Abel Tasman at Salamanca Virtual

The Virtual Cache

This virtual cache is the fountain & statue commemorating the voyage of Abel Tasman, a Dutch explorer, to Tasmania in 1642, after whom Tasmania is named.

Accessing the Location

This virtual is generally accessible at any time, but be aware that every Saturday between 8:30am and 3:00pm, the area hosts the vibrant Salamanca Market, which is very popular with visitors and does create a crowd in the vicinity of the monument. 

There is metered parking nearby on most days (except Saturdays) and the city's main bus mall is a 5 minute walk away.  Part of the monument can be considered wheelchair accessible and there is some disabled parking nearby.

Special events nearby, such as The Taste of Tasmania, New Years Celebrations, Dark MoFo and protests on the nearby Parliament Lawns attract crowds from time to time and may occasionally result in access to the area being temporarily limited (such as by the area being fenced "inside" an event space - although most such events are free to enter through designated entrances/exits).

Logging Requirements

To log this virtual cache you MUST:

1. Visit the co-ordinates with any item having some connection to Tasmania.
2. Take a photograph with the item at the virtual cache location (or from within 50m including the statue/fountain in your photo).
3. Post the photograph to your log with detail of how the item in your photo is connected to Tasmania.

Be creative as you wish!  Some examples:

• A selfie with you and a Tasmanian Tiger plush toy
• A jar of Tasmanian honey sitting on the statue with the Salamanca market in the background.
• A photo of you eating an apple grown in Tasmania.
• Writing "Tasmania" on a piece of paper and holding that in your photo.
• Asking a stranger to make the letter "T" with their arms.

Logs which do not have a photo and description uploaded within a reasonable time may be deleted.  I do understand that visitors may be on holiday and it will take some time to upload photos (there is free WiFi in the vicinity of this cache which may help).

Background Information

Abel Tasman and Tasmania

Abel Tasman, after whom the state of Tasmania is currently named, was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). On 24 November 1642, Tasman reached and signted the west coast, claiming it as Van Diemen's Land (after his boss), near Macquarie Harbour, and continued his voyage around the south and south-east coasts, including a shore excursion and planting a flag near Dunalley. He was the first known European explorer to reach Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), New Zealand, and the Fiji islands. His navigator Francois Visscher and his merchant Isaack Gilsemans mapped substantial portions of Australia, New Zealand, and some Pacific Islands.

The name ‘Tasmania’ officially replaced the earlier ‘Van Diemen’s Land’ in 1853.

Before Europeans

For time immemorial prior to the Dutch in 1642, British and French in the 1770's and the permanent arrival of the British in 1803, the island now known as Tasmania was referred to by several words by the palawa (Tasmanian Aborigine) ancestors, including as lutruwita by tribes in the south. This naming has been adopted by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre in palawa kani, although lutruwita is originally a Bruny/south-eastern language word.

There are no living speakers of the original Tasmanian languages. The palawa kani (Tasmanian aboriginal language) has been formed from the records of the languages encountered by Europeans, and wax recordings of the spoken language. The original sounds and meanings are based on written records made by early Europeans of the sounds they heard, and the meanings they thought they understood when they heard aboriginal ancestors speak. Prior to colonial times, the language spoken by traditional owners in the area near nipaluna/Hobart would have had many differences to the language spoken further away, such as in the north-west and Bass Strait islands.

A man from the Bruny Island clan, Wurati (Woorrady) accompanied a British colonial official George Robinson on his expeditions, and told him many words.  Robinson recorded lutruwita twice, and translated it once as ‘the name of Van Diemens Land so called by the natives of the south’, and the second time as ‘Brune or S name for great Island of VDL’. 

Many signficant places in lutruwita/Tasmania have dual naming with palawa kani Aboriginal place names.

Tasman Monument - Fountain

This fountain "Tasman Monument, 1988" was constructed by Stephen Walker, a prominent Tasmanian artist and sculptor.  The monument was commissioned as part of Australia's bincentennary celebrations. It was inaugurated by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands on 27th October 1988.

The fountain is located in Salamanca Place between Gladstone Street and Montpelier Retreat (although recent roadworks have made this section of Montpelier Retreat into a pedestrian area/shared space). It is described as "a rough-hewn plinth of white rock showing the Southern Cross in bronze is partially surrounded by a white concrete fountain with three bronze ships sailing in it. On the other side stands a full size bronze figure of Abel Janszoon Tasman (1603 - 1659)."

Salamanca Place

To people in Hobart, "Salamanca" refers to Salamanca Place and the adjoining precinct which is a popular destination.

Salamanca Place in Hobart was named after the victory of the Duke of Wellington in the Battle of Salamanca on 22 July 1812, where the Duke of Wellington lead the Anglo-Portuguese army to decisively defeat the French army of Marmont in the western-Spanish province of Salamanca.  Many Hobartians probably don't know Salamanca is named after a place in Spain!

Salamanca Place runs between Davey Street (one of Hobart's major arterial roads) adjacent St. David's Park (a former cemetry), past the Parliament House and Gardens, then meeting Runnymede Street in Battery Point.  Many of the Georgian sandstone buildings fronting Salamanca Place between Gladstone Street and Runnymede Street date back to the 1830s where these buildings were historically goods warehouses adjacent the working docks (where Salamanca Place and its lawns now stand). Salamanca Square is accessible by two laneways between these sandstone buildings, and Kelly's Steps from another.  These buildings are now occupied by bars, restaurants and art galleries and the land now extends to the Princes Wharf 1 and 2 buildings which were constructed in the 1930s along with the wharf expansion, and with PW1 refurbished in the 2000's as a multi-purpose event space.

Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020

This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.