Van Diemen's Land Company


The Van Diemen's Land Company is a farming corporation in the Australian state of Tasmania. It was founded in 1825 and received a royal charter the same year, and was granted 250,000 acres. in northwest Van Diemen's Land in 1826. The company was a group of London merchants who planned a wool growing venture to supply the needs of the British textile industry.
The company established its headquarters at Circular Head under the management of Edward Curr who arrived in Van Diemen's Land in 1826.
Much of the initial cargo, stock and farm labourers arrived in Van Diemen's Land aboard. Some of the settlers refused to adapt to their new surroundings. For instance they did not recognise that in the Southern Hemisphere the seasons were reversed. For many years the costs of farming were only just recovered. By the 1880s the company was making more money from timber felling and timber exports than from farming.
The Van Diemen's Land Company introduced bounties on the thylacine from as early as 1830, which was a partial cause of their extinction.
The Company was the constructor of the early stages of the Emu Bay Railway between 1875 and 1884.
The company retains some of the original land grant and is widely believed to be the last Australian chartered company still operating. By the 1970s the company owned one seventh of its original selection.
In July 2014 it was announced the owner of the Van Diemen's Land Company, New Plymouth District Council in New Zealand, was attempting to sell the company. In 2016, Moon Lake Investments, controlled by Lu Xianfeng, purchased it for A$280 million.

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