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Robbins Island (Tasmania)
Robbins Island is a island located in Bass Strait, lying off the northwest coast of Tasmania, Australia. The island, separated from the Tasmanian mainland by a highly tidal area known as Robbins Passage, lies south to the adjacent Walker Island. Robbins Island is the seventh largest island of Tasmania and is the largest freehold island in Tasmania. Over the years Robbins Island has changed ownership and to this day remains privately owned. History The island was part of the territory of the indigenous North West tribe spanning from Table Cape to the western side of Macquarie Harbour, where in particular, the ''Parperloihener'' band resided on Robbins Island prior to European colonisation. On 23 November 1802, Charles Robbins, first mate of was sent in , by Governor King to dissuade the French commodore Nicholas Baudin, with his two ships '' Géographe'' and ''Naturaliste'' from colonising Van Diemen's Land. Baudin had revealed French plans to colonise Van Diemen's Land w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bass Strait
Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterway between the Great Australian Bight and the Tasman Sea, and is also the only maritime route into the economically prominent Port Phillip Bay. Formed 8,000 years ago by rising sea levels at the end of the last glacial period, the strait was named after English explorer and physician George Bass (1771-1803) by European colonists. Extent The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of Bass Strait as follows: :''On the west.'' The eastern limit of the Great Australian Bight eing a line from Cape Otway, Australia, to King Island (Tasmania)">King Island and thence to Cape Grim, the northwest extreme of Tasmania]. :''On the east.'' The western limit of the Tasman Sea between Gabo Island and Eddystone Point eing a line fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Corvette Géographe
''Géographe'' was a 20-gun ''Serpente''-class corvette of the French Navy. She was named ''Uranie'' in 1797, and renamed ''Galatée'' in 1799, still on her building site. Her builder refused to launch her, as he had not been paid to that time. Finally launched in June 1800, she was renamed ''Géographe'' on 23 August 1800. On 19 October 1800, under captain Nicolas Baudin, she departed Le Havre with ''Naturaliste'' for an exploration of Australia. She carried a number of scholars, painters, and designers, as well as Anselme Riedlé, the gardener, who had already accompanied Baudin on a previous expedition, and Charles Alexander Lesueur, an artist.Barrey (1907), p.60. The two vessels reached Tenerife on 13 November. They then crossed the equator on 11 December and arrived at Isle de France (Mauritius), on 16 March 1801. For some 18 months ''Naturaliste'' and ''Géographe'' explored the less-known regions of New Holland (Australia), and Van Diemen's Land. On 30 May Baudin made ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colonial Office
The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of colonies of the British Empire. Despite its name, the Colonial Office was never responsible for all Britain's Imperial territories; for example, protectorates fell under the purview of the Foreign Office, and British India was ruled by the East India Company until 1858 (the British Raj ruled the India Office as a result of the Indian Mutiny), while the role of the Colonial Office in the affairs of the Dominions changed as time passed. It was headed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, also known more informally as the Colonial Secretary. First Colonial Office (1768–1782) Prior to 1768, responsibility for the affairs of the British colonies was part of the duties of the Secretary of State for the Southern Department and a committe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Sorell
William Sorell (1775 – 4 June 1848) was a soldier and third Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land. Early life Sorell was born probably in the West Indies, the eldest son of Lieutenant-general William Alexander Sorell and his wife Jane. Sorell joined the British Army in August 1790 as an ensign with the 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot, was promoted lieutenant in August 1793, and saw active service in the West Indies, where he was seriously wounded. Sorell was promoted to captain in 1795. In 1799 he was aide-de-camp to Lieutenant-general Sir James Murray in the abortive expedition to North Holland, and in 1800 took part in the attacks on Spanish naval ports. After the peace at Amiens, Sorell was captain in the 18th or Royal Irish Regiment, and in 1804 was promoted major to the 43rd regiment. In 1807 he was made deputy-adjutant-general of the forces at the Cape of Good Hope, and was promoted brevet lieutenant-colonel. He returned to England in 1811 and on 4 February ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanley, Tasmania
Stanley is a town on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is the second-last major township on the north-west coast when travelling west, Smithton being the larger township in the Circular Head municipality. According to the , Stanley had a population of 595. History In 1825 the Van Diemen's Land Company was granted land in north-western Van Diemen's Land, including the Stanley area. Employees of the company from England settled in the area in October 1826. The site (originally called Circular Head) was named after Lord Stanley, the British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in the 1830s and 1840s, who later had three terms of office as British Prime Minister. A port opened in 1827 and the first school opened in 1841. There was a short-lived bay whaling station in operation on the foreshore in the 1830s. Stanley officially became a town in 1842 and by 1843 more than 8,000 acres had been sold or leased to almost 70 people. The Post Office opened on 1 July 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Van Diemen's Land Company
The Van Diemen's Land Company (also known as Van Dieman Land Company) is a farming corporation in the Australian state of Tasmania. It was founded in 1825 and received a royal charter the same year, and was granted 250,000 acres (1,000 km2) in northwest Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) in 1826. The company was a group of London merchants who planned a wool growing venture to supply the needs of the British textile industry. The company established its headquarters at Circular Head under the management of Edward Curr who arrived in Van Diemen's Land in 1826. Much of the initial cargo, stock and farm labourers arrived in Van Diemen's Land aboard . Some of the settlers refused to adapt to their new surroundings. For instance they did not recognise that in the Southern Hemisphere the seasons were reversed. For many years the costs of farming were only just recovered. By the 1880s the company was making more money from timber felling and timber exports than from farming. The Van ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deal Island (Tasmania)
Deal Island, the largest island of the Kent Group, is a granite island, located in northern Bass Strait, that lies between the Furneaux Group, north-east of Tasmania, and Wilsons Promontory, in Victoria, Australia. Location and features The island is contained entirely within the Kent Group National Park, Tasmania’s northernmost national park, gazetted in 2002. In 2004, the national park was extended to include the marine waters of the three major islands of the Kent Group, encapsulating of marine reserve. Deal Island is at the southern end of the Beagle Commonwealth Marine Reserve, that encloses the Kent Group Marine Reserve and the Hogan and Curtis Island groups. Deal Island has been extensively modified by human activity, with the construction of facilities, and the clearing of vegetation and regular firing associated with grazing livestock. There is a lighthouse, a closed airstrip, roads, jetty, two houses, a dam and a museum.Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Privateering
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or delegated authority issued commissions, also referred to as a letter of marque, during wartime. The commission empowered the holder to carry on all forms of hostility permissible at sea by the usages of war. This included attacking foreign vessels and taking them as prizes, and taking prize crews as prisoners for exchange. Captured ships were subject to condemnation and sale under prize law, with the proceeds divided by percentage between the privateer's sponsors, shipowners, captains and crew. A percentage share usually went to the issuer of the commission (i.e. the sovereign). Privateering allowed sovereigns to raise revenue for war by mobilizing privately owned armed ships and sailors to supplement state power. For participants, privateeri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yarra River
The Yarra River or historically, the Yarra Yarra River, (Kulin languages: ''Berrern'', ''Birr-arrung'', ''Bay-ray-rung'', ''Birarang'', ''Birrarung'', and ''Wongete'') is a perennial river in south-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the Yarra are where Victoria's state capital Melbourne was established in 1835, and today metropolitan Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches. From its source in the Yarra Ranges, it flows west through the Yarra Valley which opens out into plains as it winds its way through Greater Melbourne before emptying into Hobsons Bay in northernmost Port Phillip Bay. The river has been a major food source and meeting place for Indigenous Australians for thousands of years. Shortly after the arrival of European settlers, land clearing forced the remaining Wurundjeri people into neighbouring territories and away from the river. Originally called ''Birrarung'' by the Wurundjeri, the current name was mis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Phillip
Port Phillip (Kulin languages, Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped bay#Types, enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel (geography), channel known as The Rip, and is completely surrounded by suburbs and localities (Australia), localities of Victoria's two largest cities — metropolitan Greater Melbourne in the bay's main eastern portion north of the Mornington Peninsula, and the city of Greater Geelong in the much smaller western portion (known as the Corio Bay) north of the Bellarine Peninsula. Geographically, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly , with the volume of water around . Most of the bay is navigable, although it is extremely shallow for its size — the deepest portion is only and half the bay is shallower than . Its waters and coast are home to Pinniped, seals, whales, dolphins, corals and many kinds of seabirds and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Grimes (surveyor)
Charles Grimes (24 February 1772 – 19 February 1858) was an English surveyor who worked in colonial Australia. He served as Surveyor General of New South Wales and found the Yarra River in what is now the state of Victoria. During his career, he mapped the route of the Hobart Road, Tasmania's main north-south arterial route. Much of the modern Midland Highway still follows the route that he planned. Early life Grimes was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, son of Joseph Grimes, a laceman, and his wife Esther. Towards the end of 1790 Grimes was appointed deputy surveyor of roads in New South Wales and allocated work at Norfolk Island. Grimes did not arrive at Sydney until 21 September 1791 on the . From there he went to Norfolk Island. Soon after his arrival on 4 November 1791, Governor King appointed him deputy surveyor-general of New South Wales. Surveying in Australia At Norfolk Island he was employed correcting a previous survey which had been made without prop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schooner
A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schooner also has a square topsail on the foremast, to which may be added a topgallant. Differing definitions leave uncertain whether the addition of a fore course would make such a vessel a brigantine. Many schooners are gaff-rigged, but other examples include Bermuda rig and the staysail schooner. The origins of schooner rigged vessels is obscure, but there is good evidence of them from the early 17th century in paintings by Dutch marine artists. The name "schooner" first appeared in eastern North America in the early 1700s. The name may be related to a Scots word meaning to skip over water, or to skip stones. The schooner rig was used in vessels with a wide range of purposes. On a fast hull, good ability to windward was useful for priv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
