landed at Risdon, near Hobart, where he was joined shortly afterwards by fifteen soldiers and forty-two convicts. In 1807, Colonel Paterson occupied Tort Dalrymple on the north side of the island. During the same year Colonel Collins, who had failed in an attempt to colonize the shores of Port Phillip, transferred his soldiers, convicts and officials to the neighbourhood of Hobart, and was appointed commandant of the infant settlement. Provisions were scarce and dear, communication with the rest of the world was infrequent, and in 1807 the community was threatened with starvation, and flour was sold at £200 per ton. The difficulties of the settlers were increased by the hostility of the blacks. The first collision took place at Risdon, a few days after the landing of Lieutenant Bowen’s expedition, and for this the white settlers were entirely responsible. Hostilities between the races were incessant from 1802 till 1830. An attempt was made in the year 1830 to drive the natives to one corner of the island, but without success. In the following year, however, Mr George Robinson induced the remnant of the blacks to leave the mainland and take refuge, first in South Bruni and subsequently in Flinders Island, their numbers having then diminished from 5000, the original estimate of the aboriginal population, to 203. In 1842 there were only 44, in 1854 they had diminished to 16, and the last pure-blooded Tasmanian died in 1876, at the age of seventy-six. There are, however, a few persons possessing more or less aboriginal blood in some of the islands of the Bass Strait.
Some persons who had settled at Norfolk Island when that island became a penal depot were transferred to Van Diemen’s Land in 1805. But the growth of population was extremely slow, and in 1808 a census showed that there were only 3240 people on the island, including officials, military and convicts, and whatever measure of prosperity was enjoyed by the free inhabitants arose from the expenditure by the imperial government upon the convict settlement. In the year named settlers began to arrive. To every free immigrant was given a tract of land in proportion to the amount of capital brought by him to the colony — the possession of £500 entitling the holder to 640 acres, and so in proportion, a very liberal view being taken as to what constituted capital. To every free settler was assigned, if desired, the services of a number of convicts proportionate 'to the size of his holding. These were fed and clothed by the settler in return for their labour, and the government was relieved of the expense of their support and supervision. The assignment system was eventually abandoned in consequence of its moral and economic evils, but it cannot be denied that while it lasted the colony made substantial progress. In 182 1 the population had grown to 7400; the sheep numbered 128,468; the cattle, 34,790; horses, 550; and 14,940 acres of land were under crops. As the number of free settlers in the colony increased an agitation arose for more political freedom and improved administration; especially was there a demand for a free press and for trial by jury. These requests were gradually grantee!. Courts of justice were substituted in 1822 for courts-martial; and in 1825 the colony was made independent of New South Wales, Colonel Arthur being appointed governor. In 1828 the Van Diemen’s Land Company commenced sheep-farming on a large scale in the north-west district of the island under a charter granted three years before, and in 1829 the Van Diemen’s Land Establishment obtained a grant of 40,000 acres at Norfolk Plains for agriculture and grazing. In 1834 Portland Bay, on the mainland of Australia, was occupied by settlers from Van Diemen’s Land, and in 1835 there was a migration, large when compared with the population of the island, to the shores of Port Phillip, now Victoria. At that date the population was 40,172, a large proportion being convicts, for in four years 15,000 prisoners had been landed. The colony was prosperous, but the free settlers were not at all satisfied with the system of government, and an •agitation commenced in Van Diemen’s Land, as well as in New South Wales, for the introduction of representative institutions and the abolition of transportation. This system was abolished in New South Wales in 1840, after which date the island was the receptacle for all convicts not only from the United Kingdom, but from India and the colonies, and it was not until 1853 that transportation to Van Diemen’s Land finally ceased; in the same year representative institutions were introduced, the name of the colony was changed to Tasmania, and three years later the colony was granted responsible government.
The discovery of gold in Victoria produced a very remarkable effect upon Tasmania. All kinds of produce brought fabulous prices, and were exported to Victoria in such quantities that the exports rose from a value of £665,700 in 1851 to £1,509,883 in 1852, and £1,756,316 in 1853, while the population diminished in almost equal ratio. It was estimated that in 1842 there were 38,000 adult males in the colony, but in
1854 their numbers had diminished to 22,261. For many years the island was inhabited by greybeards and children; the young men and women of all classes, so soon as they bad reached manhood and womanhood, crossed Bass Strait, and entered upon the wider life and the more brilliant prospects which first Victoria, and subsequently New South Wales and Queensland, afforded them. It was not till the sixties that Tasmania embarked upon a new period of prosperity. In the early days little was known about the western half of the island. Its mineral wealth was not suspected, although as far back as 1850 coal of fair quality had been found between the Dee and the Mersey rivers, and gold had been discovered in two or three localities during 1852. In i860 two expeditions were equipped by the government for a search for gold and other minerals, and although it was some years before there was any important result, the discoveries of these explorers directed attention to the mineral wealth of the island.
The political history of the colony after the inauguration of responsible government, until it became in 1901 one of the states of Federated Australasia, was not important. State aid to religion, which was given to any denomination which would receive it, was abolished; local self-government was extended to the rural as well as to the urban districts; a policy of semi-protection was introduced; the island was connected by a submarine cable to the mainland of Australia, and thence to the rest of the civilized world; and the population, which was only 99,328 in 1870, was nearly doubled. Like her neighbours, Tasmania organized a defence force, and was able to send a contingent to South Africa in 1900. (T. A. C.)
Authorities.—J. Bonwick, Daily Life and Origin of the Tasmanians (London, 1870) ; J. Fenton, A History of Tasmania (Hobart, 1884); Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, On the Flora of Australia; its Origin, Affinities, and Distributions. An Introductory Essay to the Flora of Tasmania (London, 1859); T. C. Just, Tasmaniana; a Description of the Island and its Resources (Launceston, 1879); J. L. Gerard Krefft, Notes on the Fauna of Tasmania (Sydney, 1868); George Thomas Lloyd, Thirty-three Years in Tasmania and Victoria (London, 1862); Mrs Louisa Anne Meredith, My Home in Tasmania; or, Nine Years in Australia (New York, 1853); Tasmanian Friends and Foes—Feathered, Furred, and Finned (Hobart, 1881); Royal Society of Tasmania, Papers and Proceedings (Hobart); H. Ling Roth and M. E. Butler, The Aborigines of Tasmania (2nd ed. Halifax, 1899).
TASSIE, JAMES (1735–1799), Scottish gem-engraver and modeller, was born of humble parentage at Pollokshaws, near Glasgow, in 1735. During his earlier years he worked as a stonemason, but, having seen the collection of paintings brought together in Glasgow by Robert and Andrew Foulis, the printers, he removed to Glasgow, attended the academy which had been established there by the brothers Foulis, and became one of the most distinguished pupils of the school. Subsequently he visited Dublin in search of commissions, and there became acquainted with Dr Quin, who had been experimenting, as an amateur, in imitating antique engraved gems in coloured pastes. He engaged Tassie as an assistant, and together they perfected the discovery of an “enamel,” admirably adapted by its hardness and beauty of texture for the formation of gems and medallions. Dr Quin encouraged his assistant to try his fortune in London, and thither he repaired in 1766. At first he had a hard struggle to make his way. But he worked on steadily with the greatest care and accuracy, scrupulously destroying all
