ETHNOLOGY. The aboriginal inhabitants of Tas mania, who are now extinct, were of doubtful racial affinities, having been regarded by differ ent authorities as being variously connected with the Papuan, Melanesian, and Australian races. They were of relatively low stature, with broad, prognathous faces, very flat broad noses, dark skins, and frizzly hair, the last named feature be ing the chief difference from the Australians. In culture the Tasmanians were probably on approximately the same level as the more primi tive tribes of Australian aborigines. The tale of the extermination of the Tasmanians, who never numbered more, perhaps, than five or six thousand, is one of the blackest pages in the history of European colonization. The European settlement began in 1804, and by 1824, when the first census was taken, there were only 340 natives alive. These had dwindled down to four by 1565. The 'last Tasmanian,' a woman named Tinganina. is said to have died in 1876.
Htsfonv. In 1642 the Dutch navigator Abel Janszoon Tasman (q.v.) discovered the island now known by his name, supposing it to be the main land of the southern continent, and called it Van Diemen's Land. in honor of his friend and patron, Anthony Van Diemen, of the Dutch East Indies. It was visited by tain Cook in 1777. The next recorded explora tion is that of George Bass. a young English surgeon, who explored the strait which bears his name in 1798. and thus discovered that Tas mania was not a peninsula, but an island. Later in the year he returned and surveyed the entire coast. No colonizing was attempted until 1803. In that year Captain Collins brought out 400 convicts from England. and in 1804 laid out Hobart Town—so called in honor of Lord Ho bart, Secretary of State for the Colonies—the present capital of Tasmania. In the same year
a settlement was founded in the northern part of the island by colonists from Sydney. In 1806 thiA colony was transferred to Launceston. From these two centres the colonization of the island proceeded steadily. Till 1823 the island was un der the authority of the New South Wales Gov ernment. In that year it received a separate Lieutenant-Governor and in 1S25 a separate Gov ernor. The opposition to convict labor, always deep-seated, notwithstanding the scarcity of la borers, led, in 1835, to the first petition to the Home Government for its abolition. This, how ever, did not take place until 1853. In that year, too, the colony received its present name of Tas mania, In 1854 a constitution providing for re sponsible government by a colonial parliament was framed by the Legislative Council of the colony, in accordance with the terms of the Australian Government Act of 1850, and this bill received the royal assent in 1855. On Janu ary 1, 1901, Tasmania became a member of the Commonwealth of Australia.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Just, The Official Handbook of Bibliography. Just, The Official Handbook of Tasmania (Melbourne. 1892) ; Johnston, Sys tematic Account of the Geology of Tasmania (Hobart, 1888) ; Murray, Tasmanian Rivers, Lakes, and Flowers (London, 191)0) Roth and Butler, The Aborigines of Tasmania (2d ed., Halifax, 1900) ; for the flora and fauna, Mere dith, My Bush Friends in Tasmania (London, 1859) ; id., Tasmanian Friends and Foes (ib., 1880) ; id., My Bush Friends in Tasmania. Last Series (ib., 1891) ; Fenton, A History of Tas mania (Hobart, 1884).