The island colony : Tasmania, society and politics, 1880-1900.

Abstract

For a generation after the granting of self government (1856), Tasmania remained "cast in a more aristocratic shape" than the other Aus^tralian Colonies. Mainland governments adopted manhood suffrage, triennial parliaments and radical land legislation during the late fifties and early sixties. But in Tasmania the franchise was not significantly widened for almost thirty years and manhood suffrage was not accepted till the eve of Federation. Society did not exhibit the social mobility which English visitors found so marked in New South Wales and Victoria. It remained clearly stratified, and habits, values and ideas inherited from the penal settlement lingered long after the cessation of transportation.