Tasmania is an island state of Australia, located below the continent. It was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman and, like Australia itself, was a penal colony for decades.
Native fauna include the Tasmanian devil (a species made famous thanks to the Looney Tunes cartoons). The 1988 comedy Young Einstein is set in Tasmania.
References
- All of the unseen members of Oscar's Grouch Philharmonic Orchestra in Sesame Street Episode 0518 are named after Australian locales. One, named Tasmania, plays the fire engine as their instrument.
- The National Geographic parody in The Miss Piggy Cover Girl Fantasy Calendar includes the cover story "Tasmania: Slumbering Midget on Australia's Doorstep."