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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. Music 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 Hold me now, oh hold me now Till this hour has gone around And I'm gone, on the rising tide For to face Van Diemen's land. It's a bitter pill I swallow here To be rent from one so dear. We fought for justice and not for gain But the magistrate sent me away. Now kings will rule and the poor will toil And tear their hands as they tear the soil But a day will come in this dawning age When an honest man sees an honest wage. Hold me now, oh hold me now Till this hour has gone around And I'm gone on the rising tide For to face Van Diemen's Land. Van Diemen's Land is a hell for a man To live out his life in slavery. Where the climate is raw and the gun makes the law Neither wind nor rain care for bravery. Twenty years have gone by and I've ended my bond; My comrades' ghosts walk beside me. Well a rebel I came -- I'm still the same; On a cold winters night you will find me. Literature | ||||||||
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