Editing Southwest National Park (section)

===Early European exploration===

[[File:Van Diemen's Land 1852.jpg|Van Diemen's Land 1852. South West Tasmania was one of the last areas to be explored.|thumb]]

The South West of Tasmania was first seen by Europeans in 1642 by [[Abel Tasman]], but it was not known to be an island until [[Matthew Flinders]] and [[George Bass]] circumnavigated it 156 years later.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/on-this-day/2013/11/on-this-day-abel-tasman-sights-tasmania/ |title=On this day: Abel Tasman sights Tasmania |date=7 November 2013 |publisher=Australian Geographic}}</ref>

The first European overland expeditions into the region were conducted in the early 1830s by [[George Augustus Robinson]], who was guided by [[Truganini]], [[Woureddy]] and several other Indigenous people. Many landmarks in the region were named by him. During these expeditions, Robinson, acting under the policies of the local British colonial government, removed all the Indigenous residents from the area.<ref name="friendly">{{cite book |last1=Robinson |first1=George Augustus |last2=Plomley |first2=NJB |title=Friendly Mission, the Tasmanian journals and papers of George Augustus Robinson |date=2008 |publisher=Quintus |location=Hobart |isbn=9780977557226}}</ref>

The far south west was first surveyed from land by [[James Sprent]] in 1854 when he reached Port Davey, becoming the first European to notice [[Federation Peak]] which he dubbed "the Obelisk". He later published this work as 'Map of Tasmania and Adjacent Islands'.<ref name=dpipwe>{{cite web|url=https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/Documents/FIG%202010%20Paper-Sprent%20and%20the%20Trigonometrical%20Survey%20of%20Tasmania%20by%20Peter%20Murphy.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329031043/http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/Documents/FIG%202010%20Paper-Sprent%20and%20the%20Trigonometrical%20Survey%20of%20Tasmania%20by%20Peter%20Murphy.pdf |archive-date=2018-03-29 |url-status=live |author=Peter Murphy |title=James Sprent and the Trigonometrical Survey of Tasmania}}</ref>