The Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (see photo) reached the South Pole in December 1911, but it wasn’t until he reached Hobart that he was able to broadcast this news to the world.

The most famous man born in Tasmania was Erol Flynn, the swashbuckling Hollywood film star. A more recent famous resident is Mary Donaldson, an ex-estate agent from Taroona. You might know her better as Princess Mary of Denmark. In 2000 she met Prince Frederik at the Olympics in a pub in Sydney, they married in 2004 and she is Tasmania’s version of the beloved Princess Kate Middleton.