Lena from the Faroe Islands : Echoes of home in the Tasmanian scenery

Lena from the Faroe Islands : Echoes of home in the Tasmanian scenery

From 177 Nations of Tasmania by Mark Thomson

June 13, 2026 · 37 min · Episode 131

About this episode

Lena shares her journey from the Faroe Islands to Tasmania, reflecting on her cultural roots and the beauty of her new home.

The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. It's an archipelago of green and mountainous small islands situated in the North Sea, between Scotland, Iceland and Norway and home to just 54,000 inhabitants. Lena spent the first 20 years of her life in the small town of Klaksvik, in the eastern part of the Faroes, surrounded by family in a close-knit community. She grew up also in a time when the world was far less connected than it is today, and TV didn't arrive on the islands until 1981. Therefore her early life was filled mostly with memories of activities in the outdoors. When she was 20, she made the big step to move to England to take up a position as an au pair, and although she did return to the Faroes for time, she never moved back permanently. She would meet her husband in the UK and over 20 years ago they moved to Perth looking for a change, and in 2020 Lena moved to Tasmania to be near her daughter, and felt straight away at home being close to the see and surrounded by natural scenery that reminded her of the Faroes. Although she has spent most of her life outside of the Faroe Islands now, she still retains some small Faroese traditions at…

People in this episode

Host: Mark Thomson

Guest: Lena

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Faroe Islands, Denmark, Klaksvik, England, Perth, Tasmania

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