UK and Tassie? Trivia Quiz

Answer:

When the English came to Tasmania with convicts in tow, they settled down to develop the country. The convicts were set to work opening up the land and frequently gave an area they worked on their own name. In addition to convicts, there were pioneers who were instrumental in developing Tassie into the wonderful, productive place it is today, and frequently, the names of these pioneers, or alternatively the names of their properties, were adopted as place names. Later when the offical surveyors came through, place names were often changed to that of a prominent person from the United Kingdom, or after an established town there (sometimes also deriving its name from a famous personage).

Penguin, Bicheno, Zeehan, Waratah, and Sorell were not found in the U.K., however. A waratah is a flower native to Australia, and Penguin was named for the little penguin rookeries commonly found along the less populated areas of the coast, by botanist Ronald Campbell Gunn.

Bicheno, located on Tasmania's east coast 159 km (99 miles) south east of Launceston and 178km (110 miles) north east of Hobart, was named after James Ebenezer Bicheno, who was appointed Colonial Secretary for Van Diemen's Land in 1842.

Sorell, home to lovely sandstone churches and some of the grain farms that contributed to its prosperity, is located 26 km north-east of Hobart. Originally named after the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, William Pitt, its name was later changed to Sorell after Governor of Van Diemen's Land between 1817 to 1824, Lieutenant Governor William Sorell.

In 1642, Abel Tasman, the Dutch explorer, sighted and named Mount Zeehan, which is 172m (564.3 ft) above sea level. He named it after the vessel in which he was sailing. Zeehan was part of the mining boom that occurred after Frank Long discovered silver-lead in 1882, becoming for a time the third largest town in Tasmania.

Some funnier place names in Tassie include Elephant Pass, Daisy Bell, Egg and Bacon Bay, Milkshake Hills and Squeaking Point.