Questions for Tasmanians . . .

*giggles at the questions*

1. for south west, I think its forest. Try the west coast, thats tiny. You got Strahan, Zeehan, Queenstown, Roseberry and so on.

2. Hobart is the capital, but Launceston's much better. I'm a North side girl.

3. Small to medium town? Umm, dunno. Go research Strahan or Queenstown, or maybe Ooze.

4. Well, Tasmania's older than Melbourne. Try buildings built before 1800.

5. Yes, we have 3 terms and always will. We work on the TCE system, most kids end up either going to large public colleges for 11 and 12, private schools or go and work. Highschool runs from 7-10.

6. We have plently of news coverage. There's 3-4 main statewide papers plus regional ones, we get all your mainland stuff and the news covers everything from local to international news. And we have the INTERNET! Its not like we live in trees lol.

7. Yeah, you guys are the mainlanders.

8. We don't use much slang here in Tassie or anything, like 'stone the crows'. If you asked someone from a more rural area, there'd be more.

9. Yep. Down south, its the Glenorchy people. Up north, its people from 'Miffdon [Smithton], Ravo [Ravenswood], Rocher [Rocherlea], Scottsdale and anyone who hangs out in the mall wearing trackies are called mallrats.

[IMG]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/Anariel/Image5.jpg[/IMG]
Paranormality - 2007; Daughter of Isis - 2006; The Tudor Duplicity -

Ahoy there! ^__^

What's Hobart's relationship to the rest of Tasmania? Is it seen as the hub or centre, or just a bigger place than others?

Generally with Hobart what you have is a fairly small CBD consisting of about 4 main streets and 2 mall areas. One of these is a fairly historic place with an animated clock - I'm sure you'd find youtube video of it elsewhere. It's the 'mall' that people generally tend to congregate around and shop at. The city itself sits close to the river and the dock area is a mix of restaurants and tourist shops. Plus nearby there's the historic 'stripmallesque' Salamanca which are mainly fancy cafe's and art galleries. And the Saturday markets (or, as we locals call it, flogging overpriced junk to tourists).

Hobart as a town is pretty tiny. I've actually given directions to irate tourists who'd gone up one street too far and ended up in the suburbs wondering where on earth they were. The POSTCARD view of Hobart that you often see is, in fact, Hobart - North Hobart, Battery Point AND more often than not SandyBay (which is where the iconic Casino is). There are a LOT of suburbs and sprawl around the town itself and so much of what people are told is Hobart is really spread out over the surrounding suburbs.

What is the set up of a typical medium- to smaller-sized town?

Same as the rest of Australia. Although in Tassie we redefine 'Small' and 'Town'. Here it seems if there's a SHED it's a town and deserving of a signpost. The smaller towns can range from quite busy touristy areas even if they only have one tiny little cbd-ish area - to fairly significant sized towns that rival Hobart for size to tiny ittybitty weeny little towns that are little more than one house and a big tin shed. One of the littlest towns I know of is literally a few houses and a small glassworks all perched along the main road.

How old does a building have to be in Tasmania before it's considered *really* old?

10 years. ... Naw I kid - we have some of the oldest buildings in Australia and the oldest bridge still in use. But there's a distinct sort of gap between the really old charming convict era buildings in sandstone and the newer crappity highrise blocks going up all over the place. We also have some laughably ugly buildings from the 50's n 70's ruining the place for everyone. Some of these are considered ancient because we all feel they're far past the time past which they should have been torn down >.<

I seem to remember Tasmania had three school terms rather than four . . . is that the case? How does that work? What's the education system like there, and what's the school finishing system down there (HSC? TCE?)?

Most schools still have 3 terms. The general system is TCE - though that may have changed since I was at school. Also here we have a combined college year system. Most (public) highschools stop at year 10 then you go to a giant 'college' to do years 11-12. This was mainly due to those years being non-compulsory and the lack of ongoing students in small regional schools. I loved it though, because the colleges ditched uniforms and treated the students more as adults. For a long time the marked difference in 'life experience' between those kids who'd gone to the college and thus had to learn to defend for themselves, be self reliant and self efficient meant in the first year the public schoolkids coped better with University. These days, however, with college years being compulsory and private schools picking up the slack - there aren't the same differences.

What's the media like there? Do many people read newspapers? What's the news coverage on TV like? Is there any (perceived or actual) bias in the media? Are things hyped or understated in the press there?

Media = yours. Most of our stuff comes from the mainland with the exception of a couple (and not all) local news. There is the 7pm ABC news from Tassie (I go to the same shop as our newsreader) and there are I think 2 other local news. The other stations show Melbourne based news. SBS is the same all over Australia. Most of the rest of the programming is identical to the other stations. We get - free to air - SBS, ABC (1 and 2), TDT, WIN, SouthernCross. Most of which are full of shite and not worth watching. (though I do watch a fair bit of abc, sbs so I could be biased XD)

Do you guys really call mainland Australia "mainland Australia"? Or is that a term coined from the, ah, mainland?

Pretty much. The Mainland. I have personally been there a lot, plenty of youth move to Melbourne too. However lots of Tasmanians have never been to the magical mainland and some of them have never been to Hobart. Hobart. Seriously. Hobart is about - at MAX - 3 hours drive from ANYWHERE here and some of them have never been there. I could cry.

Are there any "Tasmania-isms" or ways of phrasing things you can think of? (I've lived in Adelaide, Sydney Melbourne and Canberra, and it always fascinates me how differently around this country speak!)

I don't know. I have been told we're more pommy sounding and then I've been told we're more bogan sounding. I guess it depends who you talk to. Also we have plenty of people from all over the world living here - particularly around the University as we're popular with students from places like Malaysia, China, Korea and that kinda area.

Does Tasmania have an equivalent of Moe? (a place where everyone is considered ill-bred rednecks in mocchisans and trackies that everyone thinks is outright dodgy)

BRIDGEWATER - RISDONVALE - GLENORCHY and uh well frankly anywhere that isn't Hobart, SandyBay or Battery Point :P

I kid - sadly the problems coming from those areas are really due to lack of services, lack of faith from the rest of us IN the people there, and a severe lack of .... what would you call it.... intervention to prevent the cycles that produce these angry, resentful and uncaring kids who grow up unconnected and pretty much raise kids with the same attitudes. I can talk - I grew up in a severely bogan-redneck town. The local source of employment (a mill) shut down and the people were badly affected and well - it was a bad place to be in. Horrible problem with youths and even firearms - tourists were scared off - cars buried in yards etc. Horrible. My dad once commented "Ugh.. it's not EVEN the pits." However we were too poor to go anywhere else as were most of the rest of them. I was lucky enough to be a nerdydork who wanted to go to uni and moved out of the place.

However - once jobs started returning with the tourist trade, the airwalk, the opening of hotels and shops - the place has totally changed. People CARED again. Houses got painted, kids got jobs, the parents got jobs and the town had some self respect and well - you'd never know it to look at it, where it'd come from. It looks so charming now. It was a festering heap.

Yeh - so any of those dodgy towns could be nice.... poor bastards are just stuck in the rut.

Well after all that I wonder if I should just count that in my word count I've probably done 1,200 by now XD XD

I have nothing witty or insightful to put here yet.

I find it funny that so many people think you have to hate Launceston if you come from Hobart. That's bizzare to me - I quite like Launceston. The shopping is infinitely better in my opinion - for clothes at least. The major problem I have with it is - well - it's too far away and I'm a Tasmanian so 2 and 1/2 hour drive is insane. Mainlanders would consider that 'down the road'. We are a bit weird here aren't we XD

Also you bastards get a bakers dozen. I hate you all for that but it's only envy XD

bastards... WE don't get a bakers dozen!! NOOOOO that'd be too much... we get 1 (ONE) bakery. ... is it just me or is that a little odd? You guys have like, what, 3 in one mall? *cries* Also your park has monkeys. Our park doesn't have monkeys! That's just unfair XD

... surreal f__ing park that... I was there once around 4pm on a Sunday and not another soul to be found then out of f___ing nowhere comes a Marching Band with a F___ing TRAIN choofing it's way along behind them. And they marched quite happily off into the distance leaving me somewhat bewildered and wishing I'd brought a video camera.

Mad place that.

I have nothing witty or insightful to put here yet.

My town is set close to forest, possibly in the south-east or south-west corner, but if you have some suggestions of where about's I'd be best to place this . . . ah . . . place that would be fab.
The west coast is generally considered the more 'wild' part of Tassie with a lot of national parks/reserves. South-east and north are more densely populated in comparison and between the two are the midlands, which is kind of a farming area. [But! It’s all a generalisation. I grew up in the midlands and had the bush just outside the house to run feral in as a child. >:D]

Hobart's relationship to the rest of Tasmania? Is it seen as the hub or centre, or just a bigger place than others?
To me, it seems a decent city, but it's all about comparison. I grew up on a large farm in the midlands, halfway between Hobart and Launceston, so Hobart is definitely a hub/centre/etc for me, but I often hear it referred to as 'quaint' by tourists and in comparison to larger cities on the mainland it's definitely got that small town feel. Launceston is actually larger [from memory] but it's always had a spread out, low-slung, smaller-town feel to me when I compare it to Hobart, which feels much more compact and city-like. I guess it depends on where you live. [As you might have picked up, there's something of a rivalry running between the two cities. ^^;]

the set up of a typical medium- to smaller-sized town?
Smaller towns... well my family moved not long after I finished grade 10 so we would be closer to college and I wouldn't have to board with other people for too long, which was considered fairly normal. [Kids either found a place to board during their higher education or their families moved.] So I can't say much from an adult perspective. But from memory... [and I have no idea if this is what you actually want.] One main street with no traffic lights called, oddly enough, Main Street. No McDonalds or KFCs but three pubs and a couple of local take-aways run to cater for bus-tourists passing through. One school, which was a 'district' school so kids were bussed in from all points of the compass from outlying farms and smaller towns [which I refuse to call villages], myself included. [Hurrah for school buses that you can't escape from as the bus driver has known you since you were four.] Three large sandstone churches [to offset the pubs? -snicker-] and a close community feel. Most people knew everyone by their first name, [even if at times you wouldn't dare call them by their given name...] and new families were somewhat rare and exciting news. Or at least from a childs point of view, as that usually meant new kids at school in which each class/grade would generally have one 'volunteer' make a sneaking run past the principles office to find out all they could about the new person. >_>.....

how old does a building have to be in Tasmania before it's considered *really* old?
Early 1800's usually I think. There were lots of old sandstone buildings where I used to live from around the 1830's [courthouse, mill, cottages, etc.] and they were used as a tourist draw card. ^^;

I seem to remember Tasmania had three school terms rather than four . . . is that the case? How does that work? What's the education system like there, and what's the school finishing system down there (HSC? TCE?)?
Yes, three terms rather then four. The first term is the longest and is split by the Easter break, something longingly looked forward to! Most public schools stop at year 10 and you have to attend years 11 and 12 at a separate college before heading on to Uni or some other equivalent. A lot of people move to the mainland for Uni as there's seen to be more opportunities over there. [or sometimes the course you need just isn't available in Tasmania.]

What's the media like there? Do many people read newspapers? What's the news coverage on TV like? Is there any (perceived or actual) bias in the media? Are things hyped or understated in the press there?
Newspapers? Hell no, I read my news on the internet, much cheaper. [-is a scrooge-] But there are lots of different papers to buy if you want to read them and I think the main two for the state are the Mercury [south] and the Examiner [north].
As for TV, there are four main channels [Southern Cross, Win, SBS and ABC] which have fairly much the same programming as the mainland, although with one less channel some shows are held off for a week or so, or aired at bizarre times of the night, which is really frustrating unless you happen to have digital or a set-top-box which lets you get the mainland channels.
In regards to bias... no more so then I can read in any other state really. ^^; But then again, I tend to roll my eyes and move on.

Do you guys really call mainland Australia "mainland Australia"? Or is that a term coined from the, ah, mainland?
Yes. Mainland Australia is “the mainland”, and people who live there are “mainlanders”. I can't remember a time when I, or someone else, wasn't referring to the rest of Australia as such. Even just writing this I can't help but use it, which is sadly embarrassing.

Are there any "Tasmania-isms" or ways of phrasing things you can think of? (I've lived in Adelaide, Sydney Melbourne and Canberra, and it always fascinates me how differently around this country speak!)
I'm never sure if some of the terms used are situational to Tasmania or not as generally I just don't think about them. One Tassie-ism that the media tends to put forward is the 'yes, but no' phrase many people use at the beginning of an answering sentence when speaking to someone. [is this used anywhere else?] Or its more bogan cousin "yeah, but nah." [add "mate" to the end of the bogan version as you see fit. it's a 50/50 chance that it'll pop up.]
eg: “You okay?” “Yes, but no. You see last night…”

Does Tasmania have an equivalent of Moe? (a place where everyone is considered ill-bred rednecks in mocchisans and trackies that everyone thinks is outright dodgy)
Speaking from a southern perspective, Rokeby, Gagebrook and Bridgewater are the main three that spring to mind. This is not to say that everyone is dodgy that lives there, but it's a stereotype that exists.

Launceston is all right if you overlook that it's parochial & cliquey, nothing ever happens and when it does, it's not advertised, the annual food & wine thingie you have to pay to get into, there's a serious shortage of interesting places to visit, there are no tall ships, or mountains, or old forts, there are no writing groups that I know of, or much in the way of workshops etc., it gets frosts but no snow, the public transports system is adequate at best and, well, you get the idea :\

It does have a respectable number of bookshops for its size and the Gorge, and monkeys, yes. No dolphins though.

(The bakery in Salamanca Sq is good, worth the extra walk)

*squee* Thank you all so, so much! I was almost giving up on any responding to my thread for fear I came across as some arrogant Melbournian wanting to stereotype Tasmania, but that all helps so, so much! Believe me, the last thing - indeed, the exact opposite - of what I want to do is portray some sort of smarmy mainland blinkered vision of a place I actually really liked (*ahem* the one time I visited when I was in high school *ahem*)

Just to explain why I had the questions I had - one of the things I wanted to look at in my novel was media spin on tragic events. Having seen homicide/fatality investigations from the inside, it always amazes me how much the media (televised, print, or otherwise) can make things so much more dramatic and sensational, hence the bias question.

Do you have dedicated Tasmanian talkback stations down there? I know they have a huge influence here in Melbourne, and I believe so in Sydney (just look at the riots last year), but it's not something I've specifically factored in.

As far as Hobart vs Launceston goes, presumably the major infrastructure is based in Hobart? Police HQ, state parliament and departments, etc? Or are they decentralised? (also, if anyone knows how the police and human/social services work down there, any hints would be greatly appreciated).

(the question about old buildings might not come into prominence. I was just looking for an excuse to give some of my characters a stubborn sense of town pride but I seem to be drifting away from that)

I could have easily set this in Victoria somewhere. I know how the media works here, I know how police investigations work here, I can write natural dialogue for people from varying parts of the state here, but for some reason I don't think I could have acheived the same effect with setting my novel in Gippsland or Warrnambool way.

"As far as Hobart vs Launceston goes, presumably the major infrastructure is based in Hobart? Police HQ, state parliament and departments, etc? Or are they decentralised? "

This is the source of most of the griping in the north. Launceston believes it should have just as good, if not better (being closer to the rest of the country) facilities than Hobart, and then the NW Coast waves it hand so it doesn't get forgotten. Even if this means duplication of services & there isn't the population to support. There is some rationality behind it, the state's population is not as centralised as in other states. Down south they tend to forget about the rest of the state, as happens in capital cities.

There are a lot of private industries based in the north, especially those base around transport. Government departments though, have their major office is in Hobart, with something smaller in Launceston/other areas. This varies between departments, obviously. Education has a lot of regional offices, so does Health & Human Services. Evnironment & Land Management, or whatever they are now, is more centralised.

There's a big police HQ in Hobart, but there's a smaller one HQ in Launceston (and Burnie, Bellerive and possibly others). Which is about as much as I know about them.

State Parliament sits in Hobart, although the politicians obviously have offices in their own electorates. (They sat in Launceston last year or this year to celebrate 150 of state government, which I think is the first time that's ever happened)

The only unique Tasmania-ism I can think of is chigger. It's the same as a bogan, but has its roots in the dodgy suburb of Chigwell.