Tasmania (abbreviated as Tas and known colloquially as “Tassie”) is an island state, part of the Commonwealth of Australia, located 240 kilometres to the south of the Australian continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania, the 26th largest island in the world, and the surrounding 334 islands. The state has a population of 507,626 (as of June 2010), of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart precinct.