Taken by the British in the early 1800s and made a colony in 1825, Van Diemens Island was used as an auxiliary penal settlement until the 1850s. It was granted self-government and renamed Tasmania in 1856, and it became a state of the Australian Commonwealth in 1901. The first stamps inscribed Tasmania were issued in November 1853. Until 1896, all postage stamps portrayed Queen Victoria. I Tasmania’s last issue was in 1913 and was superseded by those of Australia. Todays stamp showing the portrait of Queen Victoria is from 1853 and has a face value of one pence. Please note that the text on the stamp is “Van Diemen’s Island”, which is another name for Tasmania”.