Tasmania The Switzerland of the South

The Switzerland of the South - Vintage Australian Travel Poster

Tasmania - The Switzerland of the South.

The original poster was created by Harry Garnet Kelly and is best known for this particular artwork. A Colour lithograph 1930s (The precise date of this poster is unknown). Printed by Mercury Press, Hobart, for the Tasmanian Government Tourist Bureau.
Lake St Clair is the deepest freshwater lake in Australia, over 170 metres (557 feet deep). The Lake is on the southern border of Cradle Mountain, Lake St Clair National Park and the last point of the Overland Track, one of the worlds greatest bush-walks.The Indigenous people of the area called the Lake Leeawuleena, meaning sleeping water.

By the 1930s Tasmania was commonly known as the 'Switzerland of the South'. The catchphrase placed Tasmania in a European perspective, even though the image of Mount Ida with Lake St. Clair in the foreground is distinctively Tasmanian.