Currently, I am studying two very diverse topics: Peat and Tasmania.I will not bore you with peat right now, but I am hoping there are non-believers from Tasmania on this site. I saw some photos of the island and believed that it was uninhabited, but that is not true. There are half a million inhabitants.
There is at least one indigenous breed of sheep, the Elliotdale, whose wool is rough and tough and used for carpet production. Strangely enough, I cannot find a photograph of this breed.
Do you Aussies know anything about this island and its inhabitant?
Tasmania, capital Hobart, was originally called Van Diemen’s Land by most Europeans up until 1856, named for Anthony Van Diemen, the Governor General of the Dutch East India Co. It housed one of the most infamous penal colonies of Australia at Port Arthur..during the British convict transportation years in the early part of the 19th century.
PBS WGBH recently aired two documentaries, Nova, Can We Cool The Planet and The Age Of Nature, Changing. In one of those the nature of peat soil was noted as a excellent repository for CO2 gases.
Peat is a fascinating layer of "soil'." IAlng the North Sea, people have been digging peat for heat and cooking for thousands of years. It was my summer job for a few years. Now our area is completely cleared. The farmers have to re-hydrate the sand after the layers of peat have been removed.