Brand Tas

About the Tasmanian Scent

There are Tasmanian stories you can read, see, and hear. You can touch and taste Tasmanian products. But in our interviews with Tasmanians, they often spoke of that first blast of fresh air when you land at one of our airports, and the uniquely Tasmanian aromas it carries. Their first sensory impression of this place as newcomers, or the sensation they were looking forward to experiencing when coming home.

When I think of Tassie... I think of fresh air. When you get off the plane the first thing you smell is the fresh air. It's unique to Tasmania, the freshness is so Tassie.

Interview participant, 2018

We wondered: what if that special feeling continued into the airport and beyond? A way to bring the outside in; something that represents what Tasmanians tell us is important to them. A way to express our Tasmanian-ness through a sense other than touch, taste, or sound.

What if we could take the scent of Tasmania with us, wherever we go?

Tasmanian perfumer Craig Andrade responded to a seemingly boring government procurement request with creativity and inspiration. He jumped in a camper van and visited every corner of the state, looking for ways to distill Tasmania’s botanical beauty into a bottle. Everything came together for him on a morning bushwalk at Lake St Clair.

“I was trying to understand Tasmania through the prism of nature,” he says. “The seasons, the vegetation, the landscape. On one of the most beautiful mornings, in the mist, at Lake St. Clair, I saw and smelled mountain lilac. But it was more than that. There was something about this combination of what I was seeing in terms of the landscape, across the state, and just appreciating that beautiful blast of crisp air and trying to bring it together.”

The clean air, the native bush, the unspoilt beaches... Quiet, rugged and beautiful. These are the things I talk about when I talk to people about coming to Tasmania.

Interview participant, 2018

Craig’s Tasmanian Scent is a blend of Huon and King Billy Pine, lemon boronia, kunzea, southern rosalina, blue gum, mountain pepper, peppermint gum, and a nod to Tasmania’s agricultural heritage – apple. Anything that can be sourced from Tasmanian growers or distillers around the state has been carefully included, with packaging by Tasmanian graphic designer Demelza Rafferty.

The scent is designed for anyone to use and enjoy; an olfactory way of telling the Tasmanian story — where we’ve come from, where we are, and where we’d most like to be in the future. An opportunity to connect with our audiences, both in Tasmania and off-island, in a way that evokes positive emotional connections to Tasmania.