History of Tasmania
Tasmania was inhabited by an indigenous population, the Tasmanian Aborigines, and evidence indicates their presence in the territory, later to become an island, at least 35,000 years ago. At the time of the British occupation and colonisation in 1803 the indigenous population was estimated at between 3000 and 10,000. Historian Lyndall Ryan's analysis of population studies led her to conclude that there were about 7000 spread throughout the island's nine nations; Nicholas Clements, citing research by N.J.B. Plomley and Rhys Jones, settled on a figure of 3000 to 4000. The combination of the so-called Black War, internecine conflict and, from the late 1820s, the spread of infectious diseases to which they had no immunity, reduced the population to about 300 by 1833. Almost all of the indigenous population was relocated to Flinders Island by George Augustus Robinson. Until the 1970s, most people thought that the last surviving Tasmanian Aborigine was Trugernanner, who died in 1876. However this "extinction" was a myth, as documented by Lyndall Ryan in 1991.
Bank of Van Diemen's Land
The Bank of Van Diemen's Land (nicknamed 'the old bank') was Tasmania's first commercial financial institution. Founded in 1823 prior to the use of the name Tasmania, it lasted for 68 years before becoming the first major bank failure of the 1890s depression in Australia. Although it had a reputation for reliability, during the 1880s the bank lent heavily to Tasmanians who invested heavily in silver mining ventures until mineral prices crashed in the 1890s leading to defaults on loan repayments that the bank was unable to survive. The bank closed its doors in August 1891, and offered up its banking premises as a £1 lottery ticket. Following the bank's demise, a Royal Commission was established to investigate allegations of fraudulent activities.