Rich Aboriginal and pioneering history, vast wilderness areas, Australia's most spectacular mountains, dazzling beaches and the freshest food and wine imaginable await visitors in Tasmania. Home to just 500,000 people, the island of Tasmania is as intimate as it is beautiful.
Visitors can go from beach-lined coasts to World Heritage-listed mountain areas and historical sites in just a few hours while passing farm-gate producers, cellar doors and restaurants specialising in local produce along the way.
Tasmania was originally connected to the mainland of Australia and then separated as an island by rising sea levels, and may well have had Aboriginal inhabitants for thousands of years. However, the recorded history of Tasmania begins with European discovery: first, by Dutchman Abel Tasman, from whom the island takes its name, in 1642, next, by the French in 1772, and finally, by the British between 1773 and 1799.
Upon contact with British colonists, there were nine major Aboriginal tribes on the island, which the natives referred to as ""Trowunna', and it is here where the darkest chapter of modern day Australia history occured, as all of those tribes were eradicated.
Tasmania is the most mountainous state of Australia and it is still densely forested, with the Southwest National Park and neighbouring areas holding some of the last temperate rain forests in the Southern Hemisphere.
