Just Tassie Books

C.J. Binks's history of the exploration of western Tasmania — focusing on the people who explored the region from 1815 through to 1880, covering those who pushed into some of the most difficult terrain in Australia. Western Tasmania resisted systematic European exploration longer than almost any other part of the Australian continent — its combination of dense rainforest, buttongrass plains, and the treacherous coastlines of Macquarie Harbour and the Gordon River made it genuinely impassable for early explorers.

The thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, was hunted to extinction by humans — the last wild animal was shot in 1930, and the last in captivity died in 1936. This book tells that story for younger readers, part of an eight-book series in which evolutionary biologist and TV presenter Ben Garrod covers animals lost across the history of life on Earth.