What is the capital of Tasmania?

Hobart is the capital of Tasmania and Australia's second-oldest capital city, with a metropolitan population of about 250,000. It lies on the estuary of the Derwent River on Tasmania's south-east coast, with the dolerite peak of kunanyi/Mount Wellington (1,271 metres) rising directly behind the city.

Hobart was founded in 1804 as a British penal settlement, second only to Sydney (1788) among Australian capitals. The colony of Van Diemen's Land received about 75,000 convicts before transportation ended in 1853, and the ruins of Port Arthur on the Tasman Peninsula are now a UNESCO World Heritage site recognised as one of the most significant convict-era places in the world. The colony was renamed Tasmania in 1856 to escape its convict reputation, and Tasmania federated with the other colonies in 1901.

Today Hobart is the start and finish point of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, which leaves Sydney every Boxing Day, and the home port of the Aurora Australis Antarctic supply vessel and CSIRO's research fleet, reflecting Tasmania's status as a base for Australian Antarctic operations. The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), opened in 2011 by gambler David Walsh, has transformed the city's tourism profile and hosts the Dark Mofo and Mona Foma festivals.

The Hobart economy depends on tourism, education through the University of Tasmania, agriculture (especially apples, cherries, salmon, and wine), and Antarctic and marine science. Tasmania as a whole is the only Australian state to draw nearly all its electricity from renewable sources, mostly hydroelectric schemes built from the 1910s through to the controversial damming of Lake Pedder in 1972 and the failed 1983 Franklin Dam proposal.