Omission of Tasmania from maps of Australia
{{Short description|Cartographical error}}
{{Use Australian English|date=July 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
The Australian island state of Tasmania is sometimes omitted from maps of Australia. Such omissions often provoke outrage from Tasmanians.{{cite news |last1=Butler |first1=Josh |title=Woolworths Forgot To Put Tasmania On An Australian Map Hat |url=https://www.huffpost.com/archive/au/entry/woolworths-forgot-to-put-tasmania-on-an-australian-map-hat_n_9021362 |access-date=3 February 2025 |work=HuffPost Australia |date=19 January 2016}}
Early omissions
In 1909, the Daily Post of Hobart reported that "very often maps of the Commonwealth... are not graced with the fair island of Tasmania depicted on them."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article187879030 |title=Looking after Tasmania |newspaper=Daily Post |volume=II |issue=171 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=20 July 1909 |accessdate=22 July 2020 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}
1982 Commonwealth Games
During the 1982 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, performers created a map of Australia that omitted Tasmania.{{cite news|last1=Hope|first1=Emma|title=We demand an apology for snub after Tasmania is left off the map again|url=http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/we-demand-an-apology-for-snub-after-tasmania-is-left-off-the-map-again/story-fnj4f7k1-1227000804034|accessdate=1 February 2015|work=The Mercury|date=25 July 2014}} English-born Australian poet Andrew Sant wrote "Off the Map" in response:
File:Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony - Brisbane 1982.jpg.]]
Identity deleted,
Close to the Continent
Who wouldn't make a fuss?
There have been wars for less...{{cite book|last1=Shakespeare|first1=Nicholas|author-link=Nicholas Shakespeare|title=In Tasmania: Adventures at the End of the World|date=2010|page=26|publisher=Random House |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vMI1_Hv2PzMC&pg=PA26|accessdate=1 February 2015|isbn=9781407074153}}
2014 Commonwealth Games
The Australian swim team at the 2014 Commonwealth Games were issued training swimsuits with a stylised design featuring maps of Australia, along with kangaroos and emus. The animals obscured Tasmania, and the design was criticized for leaving Tasmania off the map. Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman called the omission "un-Australian and unforgivable".
Other incidents
File:200 escudos 1522-1525 1995 Australia.png coin commemorating Portugal's discovery of Australia, but the map used did not include Tasmania.]]
File:Amsterdam - Risk players - 1136 (cropped).jpg includes Australia, but not Tasmania]]
- Australian athletes at the 1956 Summer Olympics, held in Melbourne, wore tracksuits that featured a map of Australia excluding Tasmania.[http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-08/shirley-strickland-holds-her-gold-medal-won-in-the/4185508 Image] of Shirley Strickland in her Australian tracksuit at the 1956 Olympic Games
- The 1993 racing game Top Gear 2 omitted Tasmania from its Australasia's "country selection" screen map.{{Cite web |date=2014-08-06 |title=Especial: Top Gear 2 (Super Nintendo) – Portal Sportszone |url=https://portalsportszone.com.br/especial-top-gear-2/ |access-date=2025-02-04 |language=pt-BR}}
- In 2000 the island was left off the Australian map in some of the official literature for the Sydney Olympics.{{cite web |url=http://bluffers.com/tasmania/ |title=Where the devil is Tasmania? {{!}} Bluffer's |website=bluffers.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203034211/http://bluffers.com/tasmania |archive-date=2012-12-03}}
- Tasmania was omitted from the map of Australia shown on some promotional posters of the 2008 film Australia.
- In 2012, Arnott's Biscuits produced a biscuit in the shape of mainland Australia.{{cite news|last1=Jones|first1=Grant|title=Tasmania is missing from inside a box of Australia-shaped biscuits by Arnott's Shapes|url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/tasmania-is-missing-from-inside-a-box-of-australia-shaped-biscuits-by-arnotts-shapes/story-e6freuy9-1226242993462|accessdate=1 February 2015|work=Daily Telegraph|date=13 January 2012}}
- In 2013, South Australia adopted a logo that omitted Tasmania.{{cite web|last1=Usher|first1=Melanie|title=South Australia New State logo|url=http://www.hit107.com/news/feed/2013/3/south-australia-new-state-logo/|publisher=HIT 107|accessdate=1 February 2015}}
- In 2016, Woolworths Supermarkets were forced to withdraw Australia Day caps from sale which featured a map of Australia without Tasmania.{{cite news|last1=Calligeros|first1=Marissa|title=Woolworths forced to withdraw Australia Day merchandise after leaving Tasmania off hats|url=http://www.theage.com.au/business/retail/woolworths-forced-to-withdraw-australia-day-merchandise-after-leaving-tasmania-off-hats-20160119-gm9n0f.html|accessdate=20 January 2016|work=The Age|date=20 January 2016}}
- In 2019 Thins Crisps released a Pie & Sauce flavour crisps which had a map of Australia with Tasmania omitted on the package.{{Citation|title=Tassie Left Out Again|date=26 February 2020 |url=https://tasmaniantimes.com/2020/02/tassie-left-out-again/|language=en|access-date=2020-02-28}}
- Many editions of the board game Risk do not include Tasmania (or New Zealand).{{cite web |last1=Hasbro |title=Risk Game |url=https://shop.hasbro.com/en-us/product/risk-game/2C7C6F52-5056-9047-F5DD-EB8AC273BA4C |website=Hasbro Shop |publisher=Hasbro |access-date=27 January 2023}}{{cite web |last1=SMG Studio |title=RISK: Global Domination |url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1128810/RISK_Global_Domination/ |website=Steam |publisher=Valve |access-date=27 January 2023}}
State of Invisibility exhibition 2022
In October 2022, publicist Hamish Thompson held an exhibition called State of Invisibility highlighting the absence of Tasmania from national maps, souvenirs and federal memorabilia. This seemed to strike a chord, and was covered by local and national press throughout Australia.{{Cite news |last=Cutting |first=Lucie |date=2022-10-31 |title=Left off the map, exhibition highlights the many times Tasmania has been forgotten |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-31/tasmania-left-off-map-hamish-thompson-collection/101591046 |access-date=2023-04-06}}{{Cite news |last=Kidman |first=John |date=2022-10-29 |title=Exhibition casts Tassie as invisible state |work=The Western Australian |url=https://thewest.com.au/entertainment/exhibition-casts-tassie-as-invisible-state-c-8700281 |access-date=2023-04-06}}{{Cite news |last=Bilton |first=Ross |date=November 2022 |title=What's Missing? A kitsch love song to the state of invisibility |work=The Australian |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/hamish-thompsons-state-of-invisibility/news-story/bfc4b9886f9713e18bfc2a2ffc3d99a8 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230406184817/https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/hamish-thompsons-state-of-invisibility/news-story/bfc4b9886f9713e18bfc2a2ffc3d99a8?amp&nk=cd014d1785f57a3d7e5c32a8aab29581-1680806906 |archive-date=2023-04-06}}