Tasmania is Australia's smallest state and the most decentralised and geographically diverse.

Geography

Tasmania is an island approximately 250 kilometres (150 miles) south of the state of Victoria, across the Bass Strait. It lies between latitudes 40 degrees and 44 degrees south, and between longitudes 143 degrees and 149 degrees east.

It has many offshore islands, including Macquarie Island, which lies close to the point 54 degrees south, 159 degrees east.  It is estimated that Tasmania includes 334 islands.

The area of Tasmania is 68,331 square kilometres (26,376 square miles).

At 315 kilometres (189 miles) west to east and 286 kilometres (175 miles) north to south, Tasmania is comparable in size with West Virginia (USA), Scotland (UK) or Hokkaido, Japan, the landscape can change from rain forested valleys and highland lakes to long white beaches within a 90-minute drive.

Population

The population of Tasmania hit the half million mark at the end of 2008. About forty percent of residents live in and around Hobart, about twenty percent in Launceston, and a further twenty percent on the north-west coast in centres around Devonport and Burnie. The west coast, the east coast and the midlands are sparsely populated, although there are many small towns and communities throughout the island excepting, of course, in the vast South West Wilderness.

For more information on what Tasmania has to offer, visit the Tourism Tasmania website. Click here.