Howie Coombe wrote to Kevin Jcjd Symons Re: AUSTRALIAN NATIVE HERBS 1
Kevin sat UTGT {at} 0953ore on the 5th of March, 2003

Cooee Howie!!

 > HC> Aha, But in the 1500's Tasmania was not called Tasmania, it was called

 >  In the 1500's Tasmania was not known as anything except to the local
 > Aboriginals, I dare say.
 
 HC> You are right, it was not even dicovered untill the mid 1600's,.
 
 > IIRC, Abel Tasman did not see the island until 1652, and called it Van     
 > Dieman's land.
 
 HC> Aha, who was Van Dieman anyway,?.

Anthony van Dieman [1593-1645] was a Dutch admiral.  He was the
governor general of the Netherlands [East] Indies [Indonesia?, I
think].  He supervised expeditions to Australia in 1636 and
1642, and Abel Tasman was the navigator on the latter one.

Tasman discovered land not chartered by Europeans, and named it
Van Dieman's Land.
 
 > It was later re-named Tasmania in 1856, in his honour.

 HC> 204 Years? What took them so long? why did they change it then?

Mainland Australia had not yet been claimed by the Poms when
Tasman was particpating in the Timor to Hobart Yacht race!
Apparently the French were particpants in the race, too. I see
that relics/remains have been found in southern Victoria of
carvings/artefacts from a French expedition around that time.

Cooee and Love,
Kevin...         XXXXXXXXXXX

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