Van Diemen's Land

Van Diemen's Land
Geography
1852 map of Van Diemen's Land
Location	Southern Ocean
Area	68,401 km² (26,410 sq mi).
Highest elevation	1,614 m (5,295 ft)
Highest point	Mount Ossa
Country
Australia
Largest city	Hobart Town
Demographics
Population	40,000 (as of 1855)
Ethnic groups	Tasmanian Aborigines

1663 map of Van Diemen's Land, showing the parts discovered by Tasman, including Storm Bay, Maria Island and Schouten Island.

Van Diemen's Land was the original name used by most Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to land on the shores of Tasmania. Landing at Blackman's Bay and later having the Dutch flag flown at North Bay, Tasman named the island Anthoonij van Diemenslandt in honour of Anthony van Diemen, the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies who had sent Tasman on his voyage of discovery in 1642. Between 1772 and 1798 only the South East of the island was visited. Tasmania was not known to be an island until Matthew Flinders and George Bass circumnavigated it in the Norfolk in 1798-99.

In 1803, the island was colonised by the British as a penal colony with the name Van Diemen's Land, and became part of the British colony of New South Wales. In 1824, Van Diemen's Land became a colony in its own right.

The demonym for Van Diemen's Land was 'Van Diemonian', though contemporaries used Vandemonian, possibly as a play on words relating to the colony's penal origins.^[1]

In 1856 the colony was granted responsible self-government with its own representative parliament, and the name of the island and colony was changed to Tasmania.

1 Penal colony
2 The name
3 Popular culture
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links

Penal colony

Main articles: – Port Arthur, Tasmania, Convicts on the West Coast of Tasmania

From the 1830s to the 1853 abolition of penal transportation (known simply as "transportation"), Van Diemen's Land was the primary penal colony in Australia. Following the suspension of transportation to New South Wales, all transported convicts were sent to Van Diemen's Land. In total, some 75,000 convicts were transported to Van Diemen's Land, or about 40% of all convicts sent to Australia.

Male convicts served their sentences as assigned labour to free settlers or in gangs assigned to public works. Only the most difficult convicts (mostly re-offenders) were sent to the Tasman Peninsula prison known as Port Arthur. Female convicts were assigned as servants in free settler households or sent to a female factory (women's workhouse prison). There were five female factories in Van Diemen's Land.

Convicts completing their sentences or earning their ticket-of-leave often promptly left Van Diemen's Land. Many settled in the new free colony of Victoria, to the disgust of the free settlers in towns such as Melbourne.

Tensions sometimes ran high between the settlers and the "Vandemonians" as they were termed, particularly during the Victorian gold rush when a flood of settlers from Van Diemen's Land rushed to the Victorian gold fields.

Complaints from Victorians about recently released convicts from Van Diemen's Land re-offending in Victoria was one of the contributing reasons for the eventual abolition of transportation to Van Diemen's Land in 1853 ^[2].

The name

Anthony Trollope used the term Vandemonian ^[3]: -

They are (the Vandemonians) united in their declaration that the cessation of the coming of convicts has been their ruin

Eventually, in order to remove the unsavoury connotations with crime associated with its name (and its homophonic connection to "demon"), in 1856 Van Diemen's Land was renamed Tasmania in honour of Abel Tasman. The last penal settlement in Tasmania at Port Arthur finally closed in 1877^[4].

The term is not used much, but in a review of a new book of the era the Australian newspaper chose the title of the review as Vandemonian vanity^[5]

Popular culture

Film

The critically acclaimed award winning The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce tells the true story of Alexander Pearce through his final confession to fellow Irishman and colonial priest Philip Conolly. The film was nominated for an Irish Film and Television Award, an Australian Film Institute Award and won an IF Award in 2009.
The feature film Van Diemen's Land focuses on the true story of convict Alexander Pearce and his infamous escape from Macquarie Harbour in 1822.

Music

Van Diemen's Land is mentioned in the Irish and Australian folk song "The Wild Colonial Boy".
Van Diemen's Land is often mentioned in the works of Flogging Molly, such as in the song "Every Dog Has Its Day."
Among the Irish folk songs that mention Van Diemen's Land are "The Black Velvet Band", "Back Home in Derry", and "Van Diemen's Land".
Van Diemen's Land is the subject of the Irish song, "Back Home in Derry". The music was written to the tune of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot and the lyrics by the famous Irish Republican Bobby Sands. It is most famously sung by the Irish bard Christy Moore.
"Van Diemen's Land", also known as "The Gallant Poachers", is a traditional Irish folk song
Steeleye Span does a rendition of the traditional folk song on their album They Called Her Babylon
"Van Diemen's Land" is the title of the second track from the rock band U2's album Rattle and Hum. The lyrics were written and sung by The Edge. The song is dedicated to a Fenian poet named John Boyle O'Reilly, who was deported to Australia because of his poetry ^[6].
The chorus to the English folk song "Maggie May" says "They've sent you to Van Diemen's cruel shore."
Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band record a version of "Van Diemen's Land" in No Roses (1971)
Carla Bruni sings the poem 'If You Were Coming In The Fall', by Emily Dickinson on her album No Promises. The song includes a reference to Van Diemen's land "subtracting till my fingers dropped; into Van Diemen's Land".
"Van Diemen's island" is mentioned in the song "Highland]" by The Elders on their album Pass it on Down
"Van Diemen's island" is the title of a song by Steve Binetti
The chorus of "Emigrants" by Scots traditional music group Canterach includes the line: "Sent to the new worlds of America, Australia, and Van Diemen's Land".
Van Diemen's Land is referred to extensively in "Henry's Downfall" by folk singer Jim Moray
Van Diemen's Land is mentioned in the song 1788 by Australian band The Go Set
Van Diemans Land is a song by Barbara Dickson and is the first track on the album Parcel of Rogues

Literature

Van Diemen's Land is the setting of Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish by Richard Flanagan (published 2002), which tells the story of a man who is transported to the island, and runs afoul of the local (and rather insane) authorities.
Brendan Whiting's book Victims of Tyranny, gives an account of the lives of the Irish rebels, the Fitzgerald convict brothers who were sent to help open up the north of Van Diemen's Land in 1805, under the leadership of the explorer Colonel William Paterson.
In Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian, one of the characters in the Glanton Gang of scalpers in 1850s Mexico is a "Vandiemenlander" named Bathcat. Born in Wales he later went to Australia to hunt aborigines, and eventually came to Mexico, where he used those skills on the Apaches.
Van Diemen's Land is mentioned in Edgar Allan Poe's book Narrative of A. Gordon Pym. The main character stops at this island on his way to the South Pole.
Van Diemen's Land is mentioned in Umberto Eco's novel "The Island of the Day Before" ("L'isola del giorno prima", 1994), a story about a 17th century Italian nobleman trapped at an island at the International Date Line.
Van Diemen's Land is mentioned in Emily Dickinson's "If You Were Coming in the Fall"
From "The Potato Factory" by Bryce Courtenay (1995): "... subtracting till my fingers dropped; into Van Diemen's Land." This is a quote from Emily Dickinson's Poem "If You Were Coming In The Fall".
In Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726), the country of Lilliput is described as being “to the north-west of Van Dieman's Land” [sic].
In the novel The Convicts by Iain Lawrence, young Tom Tin is sent to Van Diemen's Land on charges of murder
Van Dieman's Land is mentioned in James De Mille's A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder. The manuscript spoken of in the title has been written by British sailor who lost his way after conveying convicts to Van Dieman's Land.
In the novel The Terror by Dan Simmons (2007). In this novel about the ill fated exploration by HMS Erebus and HMS Terror to discover the Northwest Passage. The ships left England in May 1846 and were never heard from again, although since then much has been discovered about the fate of the 129 officers and crew. References are made to Van Diemen's Land during the chapters devoted to Francis Crozier.
Van Dieman's Land is mentioned in Peter Carey's book, True History of the Kelly Gang, as a place the Kelly parents suffered on their way to the Colony of Victoria.
Van Dieman's Land is the setting of the novel English Passengers by Matthew Kneale (2000), which tells the story of 3 eccentric English men who in 1857 set sail for the island in search of the Garden of Eden. The story runs parallel with the narrative of a young Tasmanian who tells the struggle of the indigenous population and the desperate battle against the invading British colonists.
Christopher Koch's novel : "Out of Ireland" describes life as a convict in Van Diemen's Land.
Richard Butler's novel "The Men That God Forgot" (1977) is based on the historical events of 10 convicts who escape from Van Dieman's Land to Valdivia, Chile in 1833.

Notes

↑ http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Vandemonian
↑ Fletcher, B. H. (1994). 1770-1850. In S. Bambrick (Ed.), The Cambridge encyclopedia of Australia (pp. 86–94). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
↑ quoted by Patsy Adam Smith p.248 of Smith, Patsy Adam and Woodberry, Joan (1977)Historic Tasmania Sketchbook Rigby ISBN 0727002864
↑ Australian Government, National Heritage site. Port Arthur Historic Site
↑ Pybus, Cassandra (2008) review of Van Diemans Land] by James Boyce – page 19 of the Australian Literary Review 2nd April 2008
↑ From the liner notes on the U2 album "Rattle and Hum"

References

Alexander, Alison (editor) (2005) The Companion to Tasmanian History Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart. ISBN 186295223X.
Boyce, James (2008), Van Diemen's Land. Black Inc., Melbourne. ISBN 9781863954136.
Robson, L.L. (1983) A history of Tasmania. Volume 1. Van Diemen's Land from the earliest times to 1855 Melbourne, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195543645.
Robson, L.L. (1991) A history of Tasmania. Volume II. Colony and state from 1856 to the 1980s Melbourne, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195530314.

External links

Constitution Act 1855, establishing an elected parliament in the colony

British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations

Legend
Current territory · Former territory
* now a Commonwealth Realm · now a member of the Commonwealth of Nations

Europe

18th century
1708–1757 Minorca
since 1713 Gibraltar
1763–1782 Minorca
1798–1802 Minorca

19th century
1800–1964 Malta
1807–1890 Heligoland
1809–1864 Ionian Islands

20th century
1921-1937 Irish Free State

North America

17th century 1607–1776 Virginia 1610–1907 Newfoundland since 1619 Bermuda 1620–1691 Plymouth Colony 1629–1691 Massachusetts Bay Colony 1632–1776 Maryland 1636–1776 Connecticut 1636–1776 Rhode Island 1637–1662 New Haven Colony 1663–1712 Carolina 1664–1776 New York 1665–1674 and 1702-1776 New Jersey 1670–1870 Rupert's Land 1674–1702 East Jersey 1674–1702 West Jersey 1680–1776 New Hampshire 1681–1776 Pennsylvania 1686–1689 Dominion of New England 1691–1776 Massachusetts	18th century 1701–1776 Delaware 1712–1776 North Carolina 1712–1776 South Carolina 1713–1867 Nova Scotia 1733–1776 Georgia 1763–1873 Prince Edward Island 1763–1791 Quebec 1763–1783 East Florida 1763–1783 West Florida 1784–1867 New Brunswick 1791–1841 Lower Canada 1791–1841 Upper Canada	19th century 1818–1846 Columbia District / Oregon Country¹ 1841–1867 Province of Canada 1849–1866 Vancouver Island 1853–1863 Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands 1858–1866 British Columbia 1859–1870 North-Western Territory 1862–1863 Stikine Territory 1866–1871 Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1867–1931 *Dominion of Canada² 20th century 1907–1949 Dominion of Newfoundland³
¹Occupied jointly with the United States ²In 1931, Canada and other British dominions obtained self-government through the Statute of Westminster. see Canada's name. ³Gave up self-rule in 1934, but remained a de jure Dominion until it joined Canada in 1949.

Latin America and the Caribbean

17th century 1605–1979 *Saint Lucia 1623–1883 Saint Kitts (Saint Kitts & Nevis)* 1624–1966 *Barbados 1625–1650 Saint Croix 1627–1979 *St. Vincent and the Grenadines 1628–1883 Nevis (Saint Kitts & Nevis)* 1629–1641 St. Andrew and Providence Islands⁴ since 1632 Montserrat 1632–1860 Antigua (Antigua & Barbuda)* 1643–1860 Bay Islands since 1650 Anguilla 1651–1667 Willoughbyland (Suriname) 1655–1850 Mosquito Coast (protectorate) 1655–1962 *Jamaica since 1666 British Virgin Islands since 1670 Cayman Islands 1670–1973 *Bahamas 1670–1688 St. Andrew and Providence Islands⁴ 1671–1816 Leeward Islands	18th century 1762–1974 *Grenada 1763–1978 Dominica since 1799 Turks and Caicos Islands	19th century 1831–1966 British Guiana (Guyana) 1833–1960 Windward Islands 1833–1960 Leeward Islands 1860–1981 *Antigua and Barbuda 1871–1964 British Honduras (Belize)* 1882–1983 *St. Kitts and Nevis 1889–1962 Trinidad and Tobago 20th century 1958–1962 West Indies Federation
⁴Now the San Andrés y Providencia Department of Colombia

Africa

18th century 1792–1961 Sierra Leone 1795–1803 Cape Colony	19th century 1806–1910 Cape Colony 1816–1965 Gambia 1856–1910 Natal 1868–1966 Basutoland (Lesotho) 1874–1957 Gold Coast (Ghana) 1882–1922 Egypt 1884–1966 Bechuanaland (Botswana) 1884–1960 British Somaliland 1887–1897 Zululand 1888–1894 Matabeleland 1890–1980 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) 1890–1962 Uganda 1890–1963 Zanzibar (Tanzania) 1891–1964 Nyasaland (Malawi) 1891–1907 British Central Africa Protectorate 1893–1968 Swaziland 1895–1920 East Africa Protectorate 1899–1956 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan	20th century 1900–1914 Northern Nigeria 1900–1914 Southern Nigeria 1900–1910 Orange River Colony 1900–1910 Transvaal Colony 1906–1954 Nigeria Colony 1910–1931 South Africa 1911–1964 Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) 1914–1954 Nigeria Colony and Protectorate 1915–1931 South West Africa (Namibia) 1919–1960 Cameroons (Cameroon) ⁵ 1920–1963 Kenya 1922–1961 Tanganyika (Tanzania) ⁵ 1954–1960 Nigeria
⁵League of Nations mandate

Asia

17th Century 1685-1824 Bencoolen (Sumatra)	18th century 1702–1705 Côn Đảo 1757–1947 Bengal (West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh) 1762–1764 Philippines 1795–1948 Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1796–1965 Maldives	19th century 1819–1826 British Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore) 1826–1946 Straits Settlements 1839–1967 Colony of Aden 1839–1842 Afghanistan 1841–1997 Hong Kong 1841–1941 Kingdom of Sarawak (Malaysia) 1858–1947 British India (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Burma) 1879–1919 Afghanistan 1882–1963 British North Borneo (Malaysia) 1885–1946 Unfederated Malay States 1888–1984 Sultanate of Brunei 1888–1946 Sultanate of Sulu 1891–1971 Muscat and Oman protectorate 1892–1971 Trucial States protectorate 1895–1946 Federated Malay States 1898–1930 Weihai Garrison 1878–1960 Cyprus	20th century 1918–1961 Kuwait protectorate 1920–1932 Iraq⁵ 1921–1946 Transjordan⁵ 1923–1948 Palestine⁵ 1945–1946 South Vietnam 1946–1948 Malayan Union 1946–1963 Sarawak (Malaysia) 1948–1957 Federation of Malaya (Malaysia) since 1960 Akrotiri and Dhekelia (before as part of Cyprus) since 1965 British Indian Ocean Territory
⁵League of Nations mandate

Oceania

18th century 1788–1901 New South Wales	19th century 1803–1901 Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania 1807–1863 Auckland Islands⁶ 1824–1980 New Hebrides (Vanuatu) 1824–1901 Queensland 1829–1901 Swan River Colony/Western Australia 1836–1901 South Australia since 1838 Pitcairn Islands 1841–1907 Colony of New Zealand 1851–1901 Victoria 1874–1970 Fiji⁷ 1877–1976 British Western Pacific Territories 1884–1949 Territory of Papua 1888–1965 Cook Islands⁶ 1889–1948 Union Islands (Tokelau)⁶ 1892–1979 Gilbert and Ellice Islands⁸ 1893–1978 British Solomon Islands⁹	20th century 1900–1970 Tonga (protected state) 1900–1974 Niue⁶ 1901–1942 *Commonwealth of Australia 1907–1953 *Dominion of New Zealand 1919–1942 Nauru 1945–1968 Nauru 1919–1949 Territory of New Guinea 1949–1975 Territory of Papua and New Guinea¹⁰
⁶Now part of the *Realm of New Zealand ⁷Suspended member ⁸Now Kiribati and *Tuvalu ⁹Now the *Solomon Islands ¹⁰Now *Papua New Guinea

Antarctica and South Atlantic

17th century since 1659 St. Helena	19th century since 1815 Ascension Island¹¹ since 1816 Tristan da Cunha¹¹ since 1833 Falkland Islands¹²	20th century since 1908 British Antarctic Territory¹³ since 1908 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands^12, 13
¹¹Dependencies of St. Helena since 1922 (Ascension Island) and 1938 (Tristan da Cunha) ¹²Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April–June 1982 ¹³Both claimed in 1908; territories formed in 1962 (British Antarctic Territory) and 1985 (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands)