Van Diemen's Land
Tasmania's former name
Van Diemen's Land was the original European name for Tasmania, the island state south of mainland Australia.
The name persisted from 1642 until 1856, when it was changed partly to distance the colony from its brutal history as a penal settlement.
The term now appears mainly in historical contexts and folk songs: The convict ships sailed for Van Diemen's Land.
Distant settlement for exiled criminals
- convictsImprisoned felons
- transportationMoving people or goods
- British EmpireVast colonial domain
- settlementResolved dispute or colony
chain gang · Norfolk Island · New South Wales · free settlers · dispossession · colonial administration
Complete separation from others
- islandWater-bounded land mass
- distantFar away or aloof
- edge of worldPerceived planetary terminus
- separationState of being apart
exile · banishment · far-flung · antipodes · inaccessible · wilderness · untamed
Historic colonial trading corporation
- BataviaJakarta's Dutch-era name
- chartingRecording data visually
- expeditionOrganized exploratory journey
- voyageJourney by sea
navigators · seafarers · discovery · French explorers · mapping · coastline · circumnavigation
Specific calendar year
- British colonyLand ruled from London
- name changeModifying one's designation
- self-governanceIndependent management of affairs
- reputationCollective opinion of someone
penal colony
Distant settlement for exiled criminals
- convictsImprisoned felons
- transportationMoving people or goods
- British EmpireVast colonial domain
settlement · chain gang · Norfolk Island · New South Wales · free settlers · dispossession · colonial administration
Hobart
Tasmanian capital city
- thylacineExtinct Australian striped marsupial
isolation
Complete separation from others
- islandWater-bounded land mass
- distantFar away or aloof
- edge of worldPerceived planetary terminus
separation · exile · banishment · far-flung · antipodes · inaccessible · wilderness · untamed
Dutch East India Company
Historic colonial trading corporation
- BataviaJakarta's Dutch-era name
- chartingRecording data visually
- expeditionOrganized exploratory journey
voyage · navigators · seafarers · discovery · French explorers · mapping · coastline · circumnavigation
1856
Specific calendar year
- British colonyLand ruled from London
- name changeModifying one's designation
- self-governanceIndependent management of affairs
- Colonial AustraliaBotany Bay, penal colonies, convicts, penal colony, colonial settlement
- Penal Coloniespenal colony, penal settlement, transportees, convict, convict ship
- penal historyprison, prisons, gaols, jails, penitentiaries
- Van Diemen's Landconvicts, penal colony, transportation, penal settlement, colonial era
- Bush BalladsWaltzing Matilda