Van Diemen's Land was an island of stark contrasts - a harsh penal colony, an English idyll for its gentry, and an island so rich in natural resources it was a profiteer's paradise.
A collection of thylacine encounter stories compiled by Col Bailey. Bailey spent decades investigating thylacine sightings and reports across Tasmania, and was one of the best-known figures in the ongoing search for evidence that the species may have survived beyond its official extinction. Tiger Tales brings together accounts and stories collected from people who believe they have encountered a thylacine, alongside Bailey's own field experience and perspective.
Tasmania has a long and unusual cricketing story: the colony played in the first first-class cricket match in Australia, defeating Victoria by three wickets in 1851, and produced fine cricketers through the late 19th century, but was overlooked when the Sheffield Shield was established in 1892 and not admitted to that competition until 1977.
To the Chinese tin miners the Blue Tier in North East Tasmania was ‘Tin Mountain.’ This history of the Tin Mountain region, and the settlements of Poimena and Weldborough, focuses on the search for valuable metal by both Europeans and Chinese.
Patrick Howard's account of his great-grandparents — Stephen Howard and Ellen Lydon — both transported to Van Diemen's Land in the 1840s and united in Hobart Town.