Thanks, Ed.

You're spot on with the date. Van Dieman's Land was named after the governor of the Dutch East Indies by Abel Tasman, the first European to see it in 1642.
Formerly under the jurisdiction of the British colony of New South Wales, it became a self-governing state in the mid 1850s and was renamed Tasmania.
After the infamous Boston Tea Party and humiliating loss to the Colonists in the ensuing War of Independence, the British needed another large area to park their ever-growing population of criminals. Captain James Cook, and his timely discovery of Botany Bay, saved the day.
In all, 160,000 prisoners (men, women, and children) were sent to Australia. 73,000 of these were sent to Van Dieman's Land between 1803 and 1868.
One of these was my wife's GGG-grandfather, who arrived in 1830. This Englishman was convicted of stealing a jacket and two coats. The original death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment providing he agreed to transportation. He served 14 years and, upon release, became a model citizen of the new colony.

Ireland's Great Famine lasted from 1845-49.