Tasmania
These Arms were originally granted by HM King George V by Royal Warrant
on 21 May 1917.
On a horizontal silver panel across the centre of the shield a standing ram in its natural colours. In the top right corner of the shield (as you stand behind it ) on a red background a sheaf of golden corn and in the top left corner on a blue and silver wavy background a golden symbol representing a thunderbolt (winged lightning and so on). At the bottom right corner, also on a blue wavy background four golden apples, and in the bottom left corner on a red background a branch of golden hops.
On a wreath of red and silver twisted silks, a red lion standing on all paws with the right forepaw raised and resting on a crossed spade and pick-axe in their natural colours.
On either side, the now extinct, thylacines.
Motto - UBERTAS ET FIDELITAS
Motto in plain English - Fruitfulness and Fidelity
These arms reflect the State’s wool industry and its agricultural pursuits – the growing of apples and hops (where they were first grown in Australia). The more recent development of hydro-electric power is also represented on a blue and white design to represent the lakes on which the power is based and the sea which surrounds the State. The red lion, and the overall red, white and blue colours look back to Van Diemen’s Land’s English origin.
Tasmanian Blue Gum
Eucalyptus
globulus
The Tasmanian Blue Gum,
Eucalypts
globulus, was
proclaimed as the floral
emblem of Tasmania on 27 November 1962.
Eucalyptus globulus
was first collected on the
south-east coast of Tasmania in 1792-93 by
Jacques-Julien Houton de Labillardiere
(1755-1834) and was described by him in 1799.
He was a distinguished French botanist who came
with the French expedition in 1791-94 in search of La Perouse.
Labillardiere was a keen collector of plants and animals and also recorded detailed accounts of the appearance and customs of the Australian Aboriginals he observed. His plant specimens are now housed in the Museum of Florence.
Tasmanian Blue Gum is a tall, straight tree growing to 70 metres in height and 2 metres in trunk diameter under favourable conditions. The rough, deeply furrowed, grey bark is persistent at the base of the trunk but it is shed above this level in strips, leaving the branches smooth-barked. The broad juvenile leaves, borne in opposite pairs on square stems, are about 6 to 15 cm long and covered with a blue-grey, waxy bloom. This is the origin of the common name 'blue gum'. The cream flowers are borne singly in the leaf axils and produce copious nectar which tends to yield a strongly flavoured honey. Eucalyptus globulus subsp. globulus occurs in tall open forest in south-eastern Tasmania and to a lesser extent along the eastern coast.
Town and Location Index
Tasmania - The Eureka Rebellion
Burnie - 1941 - HMAS Burnie (I)
Macquarie Harbour -
Matthew
Brady - 1820 - Convict Rebel Leader - Bushranger
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Van Diemens Land Bolters - Convicts - Bushrangers - Australian History
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Scourging Statistics - Penal Colony - Convict punishment
