Grasping the nettle : the Tasmanian geological survey's work on landslides, 1971-1988

The state of Tasmania had suffered from its foundation from landslides. A policy of limited compensation for property loss had been established in the 1960s as insurance was not available but landslide damage had continued and the compensatory policy had to be abandoned. The Tasmanian Geological Survey worked on this problem mainly in Northern Tasmania and devised a system of advisory zone maps to control building development, followed by legislative controls. Some comments are made on the social impact of these measures. The period from 1971 to 1988 is described as being the main period of innovation. A selection of the originating reports is referenced, and a site for the whole corpus is given.