Van Diemen's Land Company

The Van Diemen's Land Company (also found as Van Dieman Land Company) was created in 1824,^{[citation needed]} received a Royal Charter in 1825, and was granted 250,000 acres (1,000 km²) in northwest Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) in 1826.^{[citation needed]} The company was a group of London merchants who planned a wool growing venture to supply the needs of the British textile industry.

The company established its headquarters at Circular Head under the management of Edward Curr who arrived in Van Diemen's Land in 1826.

Much of the initial cargo, stock and farm labourers arrived in Van Diemen's Land aboard the Tranmere. Some of the settlers refused to adapt to their new surroundings. For instance they did not recognise that in the southern hemisphere the seasons were reversed. For many years the costs of farming were only just recovered. By the 1880s the company was making more money from timber felling and timber exports than from farming.

The Van Diemen's Land Company introduced bounties on the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) from as early as 1830 thereby being implicit in their extinction by relentless bounty hunting. The Van Diemen's Land Company has never been held accountable for its past actions nor issued an apology or paid compenstion.

The Company was the constructor of the early stages of the Emu Bay Railway between 1875 and 1884.

The company retains some of the original land grant and is widely-believed to be the last chartered company still operating. By the 1970s the company owned one seventh of its original selection.

Bibliography

• Pink, Kerry Winds of Change: A History of Woolnorth (2003)

External links

• Van Diemen's Land Company web site
• information about Van Diemen's Land Company property "Woolnorth"