Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Tasmania
huntingpartyofpalawawerefireduponbyfrightenedtroops.Later,the‘BlackWar’
(1824–31), the ‘most intense frontier conflict in Australia’s history’, led to the near
decline of the palawa and their culture. About 1,000 Aboriginal people and 200
settlers were killed during the conflict. 4 By 1830, there were 24,000 settlers, but only
about 250 Aboriginal people remained alive. 5
The independent settlement of northern Van Diemen’s Land was established on
the Tamar River in 1804 at Launceston, which has since tended to look northward
more than the southern capital. In fact, its establishment led to the founding of
Melbourne in 1835 by the entrepreneur John Batman, whose party sailed across
Bass Strait in the Hobart-built schooner Enterprize.
The fragility of the isolated southern colony was made stark in 1809, when
Governor Bligh from Sydney and Lieutenant-Governor Collins from Hobart Town
met after Bligh had been deposed by the Rum Rebellion and subsequently released.
Bligh sailed for Hobart Town, where Collins refused to help him re-take the post
of governor of NSW. Their relationship further soured when Bligh had one of
Collins’ sons, a crewman on his ship, flogged for insubordination. 6 During Bligh’s
subsequent vengeful blockade of the Derwent aboard his 12-gun 7 HMS Porpoise,
all ships entering the river were ‘taxed’ some of their cargo, which contributed
to the fledgling colony’s economic woes. After several months, Bligh eventually
returned to Sydney upon hearing that a new governor, Lachlan Macquarie, had
been appointed from England.
The Van Diemen’s Land economy grew based on fertile plains between Hobart
and Launceston suitable for sheep and cropping, at a time when Sydney settlers
hadnotestablishedfarmsbeyondtheBlueMountains. 8 Shipbuilding, timber and
especially whaling were flourishing industries throughout the 1800s, and much
timber and whale oil were exported.
An 1823 Act of the British parliament separated Van Diemen’s Land from
NSW, and the Legislative Council was established in 1825 to advise the lieutenantgovernor.
It consisted of six members chosen by him, expanding to 15 members
in 1828. By 1851, it had 24 members, 16 of whom were elected. Consistent with
similar jurisdictions, only men over 30 who owned a certain amount of property
were eligible to vote.
The colony’s value as a remote jail faded as the local economy developed.
Up until transportation ceased in 1853, nearly half of all convicts throughout the
Australian colonies had been sent to Van Diemen’s Land, which was increasingly
resented by the resident populace. 9 The end of transportation followed the formation
of an Anti-Transportation League, supported by all elected members of the
4 Kippen 2014.
5 Clements 2014.
6 Clark 2012.
7 Winfield 2008.
8 Europeans did not find a route across the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, until 1813.
9 Boyce 2008.
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