Decade of headlines: The stories that shaped Tasmania in the 2010s
From floods and fires that claimed lives and devastated communities, Tasmania has had its share of pride, happiness and pain over the past decade. David Killick looks back.
Tasmania
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2020
January 1: Bushfires burn near Fingal in the state’s North.
January 14: Premier Will Hodgman resigns from office. Peter Gutwein is installed as his replacement four days later.
January 23: Miner Cameron Goss dies in a rock fall at the Henty Gold Mine.
March 17: Public health emergency declared due to COVID-19.
July 17: 10-year-old Lucas Arnott is ripped from a six-metre boat by a large shark near Stanley.
March 19: Tasmanian borders closed due to the threat of the COVID pandemic.
August 5: Snow falls in Launceston for the first time in 50 years.
August 12: Queen Elizabeth II approves the awarding of a Victoria Cross to Tasmanian war hero Teddy Sheean.
October 1: The Hobart JackJumpers are named as the 10th team for the NBL 2021-22 season.
October 10: Mass whale stranding in Macquarie Harbour.
November 23: Premier Peter Gutwein announces a commission of inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse in state institutions.
December 4: Right-to-die laws pass critical vote in the House of Assembly.
2019
January 1: Tasmania’s wilderness burns. While a handful of houses are lost, it is the wilderness which really suffers with more than 200,000ha burnt.
February 25: Liberal Rene Hidding quits parliament after being accused of sexual abuse of a minor. Mr Hidding denies the allegation and was not charged.
May 3: Jessica Whelan quits as Liberal candidate for the federal seat of Lyons after her anti-Muslim social media posts are revealed by the Mercury.
April 10: Historic changes to laws affecting transgender people pass Tasmanian parliament.
April 11: Former Gunns CEO John Gay dies.
August 12: The state government releases details of new legislation to finally allow survivors of sexual offences to tell their own stories without the permission of a Supreme Court judge.
August 22: Labor MP Scott Bacon retires from state politics.
September 7: Tasmania’s historic $230m public housing debt is wiped by the federal government in a deal secured by Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie in exchange for her vote on federal tax cuts.
2018
March 3: The Liberal Party under Will Hodgman wins a second term of office at the state election, defeating Labor in an election dominated by debate over the future of poker machines.
April 9: The Queen’s youngest son, Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, visits Hobart.
May 3: Former attorney-general Vanessa Goodwin dies after a long battle with cancer.
May 12: Hobart mops up after a night of torrential rain, 100km/h winds and ferocious floodwaters.
November 3: RotorLift boss Roger Corbin, 57, dies in a helicopter crash at Hobart Airport.
December 8: Pilot Nikita Walker dies when her twin-engine Britten-Norman Islander aircraft crashes near Federation Peak.
2017
March 17: Former Labor opposition leader Bryan Green announces his retirement from politics.
April 13: Premier Will Hodgman apologises to gay, lesbian and transgender Tasmanians for criminal prosecution under historic laws against homosexuality and cross-dressing.
September 22: Former prime minister Tony Abbott is headbutted on Hobart’s waterfront by local DJ Astro Labe, who is sentenced to six months in jail.
September 23: Liberal cabinet member Matthew Groom announces his decision to step down.
October 18: Glenorchy City Council is sacked by Local Government Minister Peter Gutwein after a damning report.
November 16: Tasmania says “I do”, voting in favour of legalising same-sex marriage — a big deal in Australia’s last jurisdiction to repeal its anti-homosexuality laws.
2016
January 22: Hobart mum Sarah Paino killed in Hobart’s CBD by a speeding teenage driver. Her unborn child was saved by doctors at the RHH.
June 8: An elderly woman in Latrobe drowns as floods inundate the town. A farmer at Ouse is washed away and a truck driver dies at Evandale.
June 26: Tasmanian sensation Jack Hale breaks the Australian junior under-20 100m record.
July 24: The Hobart Rivulet floods large sections of the Myer redevelopment when foundations collapse.
October 6: Huon Valley Council sacked after a long period of severe dysfunction.
October 12: Federal Court decision prevents reopening of the Tarkine Tracks to four-wheel-drives.
November 2: Tasmanian adventurer Andrew Gaskell is found alive in the Malaysian jungle after being missing for two weeks. He is emaciated, but able to chat with his rescuers.
December 16: Ten Chinese nationals are arrested and their boat impounded in Hobart amid suspicion of large-scale drug smuggling. The foreign commercial vessel was spotted circling in international waters off Australia’s west coast and escorted to the southern capital by HMAS Adelaide following a lengthy maritime monitoring mission.
2015
July 26: Scallop diver Damian Johnson, 46, is killed by a great white shark off Maria Island.
September 9: An inquest into the 1969 suspected murder of Hobart woman Lucille Butterworth hears the main person of interest, Geoffrey Charles Hunt, made a “full and frank” confession during questioning about the death of another woman, Susan Knight. Hunt has never been charged in relation to Ms Butterworth’s disappearance.
November 21: Hobart teenager Emma Parkinson is shot in a terror attack at a rock show in the Bataclan concert hall in Paris. She undergoes surgery and recovers.
December 21: Basslink cable is cut. It is not restored until June the following year.
2014
February 14: Burnie-born Corporal Cameron Baird becomes Australia’s 100th Victoria Cross recipient. Corporal Baird was killed in the Khod Valley in Afghanistan on duty in June 2013.
March 15: The Liberals under Will Hodgman win government at the state election, tipping Labor from office after 16 years in power.
April 14: Former long-serving Tasmanian senator Brian Harradine dies.
July 7: Tasmanian governor Peter Underwood dies of cancer.
November 18: Xi Jinping is the first Chinese president to visit Tasmania.
December 10: Kate Warner sworn in as Tasmania’s 28th governor.
December 31: Pilot Sam Longford and photographer Tim Jones die when their plane crashes into the sea near Cape Raoul on the Tasman Peninsula.
2013
January 5: The Mercury reports on the “hellfire” that hits Dunalley. The fire was part of a series of bushfires between November 2012 and April 2013. At least 170 buildings were destroyed and one firefighter died. In Dunalley half of the town’s buildings and a primary school were burnt down.
March 24: Director of Public Prosecutions Tim Ellis is involved in a collision on the Midland Highway which claims the life of Natalia Pearn, 27. He is later found guilty of negligent driving causing death.
June 19: Former politician and barrister Michael Hodgman AM QC dies.
August: Former Gunns CEO John Gay convicted of insider trading.
September: Triabunna woodchip mill dismantled by new owners to prevent it from operating again.
December 10: Two miners fall to their death in the Mount Lyell copper mine in Queenstown when the wooden platform on which they are working collapses. Two weeks later another miner is killed and the mine is shut down.
2012
September 25: Forest industry stalwart Gunns Ltd collapses.
August 1: Tasmanian rower Kate Hornsey wins a silver medal at the London Olympic Games. Eddie Ockenden and Tim Deavin win bronze in hockey at the same event.
October 18: Premier Lara Giddings apologises to those affected by forced adoption policies from the 1950s to the 1980s.
November 8: Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visit Hobart.
December 7: The Burnie community is shocked when a father blows up a car in the backyard of his suburban home with himself and two little boys inside. They all survive but with horrific burns. Paul Connelly was jailed for life.
2011
January 21: The Museum of Old and New Art opens its doors in Hobart to reveal an extraordinary $100m art collection. Built into the cliff face at Berriedale by David Walsh, Australia’s largest private museum has attracted visitors from around the world.
January 23: Labor Premier David Bartlett resigns from office, citing family reasons.
January 24: Lara Giddings becomes Tasmania's first female Premier.
March 21: Tasmania wins its second Sheffield Shield with an at-home win against NSW.
October 25: A Latrobe family is devastated after their son drowns on a school trip to a local swimming hole.
November 22: Former MLC and Glenorchy Mayor Terry Martin is found guilty as part of a child sex case involving a 12-year-old girl pimped out by her mother.
November 27: Hobart winemaker Nick Glaetzer is awarded the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy for the best red wine of the 2009-10 vintage at the Royal Melbourne Wine Show — the first Tasmanian winner in 50 years.
December 7: Princess Mary and her husband, Danish Prince Frederik, visit Tasmania with their children.
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