Tasmania Culture & Language

Tasmania punches far above its population. MONA — built into a cliff on the Derwent, deliberately provocative, and free to Tasmanians — reoriented the whole state's self-image, and its winter festival Dark Mofo turned the worst month into the busiest.

Conservation is political here in a way it is nowhere else in Australia, and has been since the Franklin. The world's first green party formed in Tasmania, and forestry and wilderness arguments still shape state elections.

The food and drink culture is disproportionate: cool-climate wine, whisky, cheese, oysters and berries, most of it small-scale and sold within the island.

Palawa culture is increasingly visible, with dual place naming (kunanyi/Mount Wellington, nipaluna/Hobart) now standard in official use.

English is universal, and Tasmania is less linguistically diverse than mainland states.

palawa kani is a reconstructed Tasmanian Aboriginal language, assembled from historical records, and now appears in official dual naming — kunanyi for Mount Wellington, nipaluna for Hobart, takayna for the Tarkine.

Local usage worth knowing: the mainland is simply the mainland and is said with mild suspicion; the Spirit is the Bass Strait ferry; and Tasmanians will tell you the island is not "Tassie" to everyone, though most use it.