Van Diemen’s Land began in 1804 with the founding of Hobart Town. It was a major British convict colony through the mid-19th century. Concurrently, a group of London businessmen received a royal grant for 250,000 acres of land at Circular Head in the northwest corner of the island (today’s Tasmania). The Van Diemen’s Land Company began in 1825 to supply wool. Within fifty years, their primary focus was timbering and later dairy farms. In 1875, they launched the Emu Bay Railway which connected to Burnie. Surprisingly, this first land grant company was also the last when it was purchased in 2016. This VDL crest is displayed outside of the Burnie Regional Museum. It was originally on their building near the Port of Burnie.
