Editing Tasmania (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Tasmania}}
[[File:Tasmania simple geology map.png|thumb|left|Map showing the general geological surface features of Tasmania. Note the extent of [[Diabase|dolerite]], and the mosaics in the west.]]

===Physical history===
{{Main|Geology of Tasmania}}
[[File:Tessellated Pavement Sunrise Landscape.jpg|thumb|[[Tessellated pavement]], a rare rock formation on the [[Tasman Peninsula]]]]
The island was adjoined to the mainland of Australia until the end of the [[last glacial period]] about 11,700 years ago.<ref name="nma2"/> Much of the island is composed of [[Jurassic]] [[Diabase|dolerite]] intrusions (the upwelling of [[magma]]) through other rock types, sometimes forming large columnar joints. Tasmania has the world's largest areas of dolerite, with many distinctive mountains and cliffs formed from this rock type. The [[Central Plateau (Tasmania)|central plateau]] and the southeast portions of the island are mostly dolerites. [[Mount Wellington (Tasmania)|Mount Wellington]] above [[Hobart]] is a good example, showing distinct columns known as the Organ Pipes.

In the southern midlands as far south as Hobart, the dolerite is underlaid by [[sandstone]] and similar sedimentary stones. In the southwest, [[Precambrian]] [[quartzite]]s were formed from very ancient sea sediments and form strikingly sharp ridges and ranges, such as Federation Peak or [[Frenchmans Cap, Tasmania|Frenchmans Cap]].

In the northeast and east, continental [[granite]]s can be seen, such as at Freycinet, similar to coastal granites on mainland Australia. In the northwest and west, mineral-rich volcanic rock can be seen at [[Mount Read (Tasmania)|Mount Read]] near [[Rosebery, Tasmania|Rosebery]], or at [[Mount Lyell, Tasmania|Mount Lyell]] near [[Queenstown, Tasmania|Queenstown]]. Also present in the south and northwest is [[limestone]] with caves.

The quartzite and dolerite areas in the higher mountains show evidence of [[glaciation]], and much of Australia's glaciated landscape is found on the Central Plateau and the Southwest. [[Cradle Mountain]], another dolerite peak, for example, was a [[nunatak]]. The combination of these different rock types contributes to scenery which is distinct from any other region of the world.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} In the far southwest corner of the state, the geology is almost wholly quartzite, which gives the mountains the false impression of having snow-capped peaks year round.

===Aboriginal people===
{{Main|Aboriginal Tasmanians}}
[[File:Terre de Diemen, navigation, vue de la cote orientale de l'Ile Schouten.jpg|thumb|1807 engraving by French explorer [[Charles Alexandre Lesueur]] shows seafaring Aboriginal people and a large canoe on the eastern shore of [[Schouten Island]].]]
Evidence indicates the presence of [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal people]] in Tasmania about 42,000&nbsp;years ago. [[Sea level rise|Rising sea levels]] cut Tasmania off from mainland Australia about 10,000&nbsp;years ago and by the time of European contact, the Aboriginal people in Tasmania had nine major nations or ethnic groups.<ref name="ryan1">{{Citation | last=Ryan | first = Lyndall | title = Tasmanian Aborigines | publisher = Allen & Unwin | year = 2012 | pages= 3–6|location = Sydney | isbn = 978-1-74237-068-2}}</ref> At the time of the British occupation and colonisation in 1803, the indigenous population was estimated at between 3,000 and 10,000.

Historian [[Lyndall Ryan|Lyndall Ryan's]] analysis of population studies led her to conclude that there were about 7,000 spread throughout the island's nine nations;<ref name="lyndall">{{Citation | last=Ryan | first = Lyndall | title = Tasmanian Aborigines  | publisher = Allen & Unwin | year = 2012 | pages= 4, 43|location = Sydney | isbn = 978-1-74237-068-2}}</ref> Nicholas Clements, citing research by [[Brian Plomley|N.J.B. Plomley]] and [[Rhys Jones (archaeologist)|Rhys Jones]], settled on a figure of 3,000 to 4,000.<ref>{{Citation|last= Clements|first= Nicholas|title= Frontier Conflict in Van Diemen's Land (PhD thesis)|year= 2013|publisher= University of Tasmania|pages= 324, 325|url= http://eprints.utas.edu.au/17070/2/Whole-Clements-thesis.pdf|access-date= 23 April 2015|archive-date= 18 May 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150518103925/http://eprints.utas.edu.au/17070/2/Whole-Clements-thesis.pdf|url-status= live}}</ref> They engaged in [[fire-stick farming]], hunted game including [[kangaroo]] and [[wallaby|wallabies]], caught seals, mutton-birds, shellfish and fish and lived as nine separate "nations" on the island, which they knew as "Trouwunna".

=== European arrival and governance ===

[[File:Abel Tasman Navigateur en Australie (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Tasmania is named after Dutch explorer [[Abel Tasman]], the first European to sight the island, in 1642.]]

The first reported sighting of Tasmania by a [[Ethnic groups in Europe|Europe]]an was on 24 November 1642 by Dutch explorer [[Abel Tasman]], who landed at today's [[Blackman Bay, Tasmania|Blackman Bay]]. More than a century later, in 1772, a French expedition led by [[Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne]] landed at (nearby but different) [[Blackmans Bay, Tasmania|Blackmans Bay]], and the following year [[Tobias Furneaux]] became the first Englishman to land in Tasmania when he arrived at [[Adventure Bay, Tasmania|Adventure Bay]], which he named after his ship [[HMS Adventure (1771)|HMS ''Adventure'']]. Captain [[James Cook]] also landed at [[Adventure Bay, Tasmania|Adventure Bay]] in 1777. [[Matthew Flinders]] and [[George Bass]] sailed through [[Bass Strait]] in 1798{{ndash}}1799, determining for the first time that Tasmania was an island.<ref name="hughes121">{{Citation|last=Hughes|first=Robert|title=The Fatal Shore|publisher=Pan|year=1987|location=London|isbn=978-0-330-29892-6|pages=120–125|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/fatalshorehistor00hugh/page/120}}</ref>

Sealers and whalers based themselves on Tasmania's islands from 1798,<ref>{{Citation | last=Boyce | first = James | title = Van Diemen's Land  | publisher = Black Inc | year = 2010 | location = Melbourne | page=15| isbn = 978-1-86395-491-4}}</ref> and in August 1803 [[New South Wales]] Governor [[Philip Gidley King|Philip King]] sent Lieutenant [[John Bowen (Royal Navy officer)|John Bowen]] to establish a small military outpost on the eastern shore of the [[River Derwent (Tasmania)|Derwent River]] in order to forestall any claims to the island by French explorers who had been exploring the southern Australian coastline. Bowen, who led a party of 49, including 21 male and three female convicts, named the camp Risdon.<ref name="hughes121" /><ref>{{Citation | last=Boyce | first = James | title = Van Diemen's Land  | publisher = Black Inc | year = 2010 | location = Melbourne | page=21| isbn = 978-1-86395-491-4}}</ref>

[[File:John Glover - Mount Wellington and Hobart Town from Kangaroo Point - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Painting by [[John Glover (artist)|John Glover]] of [[Mount Wellington (Tasmania)|Mount Wellington]] and [[Hobart]], 1834]]

Several months later, a second settlement was established by Captain [[David Collins (lieutenant governor)|David Collins]], with 308 convicts, {{convert|5|km|mi|abbr=off}} to the south in [[Sullivans Cove]] on the western side of the Derwent, where fresh water was more plentiful. The latter settlement became known as Hobart Town or Hobarton, later shortened to [[Hobart]], after the [[Secretary of State for the Colonies|British Colonial Secretary]] of the time, [[Lord Hobart]]. The settlement at Risdon was later abandoned. Left on their own without further supplies, the Sullivans Cove settlement suffered severe food shortages and by 1806 its inhabitants were starving, with many resorting to scraping seaweed off rocks and scavenging washed-up whale blubber from the shore to survive.<ref name="hughes121" />

A smaller colony was established at Port Dalrymple on the Tamar River in the island's north in October 1804 and several other convict-based settlements were established, including the particularly harsh [[penal colony|penal colonies]] at [[Port Arthur, Tasmania|Port Arthur]] in the southeast and [[Macquarie Harbour]] on the West Coast. Tasmania was eventually sent 75,000 convicts—four out of every ten people transported to Australia.<ref name="hughes121" /> By 1819, the Aboriginal and British population reached parity with about 5000 of each, although among the colonists men outnumbered women four-to-one.<ref name="parity">{{Citation | last=Ryan | first = Lyndall | title = Tasmanian Aborigines  | publisher = Allen & Unwin | year = 2012 | pages= 54–57, 71|location = Sydney | isbn = 978-1-74237-068-2}}</ref> Free settlers began arriving in large numbers from 1820, lured by the promise of land grants and free convict labour. Settlement in the island's northwest corner was monopolised by the [[Van Diemen's Land Company]], which sent its first surveyors to the district in 1826. By 1830, one-third of Australia's non-Indigenous population lived in Van Diemen's Land and the island accounted for about half of all land under cultivation and exports.<ref>{{Citation | last=Boyce | first = James | title = Van Diemen's Land  | publisher = Black Inc | year = 2010 | location = Melbourne | pages=140, 145, 202| isbn = 978-1-86395-491-4}}</ref>

====Black War====
{{main|Black War}}

[[File:Benjamin Duterrau - Timmy, a Tasmanian Aboriginal, throwing a spear - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|Painting of a Tasmanian Aboriginal throwing a spear, 1838]]

Tensions between Tasmania's Aboriginal and white inhabitants rose, partly driven by increasing competition for kangaroo and other game.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13150130?searchTerm=treaty%20aboriginal |title=The Fate Of The Aboriginal Inhabitants (Sydney Morning Herald, 21 Feb 1867, p.8) |newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald |date=21 February 1867 |access-date=17 August 2022 |archive-date=17 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817003525/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13150130?searchTerm=treaty%20aboriginal |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://theconversation.com/tasmanias-black-war-a-tragic-case-of-lest-we-remember-25663 | title = Tasmania's Black War: a tragic case of lest we remember? | first = Nicholas | last = Clements | date = 24 April 2014 | work = Honorary Research Associate, University of Tasmania | publisher = The Conversation | access-date = 27 October 2016 | archive-date = 27 October 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161027124612/http://theconversation.com/tasmanias-black-war-a-tragic-case-of-lest-we-remember-25663 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia | url = https://www.britannica.com/event/Black-War | title = Black War – Australian History | encyclopedia = The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica | access-date = 27 October 2016 | archive-date = 27 October 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161027125931/https://www.britannica.com/event/Black-War | url-status = live }}</ref> Explorer and naval officer [[John Oxley]] in 1810 noted the "many atrocious cruelties" inflicted on Aboriginal people by convict [[bushranger]]s in the north, which in turn led to black attacks on solitary white hunters.<ref>{{Citation | last=Clements | first = Nicholas | title = The Black War  |page=36| publisher = University of Queensland Press | year = 2014 | location = Brisbane | isbn = 978-0-70225-006-4}}</ref> Hostilities increased further with the arrival of 600 colonists from [[Norfolk Island]] between 1807 and 1813. They established farms along the River Derwent and east and west of [[Launceston, Tasmania|Launceston]], occupying ten percent of Van Diemen's Land. By 1824 the colonial population had swelled to 12,600, while the island's sheep population had reached 200,000. The rapid colonisation transformed traditional kangaroo hunting grounds into farms with grazing livestock as well as fences, hedges and stone walls, while police and military patrols were increased to control the convict farm labourers.<ref>{{Citation | last=Ryan | first = Lyndall | title = Tasmanian Aborigines  | publisher = Allen & Unwin | year = 2012 | pages=58, 62, 66, 74–75|location = Sydney | isbn = 978-1-74237-068-2}}</ref>

Violence began to spiral rapidly from the mid-1820s in what became described as the "[[Black War]]".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/65989331 |title=The Black War (The Cornwall Chronicle, Launceston: 8 Sep, 1860, p.3) |newspaper=Cornwall Chronicle |date=8 September 1860 |access-date=10 August 2022 |archive-date=10 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810231144/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/65989331 |url-status=live }}</ref> Aboriginal inhabitants were driven to desperation by hunger – that included a desire for agricultural produce, as well as feeling anger at the prevalence of abductions of women and girls. New settlers motivated by fear carried out self-defence operations as well as attacks as a means of suppressing the native threat – or even in some cases, exacting revenge.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8791038 |title=The Black Natives (Hobart Town Gazette, 11 Nov 1926, p.2) |newspaper=Hobart Town Gazette |date=11 November 1826 |access-date=10 August 2022 |archive-date=10 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810225234/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8791038 |url-status=live }}</ref> Van Diemen's Land had an enormous gender imbalance, with male colonists outnumbering females six to one in 1822{{mdash}}and 16 to one among the convict population. Historian Nicholas Clements has suggested the "voracious appetite" for native women was the most important trigger for the explosion of violence from the late 1820s.<ref>{{Citation | last=Clements | first = Nicholas | title = The Black War  |pages=20, 49| publisher = University of Queensland Press | year = 2014 | location = Brisbane | isbn = 978-0-70225-006-4}}</ref>

From 1825 to 1828, the number of native attacks more than doubled each year, raising panic among settlers. Over the summer of 1826{{ndash}}1827 clans from the Big River, Oyster Bay and North Midlands nations speared stock-keepers on farms and made it clear that they wanted the settlers and their sheep and cattle to move from their kangaroo hunting grounds. Settlers responded vigorously, resulting in many mass-killings. In November 1826, Governor [[Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet|Sir George Arthur]] issued a government notice declaring that colonists were free to kill Aboriginal people when they attacked settlers or their property, and in the following eight months more than 200 Aboriginal people were killed in the Settled Districts in reprisal for the deaths of 15 colonists. After another eight months, the death toll had risen to 43 colonists and probably 350 Aboriginal people.<ref>{{Citation | last=Ryan | first = Lyndall | title = Tasmanian Aborigines  | publisher = Allen & Unwin | year = 2012 | pages=93–100|location = Sydney | isbn = 978-1-74237-068-2}}</ref> In April 1828, Arthur issued a [[1828 Proclamation of Demarcation|Proclamation of Demarcation]] forbidding Aboriginal people to enter the settled districts without a passport issued by the government.<ref name="Carroll2014">{{cite book |author=Khadija von Zinnenburg Carroll |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P9CpBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 |title=Art in the Time of Colony |date=28 April 2014 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |isbn=978-1-4094-5596-7 |pages=92–}}</ref><ref name="Morgan2003">{{cite book|author=Sharon Morgan|title=Land Settlement in Early Tasmania: Creating an Antipodean England|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bTJeskna35YC&pg=PA151|date=11 December 2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-52296-0|pages=151–}}</ref> Arthur declared [[martial law]] in the colony in November that year, and this remained in force for over three years, the longest period of martial law in Australian history.<ref>{{Citation | last=Ryan | first = Lyndall | title = Tasmanian Aborigines  | publisher = Allen & Unwin | year = 2012 | pages=101–105, 123|location = Sydney | isbn = 978-1-74237-068-2}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last=Clements | first = Nicholas | title = The Black War  |pages=95–101| publisher = University of Queensland Press | year = 2014 | location = Brisbane | isbn = 978-0-70225-006-4}}</ref>

In November 1830, Arthur organised the so-called "[[Black Line]]", ordering every able-bodied male colonist to assemble at one of seven designated places in the Settled Districts to join a massive drive to sweep Aboriginal people out of the region and on to the [[Tasman Peninsula]]. The campaign failed and was abandoned seven weeks later, but by then Tasmania's Aboriginal population had fallen to about 300.<ref>{{Cite book|title = The Forgotten War|last = Reynolds|first = Henry|publisher = UNSW Australia|year = 2013|isbn = 9781742233925|page = 63}}</ref>

==== Removal of Aboriginal people ====

[[File:Truganini and last 4 tasmanian aborigines.jpg|thumb|Four elderly full-blood Tasmanian Aboriginal people, {{circa|1860s}}. [[Truganini]], for many years claimed to be the last full-blood Aboriginal person to survive, is seated far right.]]

After hostilities between settlers and Aboriginal peoples ceased in 1832, almost all of the remnants of the Indigenous population were persuaded by government agent [[George Augustus Robinson]] to move to [[Flinders Island, Tasmania|Flinders Island]]. Many quickly succumbed to infectious diseases to which they had no immunity, reducing the population further.<ref>{{Citation | last=Ryan | first = Lyndall | title = Tasmanian Aborigines  | publisher = Allen & Unwin | year = 2012 | pages=1199–216|location = Sydney | isbn = 978-1-74237-068-2}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last= Clements|first= Nicholas|title= Frontier Conflict in Van Diemen's Land (PhD thesis)|year= 2013|publisher= University of Tasmania|pages= 329–331|url= http://eprints.utas.edu.au/17070/2/Whole-Clements-thesis.pdf|access-date= 23 April 2015|archive-date= 18 May 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150518103925/http://eprints.utas.edu.au/17070/2/Whole-Clements-thesis.pdf|url-status= live}}</ref> Of those removed from Tasmania, the last to die was [[Truganini]], in 1876.

The near-destruction of Tasmania's Aboriginal population has been described as an act of genocide by historians including [[Robert Hughes (critic)|Robert Hughes]], [[James Boyce (author)|James Boyce]], [[Lyndall Ryan]] and Tom Lawson.<ref name="hughes121" /><ref>{{Citation | last=Boyce | first = James | title = Van Diemen's Land  | publisher = Black Inc | year = 2010 | location = Melbourne | page=296| isbn = 978-1-86395-491-4}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last=Ryan | first = Lyndall | title = Tasmanian Aborigines  | publisher = Allen & Unwin | year = 2012 | pages= xix, 215|location = Sydney | isbn = 978-1-74237-068-2}}</ref> However, other historians including [[Henry Reynolds (historian)|Henry Reynolds]], [[Richard Broome]] and Nicholas Clements do not agree with the genocide thesis, arguing that the colonial authorities did not intend to destroy the Aboriginal population in whole or in part.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Broome|first=Richard|title=Aboriginal Australians|publisher=Allen and Unwin|year=2019|isbn=9781760528218|edition=Fifth|location=Crows Nest|page=44}}</ref><ref name=":2">Clements, Nicholas (2013). pp. 110–12</ref> Boyce has claimed that the April 1828 "Proclamation Separating the Aborigines from the White Inhabitants" sanctioned force against Aboriginal people "for no other reason than that they were Aboriginal".<ref name=":3" /> However, as Reynolds, Broome and Clements point out, there was open warfare at the time.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> Boyce described the decision to remove all Tasmanian Aboriginal people after 1832{{mdash}}by which time they had given up their fight against white colonists{{mdash}}as an extreme policy position. He concluded: "The colonial government from 1832 to 1838 [[Ethnic cleansing|ethnically cleansed]] the western half of Van Diemen's Land."<ref name=":3">{{Citation | last=Boyce | first = James | title = Van Diemen's Land  | publisher = Black Inc | year = 2010 | location = Melbourne | pages=264, 296| isbn = 978-1-86395-491-4}}</ref> Nevertheless, Clements and Flood note that there was another wave of violence in north-west Tasmania in 1841, involving attacks on settlers' huts by a band of Aboriginal Tasmanians who had not been removed from the island.<ref>Clements, Nicholas (2013). pp. 264–65</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Flood|first=Josephine|title=The Original Australians, the story of the Aboriginal people|publisher=Allen and Unwin|year=2019|isbn=9781760527075|location=Crows Nest|page=107}}</ref>

==== Proclamation as a colony ====
{{Further|Colony of Tasmania}}

[[File:Convict labourers in Australia in the early 20th century.jpg|thumb|A [[Convicts in Australia|convict]] ploughing team breaking up new ground at the farm at Port Arthur]]

Van Diemen's Land{{mdash}}which thus far had existed as a territory within the colony of [[New South Wales]]{{mdash}}was proclaimed a separate colony, with its own judicial establishment and [[Tasmanian Legislative Council|Legislative Council]], on 3 December 1825. Transportation to the island ceased in 1853 and the colony was renamed Tasmania in 1856, partly to differentiate the burgeoning society of free settlers from the island's convict past.<ref>{{Citation | last=Boyce | first = James | title = Van Diemen's Land  | publisher = Black Inc | year = 2010 | location = Melbourne | pages=1, 158| isbn = 978-1-86395-491-4}}</ref>

The [[Tasmanian Legislative Council|Legislative Council of Van Diemen's Land]] drafted a new constitution which gained Royal Assent in 1855. The [[Privy Council]] also approved the colony changing its name from "Van Diemen's Land" to "Tasmania", and in 1856 the newly elected [[bicameral parliament]] sat for the first time, establishing Tasmania as a [[responsible government|self-governing]] colony of the British Empire.<ref>{{cite web|last=Museum of Australian Democracy|title=Constitution Act 1855 (Tas)|url=https://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item-sdid-34.html|access-date=25 July 2021|website=Documenting Democracy|archive-date=24 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724232320/https://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item-sdid-34.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The colony suffered from economic fluctuations, but for the most part was prosperous, experiencing steady growth. With few external threats and strong trade links with the Empire, Tasmania enjoyed many fruitful periods in the late 19th century, becoming a world-centre of shipbuilding. It raised a local defence force that eventually played a [[Military history of Australia during the Second Boer War|significant role]] in the [[Second Boer War]] in South Africa, and Tasmanian soldiers in that conflict won the first two [[Victoria Cross]]es awarded to Australians.

==== Federation ====

In 1901, the Colony of Tasmania [[Federation of Australia|united]] with the five other Australian colonies to form the Commonwealth of Australia. Tasmanians voted in favour of federation with the largest majority of all the Australian colonies.

===20th and 21st century===
Tasmania was an early adopter of [[electric]] [[street lighting]]. Australia's first electric street lights were switched on in [[Waratah, Tasmania|Waratah]] in 1886.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-09/tamworth-135-years-electric-streetlights-australia-first-council/103078122 |title=Tamworth celebrates 135 trailblazing years as Australia's first with electric streetlights |date=2023-11-09 |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |last1=Sanders |first1=Peter |last2=Reading |first2=Kristy |archive-date=4 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240504235241/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-09/tamworth-135-years-electric-streetlights-australia-first-council/103078122 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Launceston, Tasmania|Launceston]] became the first completely electrified city on the island in 1885, followed closely by the township of [[Zeehan]] in 1900.

The state economy was riding mining prosperity until World War I. In 1901, the state population was 172,475.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moyle |first1=Helen |title=Australia's fertility transition : a study of 19th-century Tasmania |date=Feb 2020 |publisher=ANU Press |location=Canberra |isbn=9781760463366 |page=49 |jstor=j.ctvxrpxqd |url=https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/australias-fertility-transition |access-date=27 July 2020 |archive-date=12 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712232038/https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/australias-fertility-transition |url-status=live }}</ref> The 1910 foundation of what would become [[Hydro Tasmania]] began to shape urban patterns, as well as future major damming programs.<ref name="urbanisation cultural artefact">{{cite web |last1=Turnbull |first1=Paul |title=Urbanisation – Cultural Artefact – Companion to Tasmanian History |url=https://www.utas.edu.au/tasmanian-companion/biogs/E001035b.htm |website=www.utas.edu.au |access-date=27 July 2020 |language=en-gb |archive-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727165948/https://www.utas.edu.au/tasmanian-companion/biogs/E001035b.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Hydro's influence culminated in the 1970s when the state government announced plans to flood environmentally significant [[Lake Pedder]]. As a result of the eventual flooding of Lake Pedder, the world's first green party was established; the [[United Tasmania Group]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Green Politics|url=https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/G/Green%20Politics.htm|access-date=7 June 2021|website=www.utas.edu.au|archive-date=7 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607094501/https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/G/Green%20Politics.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> National and international attention surrounded the campaign against the [[Franklin Dam]] in the early 1980s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Commons Librarian |date=2022-08-31 |title=Franklin River Campaign |url=https://commonslibrary.org/franklin-river-campaign/ |access-date=2024-04-06 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU |archive-date=3 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231003094947/https://commonslibrary.org/franklin-river-campaign/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Tasmanian [[Enid Lyons]] became the first female member of the [[Australian House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] at the [[1943 Australian federal election|1943 federal election]] and first female to serve in the [[Cabinet of Australia|federal cabinet]]. In May 1948, [[Margaret McIntyre]] achieved another milestone as the first female elected to the Parliament of Tasmania. Less than six months after her election, McIntyre died in the [[1948 Australian National Airways DC-3 crash|crash of the ''Lutana'']] near [[Quirindi, New South Wales|Quirindi]] on 2 September 1948.

After the end of World War II, the state saw major urbanisation, and the growth of towns like [[Ulverstone, Tasmania|Ulverstone]].<ref name="urbanisation cultural artefact"/> It gained a reputation as "Sanitorium of the South" and a health-focused tourist boom began to grow. The'' [[Princess of Tasmania]]'' began her maiden voyage in 1959, the first car ferry to Tasmania.<ref name="urbanisation cultural artefact"/> As part of the boom, Tasmania allowed the opening of the first casino in Australia in 1968.<ref name="urbanisation cultural artefact"/> Queen [[Elizabeth II]] visited the state in 1954, and the 50s and 60s were charactered by the opening of major public services, including the Tasmanian Housing Department and [[Metro Tasmania]] public bus services. A jail was opened at Risdon in 1960, and the [[State Library of Tasmania]] the same year. The University of Tasmania also moved to its present location in 1963.

The state was badly affected by the [[1967 Tasmanian fires]], killing 64 people and destroying over 652,000 acres in five hours.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Beavis |first1=Laura |title=Black Tuesday bushfires: Two more Tasmanians officially recognised as victims of 1967 blaze |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-07/black-tuesday-plaque-honouring-1967-tasmanian-bushfire-victims/8246740 |access-date=23 November 2023 |work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]] |publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |date=7 Feb 2017 |language=en |archive-date=23 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231123043216/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-07/black-tuesday-plaque-honouring-1967-tasmanian-bushfire-victims/8246740 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1975 the [[Tasman Bridge disaster|Tasman Bridge collapsed]] when the bridge was struck by the bulk ore carrier ''[[SS Lake Illawarra|Lake Illawarra]]''. It was the only bridge in Hobart, and made crossing the [[Derwent River (Tasmania)|Derwent River]] by road at the city impossible. The nearest bridge was approximately {{convert|20|km}} to the north, at Bridgewater.

Throughout the 1980s, strong environmental concerns saw the building of the Australian Antarctic Division headquarters, and the proclamation of the [[Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area]]. The Franklin Dam was blocked by the federal government in 1983, and  [[CSIRO]] opened its marine studies centre in Hobart. [[Pope John Paul II]] would hold mass at [[Elwick Racecourse]] in 1986.

The 1990s were characterised by the fight for [[LGBT rights in Tasmania]], culminating in the intervention of the [[United Nations Human Rights Committee]] in 1997 and the decriminalization of homosexuality that year.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Commons Librarian |date=2023-12-22 |title=Campaigns that Changed Tasmania |url=https://commonslibrary.org/campaigns-that-changed-tasmania/ |access-date=2024-04-06 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU |archive-date=29 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240229135207/https://commonslibrary.org/campaigns-that-changed-tasmania/ |url-status=live }}</ref>  [[Christine Milne]] became the first female leader of a Tasmanian political party in 1993, and major council amalgamations reduce the number of councils from 46 to 29.

Following the [[Port Arthur massacre (Australia)|Port Arthur massacre]] on 28 April 1996, which resulted in the loss of 35 lives and injured 23 others, the Australian Government conducted a review of its [[firearm]]s policies and enacted new [[Gun laws of Australia|nationwide gun ownership laws]] under the [[National Firearms Agreement]].

In 2000, Queen Elizabeth II once again visited the state. [[Gunns]] rose to prominence as a major forestry company during this decade, only to collapse in 2013. In 2004, Premier [[Jim Bacon (politician)|Jim Bacon]] died in office from lung cancer. In January 2011 philanthropist [[David Walsh (art collector)|David Walsh]] opened the [[Museum of Old and New Art]] (MONA) in Hobart to international acclaim. Within 12 months, MONA became Tasmania's top tourism attraction.<ref>{{cite web|date=1 May 2012|title=MONA takes top billing Trips – The Mercury – The Voice of Tasmania|url=http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/12/30/288361_trips.html|access-date=10 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501182239/http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2011/12/30/288361_trips.html|archive-date=1 May 2012}}</ref>

{{Wide image|Port Arthur Panorama.jpg|850px|[[Port Arthur, Tasmania|Port Arthur]], declared a [[World Heritage Site]] in 2010}}

The [[COVID-19 pandemic in Tasmania]] resulted in at least 230 cases and 13 deaths {{As of|2021|September|lc=y}}.<ref>{{Cite news|date=6 September 2021|title=Charting the COVID-19 spread in Australia|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-17/coronavirus-cases-data-reveals-how-covid-19-spreads-in-australia/12060704#casesbystate|newspaper=ABC News|last1=Ting|first1=Inga|last2=Scott|first2=Nathanael|last3=Workman|first3=Michael|last4=Hutcheon|first4=Stephen|access-date=6 September 2021|archive-date=6 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906033708/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-17/coronavirus-cases-data-reveals-how-covid-19-spreads-in-australia/12060704#casesbystate|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2020, after the outbreak of the [[Coronavirus disease 2019|coronavirus pandemic]] ([[Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2|SARS-CoV-2]]) and its spread to Australia, the [[Tasmanian Government|Tasmanian government]] issued a public health emergency on 17 March,<ref>{{cite web |title=Public Health Emergency for Tasmania declared |url=https://www.health.tas.gov.au/news/2020/public_health_emergency_for_tasmania_declared_-_17_march_2020 |website=TAS Department of Health |access-date=1 September 2021 |archive-date=1 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901210339/https://www.health.tas.gov.au/news/2020/public_health_emergency_for_tasmania_declared_-_17_march_2020 |url-status=live }}</ref> the following month receiving the state's most significant outbreak from the [[North West Tasmania|North-West]] which required assistance from the [[Australian Government|Federal government]]. In late 2021, Tasmania was leading the nationwide vaccination response.<ref>{{cite web |title=Australia's COVID-19 vaccine rollout |url=https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-vaccines/australias-covid-19-vaccine-rollout |website=AUS Department of Health |date=12 April 2021 |access-date=1 September 2021 |archive-date=1 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901083517/https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-vaccines/australias-covid-19-vaccine-rollout |url-status=live }}</ref>