Colony of Tasmania

The Colony of Tasmania was a British colony on the island of Tasmania, existing from 1856 until 1901. It grew out of Van Diemen's Land, which had been a penal settlement since 1803. The Australian Constitutions Act of 1850 granted legislative power to the Australian colonies; the Legislative Council of Van Diemen's Land drafted a constitution, passed in 1854 and given royal assent in 1855. In that year the Privy Council approved the change of name from Van Diemen's Land to Tasmania, and in 1856 the newly elected bicameral parliament sat for the first time, making Tasmania a self-governing colony. Hobart, the capital, was the second-oldest city in Australia and a major port. The colony prospered through trade with the empire and became a centre of shipbuilding; it raised a local defence force that served in the Second Boer War. Tasmanians voted for federation by the largest majority of any Australian colony, and on 1 January 1901 the colony became the state of Tasmania in the Commonwealth of Australia.