Reference and local history
Tasmanian history
Research-led histories of Tasmania’s places, people, industries and transport.
Explore Tasmania through documented places, transport networks, industries and communities. These articles use archives, heritage records, museums and other authoritative sources, with further reading kept visible.
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Convict history
Sites, institutions and landscapes shaped by the convict system.
Image credit: jkokavec, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · Hobart & SouthBroadmarsh Probation Station
Understand Broadmarsh Probation Station through official heritage evidence while respecting private land and fragile archaeology.
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Image credit: Mairremena, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHeritage · Hobart & SouthBrown's River Probation Station, Taroona
Understand the 1840s probation station and follow the public Brickfields Track through part of its working landscape.
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Image credit: Barrylb, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsHeritage · Hobart & SouthCascades Female Factory
A guide to the World Heritage Cascades Female Factory, its institutional history, surviving fabric and practical visit from central Hobart.
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Image credit: Chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · TasmaniaDaniel Herbert, Stonemason of Ross Bridge
Trace Daniel Herbert’s transportation, government work and extraordinary carved voussoirs at Ross Bridge.
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Image credit: Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsHistoryJørgen Jørgensen: the convict king
An evidence-led account of Jørgen Jørgensen’s remarkable life, separating his Iceland episode from his later convict years in Van Diemen’s Land.
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Image credit: Thomas Bock, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · TasmaniaMatthew Brady, Bushranger
Trace Matthew Brady from transportation and Macquarie Harbour to bushranging, capture and execution, separating records from romantic legend.
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Image credit: M. Murphy, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · North West & WestSarah Island, Macquarie Harbour
Visit Sarah Island with context for its convict station, shipbuilding yard, Aboriginal Country, ruins and boat-only access.
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Image credit: JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.HistoryTasmania’s convict past
A clear introduction to transportation to Van Diemen’s Land, the systems that controlled convict lives and the places and records that survive.
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Railways and transport
Railways, roads, bridges, ports and the routes that connected communities.
Image credit: gekko, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistoryA history of north-east Tasmania
An introduction to the north-east through Aboriginal Country, pastoral settlement, tin mining, Chinese Tasmanian history, railways and changing rural industries.
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Image credit: Gary Houston, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · TasmaniaA History of Wynyard
Trace Wynyard from Aboriginal Country and the Inglis River port through farming, rail, aviation and a changing service town.
Read the guide →Image credit: jkokavec, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · Hobart & SouthBroadmarsh Probation Station
Understand Broadmarsh Probation Station through official heritage evidence while respecting private land and fragile archaeology.
Read the guide →Image credit: Mairremena, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHeritage · Hobart & SouthBrown's River Probation Station, Taroona
Understand the 1840s probation station and follow the public Brickfields Track through part of its working landscape.
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Image credit: Gary Houston, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · North West & WestBurnie railway history
Trace how rail connected Burnie’s port with mines, farms and industry, and understand what remains today.
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Image credit: NAPARAZZI, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · North West & WestBurnie: history and heritage
A history of pataway / Burnie from Aboriginal Country and company settlement through mining transport, pulp and paper, and modern reinvention.
Read the guide →Image credit: Chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · TasmaniaDaniel Herbert, Stonemason of Ross Bridge
Trace Daniel Herbert’s transportation, government work and extraordinary carved voussoirs at Ross Bridge.
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Image credit: Steven Penton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHeritage · North West & West CoastDon to Melrose Railway
Trace the Don line from horse tramway and limestone railway to today’s heritage trains and preservation workshops.
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Place names and local stories
How Tasmania’s towns, rivers, streets and landmarks acquired their names.
Image credit: Capt. Hurd. Hydrographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · TasmaniaA History of Tasmania
Start exploring Tasmanian history through living Aboriginal cultures, colonial invasion, work, migration, environment and political change.
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Image credit: Creator not recorded, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · TasmaniaAboriginal Tasmania: Living Cultures and History
Begin learning about Tasmanian Aboriginal history through living cultures, community authority, Country and careful use of colonial records.
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Image credit: author1=Great Britain. Hydrographic Department. author2=Stokes, J. Lort. author3=Cox, H. L. author4=Wilkinson, G. B. author5=Stanley, H. J. author6=Hoskyn, R. author7=Richards, G. H. author8=Potter, J. D. author9=Davies, Bryer & Co., Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsHistoryCoastal place names of north-west Tasmania
A research guide to the names of north-west Tasmania’s bays, capes, rivers and islands, including official records and Aboriginal naming context.
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Image credit: Paris Buttfield-Addison, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistoryCoastal place names of northern and eastern Tasmania
How Aboriginal names, navigators, surveyors and local use shaped coastal feature names from the Tamar around Tasmania’s north-east and east.
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Image credit: Anthony Trollope, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsHistoryHow Tasmania’s places got their names
A guide to researching Tasmania’s place names without treating one naming layer as the whole story.
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Image credit: The original uploader was Phaedrus86 at English Wikipedia ., Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · Hobart & SouthJoan Maetsuycker and the Maatsuyker Islands
Trace the Maatsuyker name to Joan Maetsuycker, a VOC councillor who did not visit Tasmania, and separate namesake history from island history.
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Image credit: Sam Genas, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · TasmaniaJustus Schouten and Schouten Island
Trace Schouten Island’s European name to a senior Dutch East India Company official while keeping the island’s deeper Country and ecology in view.
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Image credit: Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · Launceston & North EastLaunceston Street Names
Use Launceston’s street names as evidence of colonial planning, public memory and later suburban growth.
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Historic towns and buildings
Town histories, streetscapes, public buildings and surviving heritage.
Image credit: Mattinbgn (talk · contribs), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · North & North EastA history of Launceston
Launceston’s history from Aboriginal Country and the Port Dalrymple settlement to a city shaped by trade, industry, civic ambition and conservation.
Read the guide →Image credit: gekko, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistoryA history of north-east Tasmania
An introduction to the north-east through Aboriginal Country, pastoral settlement, tin mining, Chinese Tasmanian history, railways and changing rural industries.
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Image credit: Peripitus, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistoryA history of north-west Tasmania
An introduction to north-west Tasmania through Aboriginal Country, colonial companies, farming, mining, ports and twentieth-century industry.
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Image credit: Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office Commons, No restrictions, via Wikimedia CommonsHistoryA history of southern Tasmania
A regional history of southern Tasmania spanning Aboriginal Country, European voyages, British settlement, forced labour, ports, farms and modern growth.
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Image credit: Taspictures, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · North West & WestA history of Stanley
The history of Stanley through Aboriginal Country, the Van Diemen’s Land Company, its port, farming district and changing coastal community.
Read the guide →Image credit: Capt. Hurd. Hydrographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · TasmaniaA History of Tasmania
Start exploring Tasmanian history through living Aboriginal cultures, colonial invasion, work, migration, environment and political change.
Read the guide →Image credit: Gary Houston, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · TasmaniaA History of Wynyard
Trace Wynyard from Aboriginal Country and the Inglis River port through farming, rail, aviation and a changing service town.
Read the guide →Image credit: Mairremena, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHeritage · Hobart & SouthBrown's River Probation Station, Taroona
Understand the 1840s probation station and follow the public Brickfields Track through part of its working landscape.
Read the guide →05
Industry and working lives
Mining, hydro power, farming and the industries that changed regional Tasmania.
Image credit: Peripitus, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistoryA history of north-west Tasmania
An introduction to north-west Tasmania through Aboriginal Country, colonial companies, farming, mining, ports and twentieth-century industry.
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Image credit: Avi1111 dr. avishai teicher, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHeritage · North West & WestBalfour, Tasmania
Understand Balfour’s mining remains, the demanding Balfour Track and the permits, weather and heritage care needed before a remote visit.
Read the guide →Image credit: Steven Penton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistoryBott Gorge and the Mersey Coalfield
Read Bott Gorge as a place in the history of north-west coal exploration, without treating an obscure former mine as a public attraction.
Read the guide →Image credit: Gary Houston, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · North West & WestBurnie railway history
Trace how rail connected Burnie’s port with mines, farms and industry, and understand what remains today.
Read the guide →Image credit: NAPARAZZI, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · North West & WestBurnie: history and heritage
A history of pataway / Burnie from Aboriginal Country and company settlement through mining transport, pulp and paper, and modern reinvention.
Read the guide →
Image credit: MorrisWinston at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · North West & WestCrotty Dam and Lake Burbury
Understand the King River Power Scheme and plan safe recreation around Lake Burbury and Crotty Dam.
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Image credit: Gary Houston, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistory · North West & WestDundas, Tasmania
Explore the history of Dundas as a dispersed former mining settlement, with safe access and fossicking limits clearly explained.
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Image credit: Petersod, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsHistoryEngineering Landmarks of Tasmania
Explore Tasmania’s engineering heritage through publicly accessible places, while respecting operational sites and fragile remains.
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History by region
Find stories connected to the part of Tasmania you are visiting or researching.
Hobart and South
- A History of Tasmania→
- A History of Wynyard→
- Aboriginal Tasmania: Living Cultures and History→
- Alexandra Battery, Hobart→
- Broadmarsh Probation Station→
- Brown's River Probation Station, Taroona→
- Bruni d’Entrecasteaux and Tasmania→
- Cascades Female Factory→
- Charles Robbins and the King Island Expedition→
- Daniel Herbert, Stonemason of Ross Bridge→
- Forestier Peninsula: Historical Connections→
- Franklin Square, Hobart→
- Governors of Tasmania→
- Hobart Memorials and Fountains→
- Hobart: moments in time→
- Hobart’s rivulets→
Launceston and North East
North West and West Coast
- A history of Stanley→
- Balfour, Tasmania→
- Burnie railway history→
- Burnie: Birth of a City→
- Burnie: history and heritage→
- Crotty Dam and Lake Burbury→
- Devonport History and Heritage→
- Don to Melrose Railway→
- Dundas, Tasmania→
- James Monaghan Dooley: Surveyor and Parliamentarian→
- Magnet and the Magnet Mine→
- Mining History of the Devon District→
- Oakleigh Park, Burnie→
- Old Surrey Road→
- Port of Devonport→
- Sarah Island, Macquarie Harbour→