Tasmania, The Love Heart Isle

Tasmania Tasmania is located off the south-east corner of mainland Australia. It is Australia's smallest state in terms of both size and population, yet is a major tourist attraction due to the diverse and spectacular scenery, unspoilt wilderness and heritage.

Many Tasmanian food producers rely on Tasmania's pristine environment to manufacture high quality delicacies. For instance, Tasmanian beer is brewed from some of the cleanest water in the world, and the green pastures of King Island ideally suit the area to cheese-making.

Although at a greater latitude than New York, Tasmania enjoys much the same temperate climate as other southern Australian states. Hobart, Tasmania's capital, receives less rain than any other Australian capital except Adelaide. The capital city of Tasmania is Hobart, located in the south-east of the state. Launceston is the largest city in the north.

Twelve thousand years ago sea level was rising as the most recent period of global glaciation eased. The land mass now known as Tasmania was cut off and the Aboriginal people living here were isolated. They shared many traits with Australian mainland Aboriginal people but also developed physically and culturally into a distinctive population.

The Tasmanians were hunters and gatherers. They made tools and containers from wood, bone, stone, seaweed, bark, grass and sinew. They managed their environment carefully, moving around their country to harvest seasonal food resources and using fire to maintain grasslands which supported an abundance of wallabies and kangaroos.

Tasmania Flag and Coat of Arms

Tasmania flag
The stars of the Southern Cross represent Australia's geographic position in the Southern Hemisphere. The large Commonwealth star symbolises the federation of the states and territories, and the Union Jack reflects Australia's early ties to Great Britain.





The coat of arms
The Australian coat of arms was granted by King George V in 1912. It consists of a shield containing the badges of the six Australian states, symbolising federation, and the national symbols of the golden wattle, the kangaroo and the emu. By popular tradition, the kangaroo is accepted as the national animal emblem. The golden wattle, Acacia pycnantha Benth, was proclaimed the national floral emblem in August 1988.