CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION 



Early Explorers. Tasman. Captain Cook. His account of the 

 natives. French Explorers. La Billardiere and the natives. 

 Flinders and Bass. Founding of Hobart. Early days. 

 Bushranging. The Tasmanian Aborigines. Their character 

 and final extinction. 



At the extreme south of AustraUa and separated 

 at a distance of about two hundred miles from 

 the mainland by the gradually shelving channel 

 of Bass's Straits, lies the little island of Tasmania, 

 mountainous, forest-clad, and watered by innu- 

 merable rivers and highland lakes, and about 

 intermediate in size between Wales and Ireland. 

 Although it is structurally and historically a part 

 of Australia, the scenery and climate are both 

 quite distinctive, and if a somewhat sombre 

 monotony, not without its special charm, is the 

 keynote of Australia, Tasmania, small as it is, is 

 a land of variety and bold transition, from flat 

 Eucalyptus-covered tablelands to fantastically 

 rugged mountain ranges, overgrown with virgin 

 forests of southern Pine and evergreen Beech ; 

 from the calm blue skies of a southern Italian 

 summer to the fierce Antarctic blizzard. 



And though economically, and from its small 

 population of about 200,000 souls, one of the 

 less important states in the Federation, the island 



