In the year 1642, Abel Tasman gazed upon a jagged shore, shrouded in mist, where the winds howled and the seas roared.

He wrote in his log "too far south for spices, too close to the earth's rim to be inhabited by anything other than freaks and monsters."

He sailed past the already ancient land, but the island's legacy endured.

This blog is a tale of that enduring land, once Van Diemen’s Land, now Tasmania.

Here, stories rise from the forests, the mountains, and the seas. Tales of those who lived, who thrived, who vanished. Freaks, monsters, and those who dared call this place home.

Read on, and you’ll find beauty in the wild, wonder in the strange, and a history as rough as the winds that scour its shores.

Written by Tasmanian marriage celebrant and tour guide, Josh Withers.