When the sea level rose and Tasmania became an island 10,000 years ago, the people on it not only experienced slower progress than people on the mainland, they actually experienced regress.
Once she crept into the dining- room and found it empty, though a partly finished meal was on the table and chairs and plates looked as if they had been hastily pushed back when the diners rose suddenly for some reason.
" I shall come back this afternoon, " she said, looking all round at her new kingdom, and speaking to the trees and the rose - bushes as if they heard her.