What the devil is happening in Tasmania?

Dear Family and Friends,

What the devil is happening in Tasmania you asked? Well, to begin with, Errol Flynn, Hollywood Idol of thirties, forties, and fifties is still commemorated in a small restaurant in Hobart where he was born. And Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, also born in Hobart, is revered. In a country that has sought to throw off the vestiges of the British Crown, Mary, their home grown Royal, has captivated them. Somehow Princess Mary came up in a conversation we had with a local young lady (I think because Mary just gave birth to an heir to the Danish throne). When we asked who she was, the woman was honestly flabbergasted. She truly thought we were kidding her, having her on.

Bridestove Estate Lavender Farm

But, as to Tasmanian Devil, which now exists only on the Australian Island of Tasmania, its survival is being seriously threatened by a mysterious cancer which first appeared in 1996 but is now feared will kill two thirds of the population by the end of this year. The disease, which is thought to be spread by the biting that takes place between the animals as they fight over food, causes terrible facial tumours which leads to the death of the victim.

Fearsome Tasmanian Devil

Lorraine and I had a most enjoyable visit to Tasmania last month and we had a very close up look at these little guys at the Trowunna Wildlife Park. We spent one week touring around this quaint little island which lies some 250km off the southeast corner of the Australian mainland. The island is about twice the size of Vancouver Island, but with less than 500,000 people, more than one-third of whom live in the Capital City of Hobart, it is quite sparsely settled.

Tasmanian Devils are dark black with some white markings on their back, they are the size of a stocky small dog; their jaws, which can open a full 90 degrees, are said to be so powerful they can easily crunch through large bones. They can apparently eat up to one half their own body weight in 30 minutes.

Tasmanian Devils' Feeding Time

The spine-chilling screeches made by the animals when eating, and which we heard, coupled with a reputed bad temper, prompted early settlers to give these animals their chilling name, and a wide berth. (However, I do have to tell you, the young woman showing us the animals at Trowunna was able to pick up 'Dolly', the old matriarch of the group, and Dolly snuggled right in.) The Trowunna Park had a number of other Australian species; Lorraine made particular friends with a young wombat.

Wombat and Canadian Friend

Tasmanian Devils, are now the world's largest carnivorous marsupial, and scientists do expect the species to survive. On the other hand, the last Tasmanian Tiger, a larger carnivorous marsupial, expired in captivity in a zoo in the mid 1930’s. Like the Loch Ness Monster, or the fabled Sasquatch, regular reports of tiger sightings are chronicled in tourist handouts. Regardless, they are most assuredly extinct.

Scamander Beach

Lorraine’s and my tour took us to the expansive but deserted beaches on the east coast with a stop at Scamander, one of the more noted; through the Tamar Valley wine region (you read it here first, they have fabulous Pinot Noir and the best methode champenoise in Australia); and across to the northwest, an area famous for the uniquely flavoured, and delicious, honey made from the leatherwood tree blossom, a tree which only grows here in this small corner of the world, and with origins traced back to Gondwanaland.

Hobart Street Scene

The countryside is generally gentle rolling hills, cattle and the ubiquitous sheep grazing; in places it seems a bit tropical with huge ferns growing; in the center highlands it is more like a moonscape with almost no vegetation. On our tour we did visit Bridestove Lavender Estate, the largest lavender farm in the southern hemisphere, and we also passed many fields of government sanctioned opium poppy. We were not allowed to visit.

Opium Poppy Fields

But Tasmania, like all Australia, cannot escape the uniqueness of its weird national origins as a penal colony. For eighty years, starting in 1787, Britain 'transported' criminals to Australia. Over 160,000 prisoners were sent to various destinations throughout the country. The ‘System’ as it was called, dealt with convicts through “transportation, assignment, and secondary punishment” in colonial Australia. Typically, convicts were sent down for 7 years, or multiples thereof.

Port Arthur Prison

Grounds View of Port Arthur

Although the first penal colony in Tasmania was established in Hobart, the Capital, in 1804, the site visited by most tourists is nearby Port Arthur, a prison established in 1830 to punish convicts, those malcontents and repeat offenders, for whom the regular prison colonies weren’t severe enough. It was described as “a machine for grinding prisoners honest”. We spent a very sobering day wandering around the site. For sure, most of the people sent to Hobart were there for very real crimes, but there were also political prisoners (including about 100 French Canadians), and children. Reading of children, as young as nine years old, being sent down for 7 years for crimes as petty as stealing table linen helps one appreciate how harsh the system was.

Lorraine in The Separate Prison

Life for most, we can be certain, was hard indeed. For whatever ‘secondary punishment’ meant, I am sure it wasn’t pleasant when one hears of the heavy floggings meted out, or experiences as we did, the utter darkness and complete silence of the solitary confinement cells.

(As if its beginnings weren't horrid enough, in 1996 Port Arthur was the scene of a murderous rampage by a single gunman that left 35 people dead and many others injured.)

Aside from that cheery experience, Tasmania was otherwise quite a delight. Hobart is a pretty little port, richly reflecting its colonial past with numerous Georgian style buildings, strictly symmetrical, simple and elegant. Many of the little towns we passed through had the feel of time stopped. The one we liked the most, Oatlands, a town of 600 just north of Hobart, has the largest collection of Georgian architecture in Australia and the most buildings built before 1837 (many, of course, were built with convict labour). A major attraction is the Callington Mill built in 1836 and beautifully restored. For all its old buildings, Oatlands is a bustling little town.

Georgian Houses in Oatlands

As many of you know, I have real difficulty with understanding foreign languages. This has been a problem for me everywhere I have gone. But it has never been more of a problem than here in Australia. They do not speak English here. Some years ago, I had an Aussie friend in the wine trade, Ian Huntley. Ian is a great guy. But for the few years he was in Vancouver, I now confess I never understood one complete sentence Ian ever said. I would nod, and laugh, or shake my head to try to indicate I did, but it was all a grand performance.

Quite apart from their sometime jackhammer delivery, their use of abbreviations like unis, mandies, blowie, chalkie, pressie, kindy, mozzie, or words like gob, rort, and yonks, all make understanding difficult. They say things like "Be at gite tin for boarding mite", or they turn Piper's Brook into "Pauper's Bruk".

Callington Mill, Oatlands

Lorraine and I stopped for breakfast in Sorrel just north of Hobart at a Banjo's Restaurant, one of a chain, in Tasmania. Being friendly and clever, I engaged the young women serving in conversation.

"So, what is Banjo's Restaurant famous for?"

"Oy, for our bread and poise", she answered.

Poise? Now I did think she seemed self possessed, quite confident, and light on her feet, in spite of her being rather heavy set, but she didn't seem that extraordinary.

"Huh?"

"Our poise, meat poise!" nodding to the display case loaded with the Australian staple.

I've had a hell of a time. Strewth.

Well, that's about it. I have attached a number of pictures that I hope will add to the narrative, including one showing the going price of chick poo here in Tasmania. I do hope you are all well.

Oh, and by the way, you probably didn't read about the great Pinot's and Tasmanian sparkle here first. I have no doubt Gismondi or Tobe have beaten me to it.

Merv.