Van Diemen's Land was the original name used by Europeans for the island of Tasmania, now part of Australia. The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to explore Tasmania. He named the island Anthoonij van Diemenslandt in honor of Anthony van Diemen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies who had sent Tasman on his voyage of discovery in 1642.

In 1803, the island was colonized by the British as a penal colony with the name Van Diemen's Land.

Penal colony

From the 1830s to the abolition of penal transportation (known simply as "transportation") in 1853, Van Diemen's Land was the primary penal colony in Australia. Following the suspension of transportation to New South Wales, all convicts sent to Australia served their sentences as assigned labour to free settlers, or in gangs assigned to public works in Van Diemen's Land. Only the most difficult convicts were sent to the Tasman Peninsula prison known as Port Arthur, mostly re-offenders. In total, some 75,000 convicts were transported to Van Diemen's Land, or about 40% of all convicts sent to Australia.

Convicts completing their sentence or earning their ticket-of-leave often promptly left Van Diemen's Land to settle 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.

In order to remove the unsavoury connotations with crime associated with its name, 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.

Popular culture

Music

• Van Diemen's Land is mentioned in the Australian folk song "The Wild Colonial Boy".

• 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", also known as "The Gallant Poachers", is a traditional English folk song.

Oh! when we sailed from England

We landed at the bay

We had rotten straw for bedding

We dared not to say nay

Our cots were fenced with fire

We slumber when we can

To drive away the wolves and tigers

Upon Van Diemen's Land

• "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.

• Van Diemen's Land is mentioned in the chorus of the song "Every Dog Has Its Day" by the Irish American band Flogging Molly.

• The chorus to the English folk song Maggie May says "They've sent you to Van Diemen's cruel shore."

Literature

• In Cormac McCarthy's novel, Blood Meridian one of the characters in the Glanton Gang of scalpers in 1850s Mexico is known only as the Vandiemenlander, an Australian who once hunted aborigines for a living and is now using those skills on Apaches.
• Van Diemen's Land is mentioned in Edgar Alan 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 "Part Three: Love"
• 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).

External links

• Constitution Act 1855, establishing an elected parliament in the colony

History of Tasmania

Van Diemenova zemlja | Van Diemen's Land | Van Dymeno Žemė | Van Diemensland