Tasmania’s forests
The isolation of Tasmania from the Australian mainland for a very long time has resulted in the development of some quite distinct forest and vegetation types.
Tasmania’s rainforests contain some of the most ancient species of Australia’s flora. The lichens and mosses are some of the oldest survivors, species such as Huon and Celery Top Pine can be traced back over 135 million years and the myrtle, a flowering plant, and the dominant rainforest tree in the State today, has pollen records dating back 85 million years. This was a time when Australia was still joined to Antarctica and South America.
The break-up of this group of continents, the northwards drift of Australia, with subsequent climate changes and intense geological activity, led to the development of a quite unique assemblage of forest types and their associated fauna.