Tasmania is Australia's only island state. Long periods of isolation from the mainland meant that the Tasmanian Aborigines developed their own idiosyncracies, and Tasmania is full of remnants of their heritage. But those in pursuit of history will find gruesome details. When British colonisers sought a new penal colony, Tasmania's isolation rendered it favorite, triggering years of tragic violence against its Aborigines. Eeriness haunts the Victorian streets of Launceston and the penal colony, Port Arthur. Tasmania's preserved buildings are aesthetically wonderful and historically shocking. Tasmania's relatively small size contradicts its ecological diversity. Being an island, it harbors distinct wildlife, many of which are endangered or extinct elsewhere: the infamous Tasmanian devil, the spotted-tail and the eastern quoll are the three biggest carnivorous marsupials on the planet.