 1919 for the Government of New South Wales, then sold in 1926 to the fishing company Cam & Sons. The trawler was requisitioned for military service following the outbreak of World War II, converted into a minesweeper, and assigned to Melbourne. She was sunk in an accidental collision with MV Duntroon in 1940, becoming the RAN's first loss of World War II, and the first RAN surface ship to be lost in wartime.
Actaeon was launched at Fort Gloster, India, in 1815. She was wrecked without loss of life on 28 October 1822 in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel in southern Tasmania.
The vessel MV Blythe Star was a coastal freighter which foundered off south-western Tasmania in October 1973. The crew of 10 successfully took to a small inflatable liferaft but drifted undiscovered. A search for the ship and its crew led to the largest maritime search operation conducted in Australia to that time.
The Tasmanian Seafarers' Memorial is a public memorial structure located at Triabunna, Tasmania which jointly commemorates all Tasmanians who died at sea, along with the lives of all seafarers of any origin who lost their lives in Tasmanian waters. The memorial comprises individual commemorative plaques for each maritime tragedy involving recreational, commercial, mercantile or naval vessels and personnel lost since 1803. As of February 2017, the memorial contained plaques for 116 events involving the loss of over 1450 lives.
Cyprus was a brig launched at Sunderland in 1816. The colonial government in Van Diemen's Land purchased her in 1826. In 1829 as she was transporting convicts from Hobart Town to Macquarie Harbour Penal Station, some of the convicts seized Cyprus. They sailed her via Japan to Canton, where they scuttled her.
Enchantress was launched at Bristol in 1825. She was wrecked on 16 July 1835 at Tasmania.
HM Colonial brig Prince Leopold was launched in 1815, or earlier, as Rosetta. The government in Van Diemen's Land (VDL) purchased her in 1818 to serve the settlements. She then carried timber other supplies, and transferred both prisoners and soldiers between VDL and Port Jackson, and to and from Maria Island. In July 1831 the government sold the brig. Her new owners named her Mary Elizabeth, or Mary and Elizabeth. She was wrecked on 30 May 1835 at Port Sorell, Tasmania.
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