Self-government A campaign for self-government in Van Diemen's Land had first begun in 1842. A growing resentment against
penal transportation to the colony, and a lack of effective legislation led to agitators lobbying for better representation. On 31 October 1845 the 'Patriotic six' walked out of the Legislative Council, leaving it without a quorum, but by 23 March 1847 they had been restored. In 1849 the
Australasian Anti-Transportation League was established in
Launceston, and had soon established branches in the other Australian colonies. The Australian Republican Association (ARA) was founded at this time, but failed to gain much support. On 5 August 1850, the
Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the
Australian Constitutions Act, granting the right of
legislative power to the Australian colonies, and called for a 'blended' council, which was to be part nominated and part elected. The formerly appointed
Tasmanian Legislative Council held its first popular elections 21 October 1851, and the newly elected members joined their appointed colleagues for the first time on 30 December 1851. On 19 August 1853 the Legislative Council appointed a select committee to draft a
constitution, which was passed by the Council on 31 October 1855. By January 1855, the first
Governor of Tasmania,
Sir Henry Fox Young had been appointed. The constitution, calling for a new
bicameral parliament received
royal assent from
Queen Victoria on 1 May 1855. On 21 July 1855, the
Privy Council granted the application to change the colony's name from "Van Diemen's Land" to "Tasmania", and on 24 October 1855, a tumultuous crowd gathered in Hobart to hear that the
Tasmanian Constitution Act had been granted royal assent. On 8 February 1856, the old Legislative Council met for the last time, and between September and October, elections were held across the state for the new
Tasmanian Legislative Council, and
Tasmanian House of Assembly. On 1 November 1856, Governor Sir Henry Fox Young proclaimed former
British Army officer,
William Champ as the first
Premier of Tasmania, and the new bicameral parliament met for the first time on 2 December 1856, marking the beginning of self-government for the Colony of Tasmania.
End of transportation In 1849 the
Reverend John West formed the Anti-Transportation League of Van Diemen's Land to politically oppose the
penal transportation of British
convicts to
Van Diemen's Land which had been occurring since 1804. By 1851 it had expanded to other colonies including
New South Wales and
Victoria and soon expanded to become the
Australasian Anti-Transportation League. In the first partial-election of the
Legislative Council of Van Diemen's Land on 21 October 1851, members of the Australasian Anti-Transportation League won all 16 of the elected seats, showing how popular the movement had become, and how opposed to transportation the free population of Van Diemen's Land was. One of the first actions taken by the new Council was to vote 16 to 4 in favour of sending a letter of request to
Queen Victoria asking for her to revoke the Order in Council permitting transportation to Van Diemen's Land and
Norfolk Island, despite the opposition of
Lieutenant Governor William Denison. The beginning of the
Victorian gold rush provided further argument, as it was felt that the opportunity of free passage aboard convict transports and the chance of escaping to the gold fields would provide an incentive to would-be offenders. The last convict ship to be sent from England, the
St. Vincent, arrived in 1853, and on 10 August 1853 Jubilee festivals in Hobart and Launceston celebrated 50 years of European settlement with the official end of transportation. Celebratory medallions were minted and distributed to school children.
Growth of Tasmania The era immediately following the granting of responsible self-government brought a new confidence to the colony. Whilst Tasmania suffered a setback with a large loss of working-age males to the Victorian gold-fields, many social and cultural improvements soon developed. Horse-drawn buses between
Hobart and
New Town to the immediate north provide the colony's first
public transport in 1856. The following year the first
telegraph line between Hobart and
Launceston was laid, and
coal gas became available for private use, and illuminating Hobart's street lamps. Tasmania continued to be a centre of shipbuilding excellence. However, growing competition, and later, a shift towards steel-constructed vessels soon threatened Tasmania's place as a world leader. The late 1850s also saw the Hobart Savings Bank and a Council of Education formed, and the new
Government House opened. The 1860s saw a period of stagnation and economic
depression in Tasmania, but it was punctuated by several highlights, including the opening of the new Hobart General Post Office, and the
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, a
submarine communications cable between Tasmania and Victoria, the beginning of construction for the
Launceston and Western Railway, the colony's first railway, and Tasmania's first
royal visit, by the
Duke of Edinburgh,
Prince Albert. Compulsory education was introduced in 1868, making Tasmania one of the first colonies in the
British Empire to adopt such an enlightened policy.
Withdrawal of British forces The
British Army had garrisoned Van Diemen's Land with a rotating roster of British regiments since the first establishment of a colony there in 1803. In the wake of the
Crimean War (1853–56) and the
Indian Mutiny (1857), a
Royal Commission was held under
Secretary of State for War,
Jonathan Peel into the structure of the Army. His proposed reforms met with objection from the
East India Company, who wished to retain their own armed forces. However, a later Secretary for War,
Edward Cardwell began a successful programme of reforms known as the
Cardwell reforms. Although he lost his post when his government was removed from office, a later replacement,
Hugh Childers reinvigorated the process with the
Childers reforms. One of Cardwell's major proposals to increase troop numbers was the withdrawal of British garrisons from the self-governing colonies (to be replaced by locally raised units) which would save money and allow for more troops to be available for deployment in times of war, which he announced in 1869. By 1870 the troops were being withdrawn, and by 1871, more than 26,000 men had returned to Great Britain from all over the
British Empire. This meant that at short notice the Government of Tasmania was given the responsibility of raising its own defences. At the time of the announcement, the 2nd Battalion, the
14th (Buckinghamshire, The Prince of Wales's Own) Regiment of Foot was stationed in Tasmania. In March 1870 the 2nd Battalion, the
Royal Irish Regiment arrived in Hobart from
New Zealand to oversee the withdrawal of the Buckinghamshires, but by 6 September 1870 they were also departing, leaving the colony completely bereft of defence forces. In 1867 the infantry companies were disbanded, and the artillery increased by one battery, but most of these units were short-lived. The arrival of three
Imperial Russian Navy warships, the
Africa,
Plastun, and
Vestnik in 1872 caused a great deal of alarm in the colony, and led to vigorous discussion about the colony's defences. The threat of war with Russia in 1876 further hastened the establishment of both locally raised defence forces, and the modernisation of
coastal defences, and in 1878 the
Volunteer Act was passed, which established the Tasmanian Volunteer Force. The following year, controversial Canadian Priest
Charles Chiniquy visited Hobart to lecture on religion, but his second lecture descended into rioting when Catholics broke into the Hobart Town Hall. It took 150 constables and 400 armed volunteers to break up the rioting in what became known as the 'Chiniquy Affair', and this added weight to the argument that the colony desperately needed a permanent military presence. In 1878 the Tasmanian Volunteer Rifle Regiment was raised in both the north and south of the colony. By 1885 the strength of the
Tasmanian Military Forces was 1200 men, the maximum permitted by law at a time of peace. However, by 1893, and additional "auxiliary" force of 1500 had also been raised. By 1896, the Regiment had three battalions. They were 1st battalion in Hobart, 2nd battalion in Launceston, and 3rd battalion in the North West. The population of the colony began to rise quite rapidly in the period immediately following the discovery of gold. In 1880 the colony's population was 114, 762, but by 1884, it had reached 130,541. The period of growth also created a substantial improvement in the standard of living for Tasmanians. In the period from 1875 to 1884, the total value of personal saving in the colony's five existing banks increased over threefold from £1,227,585, to £4,022,077. The total valuation of owned property also rose from £604,347 to £837,916.
Boer War In 1899 the Colonial Tasmanian Military Forces responded to the request for military assistance in South Africa. The war had been expected in both Britain and the Australian colonies, and planning had begun as a result. The initial request from Britain was made for two of the colony's three Ranger Infantry units. Colonel
William Vincent Legge, the commander of the Colonial Tasmanian Military Forces, sought to also establish a mounted reconnaissance unit, and toured the colony. He was very impressed by the shooting and riding skills of many of the colony's wealthy young farm boys, and formed a Tasmanian Imperial Bushmen unit from them. A Tasmanian colonial contingent was sent to the Second Boer War, consisting of the 1st and 2nd Tasmanian Bushmen. These mounted infantry units were primarily made up of volunteers who had good bushcraft, riding and shooting skills. The first contingent, known as the First Tasmanian (Mounted Infantry) Contingent, consisted of approximately 80 men under the command of Captain Cyril St Clair Cameron. The Second contingent, known as the Second (Tasmanian Bushmen) Contingent, departed from Hobart on 5 March 1900, and were under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel E.T Wallack. They arrived at
Cape Town on 31 March, and were sent to
Beira, where they formed part of General Carrington's column, operating in
Rhodesia and Western
Transvaal. A third Tasmanian contingent, the Third Tasmanian (Imperial Bushmen) Contingent, departed on 26 April, and the Fourth Tasmanian (Imperial Bushmen) Contingent followed soon after. A branch of Tasmanian Special Service Officers also accompanied the Tasmanian contingents. In total, 28 officers and 822 other ranks were sent from the colony.
Federation The Colony of Tasmania and its citizens played a prominent role in the move towards
federation for the six British colonies in Australia. Tasmanian lawyer and politician
Andrew Inglis Clark had travelled throughout the
United States of America in 1890, where he learned an appreciation of both the federal system of government, and grew to appreciate
republicanism. He represented Tasmania at the
1890 Constitutional Convention where he presented a draft
constitution that he had written on a previous trip to London. At the
Constitutional Convention of 1891, by then the Attorney-General of Tasmania, Clark spoke as the leading authority on the
American constitutional system, which was highly influential in the development of the
bicameral system in Australia. Clark also spoke effectively of creating a federal system which provided for the protection of the smaller and more vulnerable economies of Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. By 1891 Clark had completed his final draft constitution which he sent copies of to
Alfred Deakin,
Edmund Barton, and
Thomas Playford, and although it was never intended to be a final version, 86 out of the original 128 sections from his draft made it into the final version of the
Constitution of Australia. . In the 1898 constitutional referendum, 11,797 voted in favour of federation, and 2,716 opposed, a majority of nearly 4 to 1. Tasmania held their final constitutional referendum on 27 June 1899, and in that referendum to opposition vote had further reduced to 791, and with 13,437 voters in favour of federation, the Colony of Tasmania had provided the highest percentage of support shown in any of the Australian colonies. ==Society==