History of Tasmania

History of Australia

Australia before 1901

Australia since 1901

Constitutional history

Tasmania

This article is a timeline of the history of Tasmania.

pre 1800

Date unknown (BC) - Mouheneenner band of South-East Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples settle in what is now the Hobart area
1642 - Abel Tasman, of the Dutch East India Company, becomes first European to sight Tasmanian mainland; he names it Van Diemen's Land after Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) governor-general Antony van Diemen
1792 - Captain William Bligh anchors to Adventure Bay for a second time and names Table Mountain (now Mt. Wellington)
1793 - French explorer Bruny d'Entrecasteaux surveys Derwent, naming it Riviere du Nord
1793 - John Hayes, of British East India Company, unaware of the French visit, sails up the river, which he names Derwent
1798 - Explorers George Bass and Matthew Flinders visit Derwent as part of circumnavigation of Van Diemen's Land; Bass climbs at least part of Mount Wellington (then known as Table Mountain) on Christmas Day

1800-1819

1802 - French explorer Nicolas Baudin surveys Derwent during month-long visit to South-East Tasmania, on which his party makes extensive notes on Aborigines, plants and animals.
1803 - Lieutenant John Bowen's 49-member party, with the ships Lady Nelson and Albion, starts first European settlement of Tasmania at Risdon Cove, naming it Hobart.
1804 - Lieutenant-Colonel David Collins' 262-member party lands at Sullivan's Cove in February; the settlement, which becomes known as Hobart Town, grows to 433 with arrival in June of rest of his Port Phillip party.
1804 - Soldiers temporarily refuse guard duties at Risdon amid fears of convict rebellion.
1804 - Aborigines killed in Risdon affray and settlement there abandoned.
1804 - Church of England clergyman Robert Knopwood conducts first divine service at Sullivans Cove.
1804 - Hobart's first cemetery opens, later St David's Park.
1804 - Colonel William Paterson establishes Port Dalrymple (Tamar River) settlement, first at George Town, then at York Town on river's western side.
1805 - After supply ships fail to arrive on time, famine forces David Collins to cut rations by one-third
1805 - Collins leaves tent home to take up residence in first government house, a wooden cottage.
1805 - Harbourmaster William Collins establishes Australia's first whaling station at Ralphs Bay.
1805 - First land grands include 10 acres (40,000 m²) to Robert Knopwood
1806 - Colonel William Paterson begins transfer of York Town settlement to site of modem Launceston
1807 - First Norfolk Island settlers arrive in Hobart in the Lady Nelson and settle at New Norfolk
1807 - Lieutenant Thomas Laycock leads five-man party on first overland journey from Launceston to Hobart, taking nine days, mainly to seek supplies for the northern settlement.
1809 - Deposed New South Wales Governor William Bligh arrives in Hobart and temporarily disrupts David Collins' authority as lieutenant-governor.
1809 - Floods in Derwent
1810 - David Collins dies suddenly, Lieutenant Edward Lord takes over and first of three administrators pending appointment of second lieutenant-governor.
1810 - First church, St David's, built
1810 - Colony's first flour mill built beside Rivulet between Murray St and Elizabeth St, operated by Edward Lord and William Collins
1810 - Administration launches colony's first newspaper, the Derwent Star and Van Diemen's Land Intelligencer
1810 - Sealing expedition discovers Macquarie Island
1811 - After arriving from Sydney, Governor Lachlan Macquarie draws up plan for Hobart streets and orders construction of public buildings and Mt Nelson signal station.
1812 - Michael Howe (later bushranging gang leader) among first convicts to arrive directly from England in HMS Indefatigable
1812 - Northern Tasmania's lieutenant-governorship ceases, Government House in Hobart takes control of whole island
1813 - Schooner Unity not heard of again after convicts seize it in Derwent
1813 - Hobart and Port Dalrymple open to trading ships
1813 - First Post Office opens in postmaster's house on corner of Argyle St and Macquarie St
1814 - Work starts on Anglesea Barracks, Australia's longest continuously occupied military building
1814 - Colony's first horse races believed to have taken place at New Town
1814 - Lieutenant-governor's court created to deal with small personal financial disputes.
1814 - Governor Lachlan Macquarie offers amnesty to bushrangers
1814 - Ship Argo disappears after seizure by convicts in Derwent
1815 - Michael Howe's bushranging gang kills two settlers in New Norfolk raid
1815 - Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Davey declares martial law against all bushrangers, mainly escaped convicts, with some military deserters; Governor Machlan Macquarie later revokes order.
1815 - Captain James Kelly circumnavigates island in whaleboat
1815 - First Van Diemen's Land wheat shipment to Sydney.
1816 - First emigrant ship arrives with free settlers from England
1817 - Weekly mail service begins between Hobart and Launceston
1817 - Work starts on new St David's Church, replacing earlier structure blown down in storm
1817 - First convict ships arrive directly from England
1817 - New government house occupied in Macquarie St, on site of present Town Hall, lower Elizabeth St and Franklin Square.
1818 - Government opens flour mill in Hobart
1818 - Soldiers and convict kill bushranger Michael Howe on banks of Shannon River
1818 - Government establishes nucleus of Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
1819 - First proper hospital opens
1819 - Hobart-New Norfolk road built
1819 - St David's Church opens

1820-1839

1820 - Roads macadamised, carthorses replaces bullocks
1820 - First substantial jail completed on corner of Macquarie St and Murray St.
1820 - Merino sheep arrive from John Macarthur's stud in NSW.
1820 - First Wesleyan (Methodist) meeting in colony
1821 - Arrival of first Catholic clergyman, Father Phillip Conolly
1821 - On second visit, Governor Lachlan Macquarie chooses sites for Perth, Campbell Town, Ross, Oatlands and Brighton.
1821 - Officials and convicts leave Port Dalrymple to establish Macquarie Harbour penal settlement
1822 - Van Diemen's Land Agricultural Society holds first meeting in Hobart
1823 - Presbyterian Church's first official ministry in Australia begins in Hobart
1823 - Formation of first Tasmanian bank, Bank of Van Diemen's Land
1824 - Inauguration of Supreme Court
1824 - Cannibal convict Alexander Pearce hanged after escaping twice from Macquarie Harbour and surviving by eating companions.
1824 - Convict Matthew Brady begins bushranging career after Escape from Macquarie Harbour
1825 - Van Diemen's Land becomes colony independent of NSW with appointed Executive Council and Legislative Council.
1825 - Opening of Richmond Bridge, Australia's oldest existing bridge.
1825 - Party of soldiers and convicts establishes Maria Island penal settlement
1826 - Van Diemen's Land Company launches North-West pastoral and agricultural development at Circular Head.
1826 - Tasmanian Turf Club established
1826 - Settler John Batman, later one of Melbourne's founders, helps to capture bushranger Matthew Brady near Launceston.
1826 - Disease epidemic in Hobart, blamed on rivulet pollution
1826 - Courthouse built on corner of Macquarie St and Murray St
1826 - Street lighting with oil lamps introduced
1826 - Legislative Council meets formally for the first time
1827 - First regatta-style events on Derwent
1827 - Van Diemen's Land Company begins settlement at Emu Bay (now Burnie)
1828 - Proclamation by Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur excludes Aborigines from settled areas
1828 - Martial law later declared against Aborigines in settled areas after Van Diemen's Land Company shepherds kills 30 Aborigines at Cape Grim
1828 - Start of regular postal service with Sydney
1828 - Widespread floods
1829 - Jail for women convicts ("female factory") opens at Cascades
1829 - "Protector" George Augustus Robinson starts Aboriginal mission at Bruny Island
1829 - Convicts seize brig Cyprus at Recherche Bay and sail to China
1829 - Van Diemen's Land Scientific Society formed under patronage of Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur
1829 - Hobart-New Norfolk coach service begins
1830 - George Augustus Robinson starts reconciliation efforts with Aborigines by visiting west coast
1830 - Administration launches notorious "Black Line" military campaign across most of colony to round up Aborigines; in seven weeks two are shot and two are captured
1830 - Port Arthur penal settlement established
1830 - Convict chain gang starts work on causeway across Derwent at Bridgewater
1831 - Australia's first novel, Quintus Servinton, by Henry Savery, published in Hobart
1831 - New land regulations discontinue free land grants, replacing them with sales
1832 - George Augustus Robinson arrives in Hobart with Aborigines from Oyster Bay and Big River tribes, the last Aborigines removed from European-settled areas; Wybalenna, Flinders Island, chosen for Aboriginal resettlement site.
1832 - Ends of martial law against Aborigines
1832 - Work starts on Cascade Brewery
1832 - Regular Hobart-Launceston coach service begins
1832 - Maria Island penal settlement closes
1832 - Derwent Light ("Iron Pot") lit for first time
1833 - First professional theatrical performance in Hobart
1833 - Macquarie Harbour penal settlement closes, convicts transferred to Port Arthur
1834 - Convicts evacuating Macquarie Harbour capture brig Frederick and sail to Chile
1834 - Stagecoaches begin daily Hobart-New Norfolk, weekly Hobart-Launceston services
1834 - Daily Hobart-New Norfolk steamship trips begin
1834 - Launceston "female factory" completed
1834 - Point Puer boys' convict establishment opens at Port Arthur
1834 - First coal shipment leaves convict mines on Tasman Peninsula
1834 - Jury trial system for all civil cases begins
1834 - Horse-drawn coaches begin taxi-style service
1834 - Henty brothers leave Launceston for Portland Bay to make first European settlement in Victoria
1835 - Nearly all remaining Tasmanian Aborigines surrender to George Augustus Robinson and are moved to Flinders Island
1835 - Transport George III sinks in D'Entrecasteaux Channel with loss of 139 male convicts of 220 aboard
1835 - In separate expeditions, John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner leave Launceston to launch first European settlements at Port Phillip, which developed into Melbourne.
1835 - Colonial artist John Glover sends 35 paintings of Van Diemen's Land to London exhibition.
1835 - First meeting to establish Launceston Bank for Savings
1836 - Famed British naturalist Charles Darwin visits Hobart during round-the-world voyage in HMS Beagle
1836 - Post office moves to premises on corner of Elizabeth St and Collins St
1837 - Theatre Royal opens
1837 - Lieutenant Governor Sir John Franklin founds Tasmanian Society for the Study of Natural Science
1837 - Police office built on corner of Macquarie St and Murray St
1838 - First annual Hobart Regatta on Derwent
1838 - Work begins on old Customs House, which becomes Parliament House at start of responsible self-government in 1856
1838 - Sir John Franklin establishes board of education to introduce non-denominational schools
1838 - Bruny Island lighthouse completed

1840-1859

1840 - Economic depression starts, continues until 1845
1840 - Captain James Ross arrives with Antarctic expedition in HMS Erebus and HMS Terror
1840 - Sir John Franklin establishes Ross Bank meteorological observatory site, named after explorer, near present Government House site
1840 - Dr William Bedford founds first Hobart private hospital (in house near Theatre Royal) after dispute at government hospital
1840 - Transportation from Britain to NSW ends, causing heavier influx of convicts to Tasmania
1842 - Colony's first official census, population 57,471
1842 - Hobart Proclaimed a city
1842 - Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science, first Australian scientific journal, begins publication
1842 - Peak year for convict arrivals (5329)
1842 - Maria Island's Darlington penitentiary reopened
1843 - Arrival of Tasmania's first Anglican bishop, Francis Russell
1843 - Bushranger Martin Cash captured in Hobart, death sentence on his commuted and he later gets pardon
1844 - First Catholic bishop, Robert Willson, arrives
1844 - Formation of Royal Society of Tasmania, first branch outside Britain, as development of society founded in 1837 by Sir John Franklin; society branch takes over botanical gardens
1844 - Norfolk Island, formerly administered by NSW, comes under Tasmanian control
1845 - Emigrant ship Cataraqui wrecked near King Island, 406 lives lost
1845 - Hobart Savings Bank opens
1845 - Jewish community consecrates Hobart Synagogue, Australia's oldest
1845 - Artist John Skinner Prout organises first known Australian exhibition of pictures in Hobart
1846 - Foundation of the Hutchins School and Launceston Grammar School
1846 - Lieutenant-governor Sir John Eardley-Wilmot dismissed, allegedly for failure to suppress convict homosexuality
1846 - Convict transportation to Tasmania suspended until 1848
1846 - Tasmania becomes first Australian colony to enact legislation to protect native animals
1847 - Britain orders closure of NSW convict establishment and transfer of remaining prisoners to Tasmania
1847 - Big Hobart meeting petitions Queen Victoria for end to transportation
1847 - Wybalenna Aboriginal settlement at Flinders Island closes and surviving 47 Aborigines move to Oyster Cove
1847 - News of Sir John Franklin's death during Arctic exploration reaches Hobart
1847 - Charles Davis founds hardware business
1847 - Launceston doctor W. R. Pugh uses ether as general anaesthetic for first time in Tasmania
1848 - Hobart peaks as whaling port, with 1046 men aboard 37 ships
1848 - Colony now only place of transportation in British Empire
1849 - 'Young Irelanders' (Irish political prisoners), including William Smith O'Brien, arrive at Port Arthur
1849 - Anti-transportation league formed after Launceston public meeting
1849 - Tasmania gets first public library
1849 - Tasmanian apple growers export to the United States of America and New Zealand

1850 - First secular high school built at Domain
1850 - Constitution Dock officially opened
1851 - Black Thursday bushfires in February
1851 - Influenza epidemic
1851 - First election for 16 non-appointed members of Legislative Council
1851 - Hobart Chamber of Commerce established
1851 - Launceston host for first Australian inter-colonial cricket match (Van Diemen's Land v Victoria)
1851 - Maria Island's Darlington penitentiary abandoned
1852 - Elections for first Hobart and Launceston municipal councils
1852 - Payable gold discovered near Fingal
1853 - Jubilee festival in Hobart celebrates end of convict transportation after arrival of last ship, the St Vincent
1853 - First Tasmanian adhesive postage stamp issued
1854 - Severe floods, fires hit city
1854 - The Mercury founded as bi-weekly publication
1855 - Horse-drawn 'buses' (large carts) begin services, mainly on city-New Town route; they later become enclosed vehicles
1855 - Henry Young becomes first vice-regal representative to have title of Governor
1856 - Name of Van Diemen's Land officially changed to Tasmania after grant of responsible self-government
1856 - New two-house Parliament opens after elections, William Champ becomes colony's first Premier
1856 - Norfolk Island transferred from Tasmanian to NSW control
1857 - Hobart's municipal Incorporation
1857 - Hobart-Launceston telegraph line opens
1857 - Hobart customers start using coal gas, streets get gas lighting
1858 - First meeting of Hobarts Marine Board, Australia's oldest port authority
1858 - Hobart and Launceston councils form municipal polices forces
1858 - Council of Education established
1858 - Hobart Savings Bank founded
1858 - Parliament passes Rural Municipalities Act
1859 - Worries about public health prompt Hobart Town Council to appoint health officer
1859 - New Government House at Domain occupied for first time, by Governor Henry Young and Lady Young

1860-1879

1860 - British troops sail from hobart for Maori war in New Zealand
1860 - Volunteer corps of infantry, cavalry and artillery formed
1860 - Economic depression
1860 - The Mercury begins daily publication
1862 - Tasmania adopts Torrens land-conveyancing and registration system
1862 - Serious Derwent flooding
1862 - Hobart's post office moves to rebuilt courthouse on corner of Macquarie St and Murray St
1863 - Opening of Tasmanian Museum on present site
1864 - First shipment of trout and salmon ova arrives from England
1866 - Hobart Town Hall opened
1866 - Hobart Philharmonic Society formed
1867 - George Peacock launches one of Australia's first jam factories in Hobart (later operated by Henry Jones and Co under the name IXL)
1868 - First royal visit, during which Prince Alfred (Duke of Edinburgh) lays foundation stone for St David's Cathedral and turns first sod for Tasmania's first railway, Launceston-Deloraine line, built by a private company.
1868 - With Education Act, Tasmania becomes first Australian colony to have compulsory state education system, administered by local school boards
1869 - Death of William Lanney ("King Billy"), reputedly the last full blood Tasmanian Aboriginal man; his body is raided and mutilated for scientific study
1869 - Undersea cable successfully establishes link between Tasmania and Melbourne.
1870 - British troops leave
1870 - Tasmanian Public Library formally constituted
1871 - Opening of Launceston-Deloraine railway, Tasmania's first
1871 - James "Philosopher" Smith discovers tin at Mt Bischoff
1872 - Direct telegraphic communication begins between Tasmania and England
1873 - Work begins on private operated Hobart-Launceston rail link
1873 - Government takes over Launceston-Deloraine line
1874 - St David's Cathedral consecrated
1874 - Tasmanian Racing Club established
1874 - Launceston rioters protest against rates levy for Deloraine railway
1874 - First book publication of Marcus Clarke's For the Term of His Natural Life, set mainly in Tasmania
1875 - Hobart Hospital begins professional training of nurses
1875 - Widespread flooding
1876 - Truganini, described as last Tasmanian full blooded Aborigine, dies in Hobart
1876 - Hobart-Launceston railway opens
1877 - Port Arthur penal settlement closed
1877 - Gold discovered at Beaconsfield
1878 - Mt Heemskirk tin mining begins

1880-1899

1880 - Earthquake hits Hobart
1880 - Tasmania gets first telephone with line from city centre to Mt Nelson signal station
1880 - Start of Derwent Sailing Boat Club (later Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania)
1880 - Gold discovered at Pieman River on west coast
1881 - William Shoobridge organises first trial shipment of apples from Hobart to Britain
1881 - Hobart officially replaces 'Hobart Town' as capital's name
1882 - Married Women's Property Act allows wives to own property in their own right
1882 - Silver-lead discovered at Zeehan
1882 - Hobart Stock Exchange opens
1883 - Typhoid and diphtheria epidemic prompt public health legislation
1883 - Government opens first Hobart and Launceston telephone exchanges
1883 - Trades and Labor Council formed
1883 - Discovery of gold at "Iron Blow" at Mt Lyell amidst increased West Coast mineral prospecting
1885 - Education Department created, centralising control of schools
1885 - Formation of the Mt Lyell Prospecting Association
1886 - Copper found at Mt Lyell
1886 - Government takes over Tasmanian Museum and Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
1886 - Federal Council of Australasia discusses Federation at its first assembly held in Hobart
1886 - Public Health Act creates local boards of health
1887 - Derwent Valley railway line to New Norfolk opens, extended to Glenora within a year
1887 - Establishment of The Friends School in Hobart by the Society of Friends (Quakers).
1887 - European entrepreneur Diego Bernacchi floats company to develop Maria Island
1888 - Hobart gets first technical school
1888 - Reservoir water supply opened
1888 - Launceston proclaimed city
1890 - University of Tasmania opens at the Domain
1890 - Government takes over Hobart-Launceston railway
1890 - Legislation provides for payment of Tasmanian parliamentarians
1891 - Bank of Van Diemen's Land collapses, economic depression follows
1891 - Queen Victoria Museum opens in Launceston
1892 - George FitzGerald founds FitzGeralds department store chain, now owned by Harris Scarfe
1893 - Private company begins electric tramway in Hobart, first in an Australian capital city
1893 - Mt Lyell Mining and Railway Co. formed
1893 - Government establishes Tasmanian Tourist Association
1894 - Hobart international exhibition opens
1894 - Government introduces flat-rate income tax system
1895 - Premiers conference in Hobart discusses proposals for federal constitution and plebiscite.
1895 - Launceston becomes first southern hemisphere city to get electric light after first Tasmanian hydro-electric station opens at Duck Reach on South Esk River
1895 - All Tasmanian districts move to Australian Eastern Standard Time, ending different time zones in colony
1896 - Entrepreneur George Adams launches Tattersalls lottery venture in Hobart; first lottery held to dispose of assets of failed Bank of Van Diemen's Land
1896 - Ore smelting begins at My Lyell
1897 - Hare-Clark voting system used on trial basis for state polls in Hobart and Launceston
1897 - Formation of Southern Tasmania Football Association
1897 - Serious bushfires start on New Year's Eve, end with six lives lost
1898 - Tasmanians vote four to one in favour of referendum on federation with mainland colonies
1898 - Municipal police forces become part of new statewide government force
1898 - Electric street lighting begins in Hobart
1898 - Norwegian-born Carsten Borchgrevink's Antarctic expedition arrives in Hobart on way south; Tasmanian Louis Bernacchi joins as physicist
1899 - First Tasmanian troops leave for Boer War in South Africa
1899 - Federation wins overwhelming Tasmanian approval in second referendum

1900-1919

1900 - More Tasmanian troops leave for Boer War
1900 - Adult male suffrage for House of Assembly adopted, with property qualifications abolished
1900 - End of whaling operations from Hobart
1900 - Bubonic plague scare grips Tasmania
1900 - Macquarie Island becomes a Tasmanian dependency
1901 - Admnistrator Sir John Dodds reads proclamation of Commonwealth of Australia from Tasmanian Supreme Court steps
1901 - Visit by Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (future King George V and Queen Mary).
1901 - First elections for Federal Parliament
1901 - Zeehan conference leads to formation of Tasmanian Workers Political League (forerunner to Labor Party)
1902 - Last Tasmanian troops return from the Boer War
1902 - Robert Sticht completes world's first successful pyritic smelting at Mt Lyell
1903 - Women get House of Assembly voting right (the already had it for federal polls)
1903 - Hobart-Launceston telephone line opens
1903 - Two ships leave Hobart on relief expedition to free British explorer Robert Scott's Discovery from Antarctic ice
1903 - Launceston smallpox epidemic forces cancellation of Tasmanian centenary celebrations, some festivities a year later
1904 - Legislation allows Tasmanian women to become lawyers
1904 - Formation of Tasmanian National Association (forerunner to Liberal Party)
1904 - Native flora and fauna reserve declared at Schouten Island and Freycinet Peninsula
1905 - Wireless telegraphy experiments between Hobart and Tasman Island and between state and mainland
1905 - General Post Office building opens
1906 - Marconi Co. opens wireless telegraphy service between Devonport and Queenscliff, Victoria
1906 - Tasman Lighthouse first lit
1907 - New public library, built with money from American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, opens in Hobart.
1907 - Hare-Clark voting system extended to all of Tasmania.
1908 - State school fees abolished
1908 - Queen Alexandra Maternity Hospital opens in Hobart
1908 - First Scout troops formed
1909 - Guy Fawkes Day (November 5) fire destroy Hobart market, City Hall later built on site
1909 - First statewide use of Hare-Clark voting system elects first Labor government, led by John Earle; government lasts only one week, with return of conservatives
1909 - Irish blight wipes out potato crop
1910 - Carters' wage strike paralyses Hobart for a week, ends with win for workers
1910 - Legislation sets maximum 48-hour working week and minimum wages in several trades
1910 - Great Lake hydro-electric project starts
1911 - Douglas Mawson's ship Aurora docks in Hobart on way to Antarctic
1911 - Philip Smith teachers' college opens at Domain, Electric trams begin running in Launceston
1912 - Mt Lyell fire traps miners underground, 42 die
1912 - Norwegian Roald Amundsen, first man to reach South Pole, arrives in Hobart on return from Antarctic expedition
1912 - Hobart City Council takes over tramway service
1912 - First Tasmanian Girl Guide company formed
1913 - First government high schools open in Hobart and Launceston
1913 - Hobart City Council buys tram service
1913 - Term "free by servitude" referring to ex-convicts, appears for last time in official documents, after use for more than 100 years
1914 - A. Delfosse Badgery makes Tasmania's first flight from Elwick in a plane he built himself
1914 - First Tasmanian troops leave to fight in World War I
1914 - State government buys hydro-electric company
1915 - Tasmanian legislation establishes Australia's first special authority to create and manage parks and reserves
1915 - Serious bushfires
1916 - In Tasmania's worse rail disaster, driver and six passengers die, 31 survive injuries, after Launceston-Hobart express crashes near Campania
1916 - First all-Tasmanian battalion (the 40th) leaves for World War I
1916 - Opening of Great Lakes hydro scheme's first stage, Waddamana power station
1916 - State's first national parks declared at Mt Field and Freycinet
1916 - Daylight saving first introduced as temporary wartime measure
1917 - Electrolytic Zinc Company works at Risdon and Australian Commonwealth Carbide's plant at Electrona established
1917 - Ridgeway reservoir completed
1919 - Worldwide Spanish Influenza epidemic reaches Tasmania, affecting one-third of the population and claiming 171 lives
1919 - Ex-World War I airman A. L. Long makes first flight over Bass Strait
1919 - Frozen Tasmanian meat exported for the first time

1920-1939

1920 - Visit by Prince of Wales, future King Edward VIII
1920 - Miena dam completed
1920 - Launceston-born Hudson Fysh helps found Qantas
1922 - Legislation enables women to stand in state elections
1922 - Legacy movement starts with founding of Remembrance Club in Hobart by Major-General Sir John Gellibrand
1922 - Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park proclaimed
1923 - First concert by Hobart Symphony Orchestra
1923 - Severe flooding in Hobart
1923 - Labor's Joseph Lyons, a future prime minister, becomes state premier
1924 - Private company starts first Tasmanian radio station, 7ZL (now part of ABC), with regular broadcasts from the Mercury building
1924 - Electrolytic Zinc Co makes first superphosphate at Risdon
1925 - Workmen open David Collins' grave during conversion of old St David's Cemetery into St David's Park
1925 - Osmiridium fields discovered at Adamsfield in south-west
1927 - Inquiry into proposed bridge linking Hobart city with eastern shore
1927 - Visit by Duke and Duchess of York (future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth)
1928 - Cadbury's Claremont factory makes first chocolate
1928 - Voting in Tasmanian state elections becomes compulsory (federal voting became compulsory in 1924)
1929 - Disastrous floods, mainly in Northern Tasmania, take 22 lives; dam burst damages Derby township and tin mines
1929 - Hobart gets automatic telephone system
1929 - Great Depression begins
1929 - Legislation creates Hydro-Electric Commission, replacing government department
1931 - Tasmanian Harold Gatty and American Wiley Post make record round-the-world flight (eight days, 15 hours)
1932 - Ivan and Victor Holyman start air service between Launceston and Flinders Island
1932 - Lyell Highway opens, linking Hobart with west coast
1932 - Former premier Joseph Lyons becomes prime minister, only Tasmanian to reach that rank
1933 - Commonwealth Grants Commission appointed to inquire into affairs of claimant states, including Tasmania
1934 - Holyman Airways (a forerunner of Ansett Airlines) launches Launceston-Melbourne service, within months, company plane Miss Hobart disappears over Bass Strait with loss of 12 people, including proprietor Victor Holyman
1934 - Election of government led by Albert Ogilvie starts 35 years of continuous Labor governments
1935 - Five die when Holyman Airways plane Loina crashes off Flinders Island.
1935 - Hobart gets first electric trolley buses
1935 - Legislation for three-year state parliament terms
1936 - SS Paringa sinks in Bass Strait while towing tanker, 31 die
1936 - ABC forms orchestra
1936 - Last known Tasmanian tiger (thylacine) dies at Hobart's Beaumaris Zoo
1936 - First commercial flights use federal aerodrome at Cambridge
1936 - Submarine telephone cable service begins between Tasmania and Victoria via King Island
1936 - First two area schools (renamed district schools in 1973) open at Sheffield and Hagley
1937 - Open of Mount Wellington summit road, built as Depression relief work project
1937 - Poliomyelitis epidemic
1937 - Five-year state parliamentary terms return
1938 - Production starts at APPM's Burnie mill
1938 - Work begins on floating arch bridge across Derwent in Hobart
1939 - World War II begins
1939 - Death in office of prime minister Joseph Lyons
1939 - Royal Hobart Hospital opens on present site

1940-1959

1940 - Tasmanian soldiers leave for North African campaign with Australian 6th Division
1940 - German naval raiders Pinguin and Atlantis lay mines off Hobart and other Australian areas. Hobart closed to shipping because of mine threat; Bass Strait closed after mine sinks British steamer Cambridge.
1941 - Tasmanian soldiers leave for Malaya with Australian 8th Division
1941 - Australian Newsprint Mills' Boyer plant becomes first in world to produce newsprint from hardwood
1942 - January-March daylight savings introduced as wartime measure
1942 - Women 18 to 30 called up for war work
1943 - Floating-arch pontoon bridge Hobart Bridge opens
1943 - Enid Lyons (later Damn Enid), widow of Joseph Lyons, elected first woman member of House of Representatves, winning seat of Darwin (now Braddon).
1943 - Japanese torpedo cruiser HMAS Hobart in Solomon Islands waters
1944 - University of Tasmania begins transfer to Sandy Bay site
1944 - State Library established
1945 - Rani wins first Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
1946 - Australian National Airways plane crashes at Seven Mile Beach, killing 25.
1946 - Last horse-drawn Hobart cab ceases operation
1946 - Poliomyelitis epidemic
1947 - War-affected migrants begin arriving from Europe to work for Hydro-Electric Commission
1947 - Edward Brooker takes over as Labor premier after Robert Cosgrove's resignation to face corruption and bribery charges
1948 - Margaret McIntyre wins Legislative Council seat in May, becoming the first woman member of Tasmanian Parliament; airliner crash in NSW in September kills her and 12 others.
1948 - Robert Cosgrove resumes premiership after acquittal on corruption and bribery charges
1948 - ABC forms Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra on permanent basis
1948 - Fire destroys Ocean Pier
1948 - Antarctic research station established on Macquarie Island
1949 - Poliomyelitis epidemic
1949 - Government introduces compulsory X-rays in fight against tuberculosis
1949 - Tasmainan politician Dame Enid Lyons, widow of former prime minister Joseph Lyons, becomes first woman to reach federal ministry rank, as Executive Council vice-president
1949 - Government buys Theatre Royal

1951 - Brighton army camp gets first intake of national service trainees
1951 - Hartz Mountain National Park proclaimed
1951 - Serious bushfires
1951 - Italian and German migrants arrive to work under contract for Hydro-Electric Commission
1952 - First woman elected to Hobart City Council
1952 - Severe floods
1952 - Government ends free hospital scheme
1952 - Single state licensing body formed for hotels and clubs
1953 - Tasman Limited diesel train service begins between Hobart and northern towns
1953 - Housing Department created to manage public housing
1953 - Beaconsfield becomes first Australian centre to get fluoridated water
1954 - The Queen becomes first reigning monarch to visit state, accompanied by Prince Phillip, as part of 150th anniversary celebrations, she unveils monument to pioneer British settlers
1954 - Hobart Rivulet area damaged as severe floods affect southern and eastern Tasmania
1954 - Metropolitan Transport Trust formed
1954 - Tattersalls Lotteries moves headquarters from Hobart to Melbourne
1954 - Spouses of property owners get right to vote in Legislative Council elections
1955 - Royal commission appointed to inquire into University of Tasmania after request by Professor Sydney Orr
1955 - House of Assembly gets first two women members, Liberals Mabel Miller and Amelia Best
1955 - Hobart becomes first Australian city to get parking meters
1955 - Proclamation of Lake Pedder National Park (later extended to form South-West National Park).
1955 - First ingot poured at Bell Bay aluminium refinery
1955 - Labor Party's federal conference in Hobart brings ALP split over industrial groups to head, leading to formation of Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist), later Democratic Labor Party
1955 - Lactos cheese factory opens at Burnie
1956 - University of Tasmania Council dismisses Professor Sydney Orr, alleging improper conduct by him with female student; Orr launches unsuccessful court action against university for wrongful dismissal
1956 - Tasmania gets first woman mayor, Dorothy Edwards of Launceston
1957 - Water Act establishes Rivers and Water Supply Commission
1958 - Hobart waterside works block two Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist) members, father Frank Hursey and son Denis, from working in dispute over their objection to paying union levy that would partly go to ALP; police guard Hurseys after court order; Supreme Court awards them damages
1959 - Princess of Tasmania becomes first roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry on Bass Strait run
1959 - High Court verdict in Hursey case upholds unions' right to levy members for political purposes, expel those who refuse to pay
1959 - Federal Government reduces claimant states to two, Tasmania and Western Australia

1960-1979

1960 - Severe floods in Derwent Valley and Hobart, with business basements under water and houses washed away
1960 - Television stations ABT-2 (ABC) and TVT-6 (now WIN) start programs from Mt. Wellington transmitters
1960 - New jail opens at Risdon
1960 - Hobart trams cease, succeeded by electric trolley buses
1960 - First meeting of Inland Fisheries Commission
1960 - Opening of new State Library headquarters
1960 - First city parking station opens in Argyle Street
1961 - Construction of Hobart-Sydney ferry terminal begins
1962 - Australian Paper Makers Ltd's Port Huon mill opens
1962 - TEMCO's Bell Bay ferro-manganese plant begins production
1962 - Government subsidises municipal fluoridation schemes
1963 - University of Tasmania completes move to Sandy Bay site; Universities Commission recommends medical school
1964 - Tasman Bridge opens for traffic, old pontoon bridge towed away
1964 - Hobart's water supply fluoridated
1964 - Glenorchy proclaimed city
1965 - First Tasmanians leave for Vietnam War under national service scheme
1965 - Ferry Empress of Australia makes first Sydney-Hobart voyage
1965 - Official opening of Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music
1965 - Bass Strait oil drilling begins
1966 - Hugh copper reserves found in Mt Lyell area
1966 - Savage River iron ore agreements involving $62 million signed
1967 - February Black Tuesday bushfires claim 62 lives - 53 in Hobart area - and destroy more than 1300 homes
1967 - Tasmanian joins other states in approving full constitutional rights for Aborigines
1967 - Hydro-Electric Commission tables plans in State Parliament to dam Lake Pedder in South-West
1967 - Daylight saving and breathalyser tests introduced
1968 - Full adult franchise introduced for Legislative Council elections
1968 - Hobart trolley buses cease, replaced by diesel vehicles
1968 - State abolishes death penalty
1968 - Savage River iron ore project officially opens
1968 - Batman Bridge across lower Tamar River opens
1969 - Tasmanians vote Labor Party out after 35 years in office, Liberal-Centre Party forms coalition government
1969 - Worst floods in 40 years hit Launceston
1970 - Parliament legislates for permanent daylight savings
1970 - State marine research laboratories at Taroona open
1970 - Electrolytic Zinc Company opens $6 million residue treatment plant
1971 - First woodchip shipment leaves Tasmanian Pulp and Forest Holdings' mill at Triabunna
1971 - APPM Ltd's Wesley Vale paper plant opens
1971 - First state Aboriginal conference held in Launceston
1972 - Conservationsts lose battle to prevent flooding of Lake Pedder in South-West for hydro-electric scheme
1972 - Liberal-Centre Party coalition government collapses
1972 - Tasmanian College of Advanced Education opens in Hobart
1972 - Ferry Princess of Tasmania makes last Tasmanian voyage
1972 - Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre opens at Tasmanian Aboriginal Information Centre
1973 - Coastal freighter Blythe Star sinks with loss of three men, seven survivors spend eight days adrift in lifeboat before coming ashore on Forestier Peninsula
1973 - Australia's first legal casino opens at Wrest Point Hotel Casino
1973 - Sir Stanley Burbury, formerly chief justice, becomes first Australian-born governor of Tasmania
1974 - Three die when boller explosion demolishes laundry at Mt St Canice Convent, Sandy Bay
1974 - Tasmanian workers under state wages board awards get four weeks annual leave; woman awarded equal pay
1974 - Hobart suburban rail services cease
1975 - Freighter Lake Illawarra crashes into Tasman Bridge, causing 12 deaths and bringing down part of bridge; temporary Bailey bridge put across Derwent
1975 - Police academy completed at Rokeby
1975 - Hotels allowed to open for Sunday trading
1975 - TAB begins operating
1976 - Members of Aboriginal community ritually cremate Truganini's remains, scatter ashes in D'Entrecasteaux Channel
1976 - Tasmanian Wilderness Society formed
1976 - Freight equalisation scheme subsidises sea cargo to and from state
1977 - Repaired Tasman Bridge reopens to traffic
1977 - Royal visit, during which Aboriginal activist Michael Mansell presents the Queen with land rights claim
1977 - Tasmanian Film Corporation launched
1978 - Australian National Railways takes over Tasmanian rail system; Tasman Limited ceases operations, ending regular passenger train services in state
1978 - Hydro-Electric Commission proposes power scheme involving Gordon, Franklin and King rivers
1979 - Tasmanian College of Advanced Education moves to Launceston
1979 - State's first ombudsman begins duties
1979 - Hobart gets increased Saturday morning shopping
1979 - Government expands South-West conservation area to more than one-fifth of state's total area

1980-1999

1980 - Australian Antarctic Division headquarters completed at Kingston
1980 - Labor MHA Gillian James becomes first woman to become State Government minister
1980 - Australian Martime College opens at Beauty Point
1980 - Australian Heritage Commission includes Tasmania on National Estate register
1981 - Prebiscite on preferred new hydro-electric scheme shows 47% of voters favour Gordon-below-Franklin development, 8% prefer Gordon-above-Olga, with 45 per cent casting informal votes, including 'no dams' write-ins.
1981 - Devonport proclaimed city
1981 - Bushfires destroy 40 Zeehan homes
1982 - Proclamation of Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, including South-West, Franklin-Lower Gorden Wild Rivers and Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair national parks; conservationists blockade Gordon-below-Franklin hydro-electric dam work
1982 - Tasmanian's elect Liberals as government in their own right for first time in state's history
1983 - Federal regulations block Franklin dam construction; High Court rules in favour of federal sovereignty, ending Gordon-below-Franklin scheme
1983 - Tasmanian Aboriginal Land Council established
1983 - Visit by The Prince and Princess of Wales
1984 - Official opening of Bowen Bridge
1984 - Official opening of Wrest Point Convention Centre
1984 - Fire damages Theatre Royal
1984 - Atlantic salmon eggs introduced to Tasmania
1985 - Four-day cremation ceremony at Oyster Cove, south of Hobart, for Aboriginal remains recovered from museums
1985 - CSIRO Marine Laboratories open in Hobart
1985 - Last voyage by ferry Empress of Australia before replacement by Abel Tasman
1985 - Last Tasmanian drive-in theatres close in Hobart and Launceston
1985 - Municipal rationalisation advances with Launceston taking over St Leonards and Lilydale
1986 - Pope John Paul II holds mass for 32,000 people at Elwick racecourse during Hobart visit
1986 - Archeologists discover Aboriginal rock paintings in South-West believed to be 20,000 years old
1987 - Launching of Lady Nelson replica ship
1987 - High Court decision bans logging in Lemonthyme, southern forests
1987 - Antarctic supply ship Nella Dan sinks off Macquarie Island
1988 - International fleet of about 200 sailing, cruise and naval ships from about 20 countries calls at Hobart as part of Australian Bicentennial celebrations; more than 150 leave on race to Sydney
1988 - Clarence and Burnie proclaimed cities
1988 - Tasmanian Sporting Hall of Fame opens
1989 - State election ends with Labor-Green accord involving five independents; their no-confidence vote in Robin Gray's minority Liberal government gives Labor's Michael Field premiership
1990 - Sea Cat Tasmania, built in Hobart by InCat, begins summer crossings of Bass Strait
1990 - King Island scheelite mine closes
1990 - World Rowing Championships held on Lake Barrington, near Sheffield
1991 - Savings Bank of Tasmania and Tasmanian Bank amalgamate as Trust Bank
1991 - Port Huon paper mill, Electrona silicon smelter, Renison tin mine and Devonport Ovaltine factory close
1992 - Aborigines occupy Risdon Cove in protest over land claims
1992 - Royal Hobart Hospital nursing school closes, ending hospital-based nursing training in Tasmania
1992 - Seven women ordained as Anglican priests at St David's Cathedral
1992 - State's unemployment rate reaches 12.2% as jobs decline in public and private sectors; rallies of angry workers force temporary closure of House of Assembly
1993 - Christine Milne (Tasmanian Greens) becomes first woman leader of a Tasmanian political party
1993 - Spirit of Tasmania replaces Abel Tasman on Bass Strait ferry service
1993 - Tasmania's unemployment rate reaches 13.4%
1993 - State Government reduces total of municipalities from 46 to 29, number of departments from 17 to 12
1994 - End to 80 years of dam building as state's last power station, Tribute, opens near Tullah
1994 - HMAS Huon naval base decommissioned
1995 - All-day Saturday shop trading begins
1995 - Government announces legislation to transfer 3800ha of culturally significant land to Aboriginal community, including Risdon Cove and Oyster Cove
1995 - States unemployment rate falls to 9.6% as number of Tasmanians in work sets record
April 28 1996 - Gunman Martin Bryant kills 35 people and injures 20 more in shooting rampage at Port Arthur historic site; Surpreme Court sentences him to life imprisonment
1996 - Former federal Liberal minister Peter Nixon heads Commonwealth state inquiry into Tasmanian economy
1997 - Tasmania becomes first state to formally apologise to Aboriginal community for past actions connected with the 'stolen generation'.
1997 - Hobart Ports Corporation succeeds marine board
1997 - State Parliament repeals two century-old laws that together made all male homosexual activity criminal
1997 - Royal Hobart Hospital announces part privatisation
1997 - Official opening of Hobart's Aquatic Centre
1997 - Nixon report recommendations include single chamber State Parliament with 27 members, government asset sales
1997 - About 800 gaming machines introduced into 55 Tasmanian hotels, clubs amid predictions of major social problems
1998 - Federal Government sells Hobart and Launceston airports
1998 - Subsidiary Kendell Airlines takes over Ansett's Tasmanian services
1998 - Parliament reduced from 54 members to 40 - 25 Members of the House of Assembly and 15 Members of the Legislative Council
1998 - Legislation passed to separate Hydro-Electric Commission into three bodies - Aurora Energy, Transend Networks and Hydro Tasmania.
1998 - Bushfires destroy six houses in Hobart suburbs, burn out 3000ha
December 1998 - Storms and massive seas claim six lives in Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
1999 - Wild winds and heavy rain caused chaos across Tasmania, one casualty being the Ferris Wheel at the Royal Hobart Regatta which blew over onto the Gee Whizzer ride. 113km/h winds in Hobart, 158km/h winds on Mount Wellington.
1999 - Tasmanian cricketer David Boon announced his retirement from Sheffield Shield cricket.
March 1999 - Tasmania is almost booked out for the millennium New Years Eve party - a once-in-1000-year event for Tasmania's key resorts, hotels, motels and restaurants
1999 - Albanian refugees from Kosovo housed at Brighton military camp, renamed Tasmanian Peace Haven
1999 - Legislation passed to give Aboriginal community control of Wybalenna, Flinders Island
1999 - Colonial State Bank of NSW takes over Trust Bank
1999 - Official opening of Port Arthur Visitor Centre
1999 - Queen Alexandra Hospital building leased to private operators
October 25 1999 - Labor part stalwart Eric Reece, hailed as Tasmania's greatest premier, died in Hobart, aged 90
1999 - Proclamation of Tasmanian Sea Mounts Marine Reserve, Australia's first deep-sea reserve
1999 - Tasmania voted the best temperate island in the world by the world's largest travel magazine, Conde Nast Traveler

2000 to present

January 1 2000 - Tasmania beamed to 43 television networks around the world to herald the new millennium
2000 - Queen Elizabeth II visits Hobart
2000 - Tasmania hosted its first Sorry Day at Risdon Cove
2000 - Olympic Torch comes to Tasmania
2000 - New Federation Concert Hall opens in Hobart
2001 - For the first time in 120 years, Tasmanian footballers take the national stage playing home and away VFL games
2001 - Tasmanian company Gunns clinched $335 million deal to become one of the giants of the Australian forestry industry
2001 - Impulse Airlines begins, cutting one way Hobart-Melbourne fares to $40, but is swallowed by Qantas
2001 - 10 Days on the Island begins. It is Tasmania's biggest cultural festival in a century
2001 - State Government announces $53 million jail to replace the old Risdon Jail
May 10 2001 - Centenary of Federation celebrated
2001 - New traffic laws introduced, drivers face automatic disqualification if travelling 38 km/h over the limit
2001 - Meningoccocal hits Tasmania with the first of many deaths
2002 - Tassie's house and land boom begins with East Coast blocks selling for almost three times the town's previous record
May 2002 - Tasmania's suburban street speed limit dropped to 50 km/h in a bid to increase road safety
2002 - Tasmania hit by drought
16 May 2002 - Death of Australia's last ANZAC, Tasmania's Alec Campbell, aged 103.
3 August 2002 - Tasmanian boxer Daniel Geale wins Tassie's only gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England.
2002 - Virgin Blue begins operating in Tasmania offering introductory $66 one-way fares to Melbourne
1 September 2002 - Tasmania's fast ferries Spirit of Tasmania I and II begin operation
12 October 2002 - Tasmanian Tim Hawkins killed in Bali bombing
2002 - Deregulated shop trading hours begin
January 2003 - People urged by Tas Fire Service to abandon their Australia Day long-weekend plans and prepare their homes for a potential firestorm as a number of fires pose the worst fire threat in 30 years
2003 - Official opening of restored Abt West Coast Wilderness Railway
2003 - Attempted hijack of a Qantas flight from Melbourne to Launceston
2003 - Federal Hotels gets exclusive control of state's gaming machines for 15 years with a further 5-year option.
2003 - Richard Butler becomes Tasmania's new governor
2003 - Regina Bird wins reality-TV show Big Brother, becomes first woman and Tasmanian to do so in Australia.
2003 - Tasmania passed some of the most progressive relationship laws in the world including same sex adoptions and registration of 'significant' relationships.
2003 - Engagement of Tasmania's Mary Donaldson to Denmark's Prince Frederik
13 January 2004 - Spirit of Tasmania III makes its first voyage from Sydney to Devonport
2004 - The State Government announces legislation to legalise brothels
14 May 2004 - Wedding of Tasmania's Mary Donaldson to Denmark's Prince Frederik in Copenhagen

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