Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land was the original name used by Europeans for the island of
Tasmania, now part of Australia. The Dutch explorer
In 1803, the island was colonised by the British as a
Penal colony
- Main articles: -
Port Arthur, Tasmania ,Convicts on the West Coast of Tasmania
From the 1830s to the abolition of
Male convicts served their sentences as assigned labour to free settlers or in gangs assigned to public works. Only the most
difficult convicts were sent to the Tasman Peninsula prison known as
Female convicts were assigned as servants in free settler households or sent to a
Convicts completing their sentence or earning their ticket-of-leave often promptly left Van Diemen's Land. Many settled in the
new free colony of
Tensions sometimes ran high between the settlers and the "Vandemonians" as they were termed, particularly during the
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
In order to remove the unsavoury connotations with crime associated with its name (and its homophonic connection to
"
Popular culture
Music
- Van Diemen's Land is mentioned in the Australian folk song "The Wild Colonial Boy".
- Van Diemen's Land is often mentioned in the works of
Flogging Molly , such as in the song "Every Dog Has Its Day." - 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.
Steeleye Span does a rendition of the traditional English folk song on their album They Called Her Babylon- "Van Diemen's Land" is the title of the second track from the rock band
U2 's albumRattle and Hum . The lyrics were written and sung byThe Edge . - The chorus to the English folk song "
Maggie May " says "They've sent you to Van Diemen's cruel shore." - Van Diemen's Land is the subject of the Irish song, "Back home in Derry". The music was written by Canadian song writer
Gordon Lightfoot and the lyrics by the famous Irish Republican Bobby Sands. It is most famously sung by the
Irish bard
Christy Moore . - Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band record a version of "Van Diemen's Land" in No Roses (1971)
- Carla Bruni sings the poem 'If You Were Coming In The Fall', by
Emily Dickinson in her albumNo Promises . - "Van Diemen's Land" written by The Edge with music by U2 on their live album "Rattle and Hum" is dedicated to a Fenian poet named John Boyle O'Reilly, who was deported to Australia because of his poetry. *from the liner notes on "Rattle and Hum".
Literature
- Van Diemen's Land is the setting of
Gould's Book of Fish: A Novel in Twelve Fish by Richard Flanagan (published 2002), which tells the story of a man who is transported to the island, and runs afoul of the local (and rather insane) authorities. - In
Cormac McCarthy 's novel Blood Meridian, one of the characters in the Glanton Gang of scalpers in 1850s Mexico is a "Vandiemenlander" named Bathcat. Born in Wales he later went to Australia to hunt aborigines, and eventually came to Mexico, where he used those skills on the Apaches. - Van Diemen's Land is mentioned in
Edgar Allan 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 "If You Were Coming in the Fall" - 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].
- In the novel The Convicts by Iain Lawrence, young Tom Tin is sent to Van Diemen's Land on charges of murder
- Van Dieman's Land is mentioned in James De Mille's
A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder . The manuscript spoken of in the title has been written by British sailor who lost his way after conveying convicts to Van Dieman's Land. - In the novel The Terror by Dan Simmons (2007). In this novel about the ill fated
exploration by the
HMS Erebus andHMS Terror to discover theNorthwest Passage . The ships left England in May 1846 and were never heard from again, although since then much has been discovered about the fate of the 129 officers and crew. References are made to Van Diemen's Land during the chapters devoted toFrancis Crozier . - Van Dieman's Land is mentioned in
Peter Carey 's book,True History of the Kelly Gang , as a place the Kelly parents suffered on their way to the Colony of Victoria.
External links
See also
References
- Alexander, Alison (editor) (2005)The Companion to Tasmanian HistoryCentre for Tasmanian Historical Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart. ISBN 186295223X.
- Robson, L.L. (1983) A history of Tasmania. Volume 1. Van Diemen's Land from the earliest times to 1855Melbourne, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195543645.
- Robson, L.L. (1991) A history of Tasmania. Volume II. Colony and state from 1856 to the 1980s Melbourne, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195530314.
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