[1] It was established in Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania) in the late 1840s, and expanded rapidly with branches in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney in Australia, and Canterbury in New Zealand.

[2] Penal transportation to the Colony of New South Wales (a colony covering the eastern Australian mainland in modern New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland) had ceased in 1840, and the number transported to Van Diemen's Land increased sharply.

A two-year suspension of the transportation of male convicts to Van Diemen's Land was implemented in May 1846.

Transportation was abolished in 1852 and the last convict ship to be sent from England, the St Vincent, arrived in Van Diemen's Land in 1853.

The League had its own flag, the Union Jack with the Southern Cross which was created before 1851 by John West,[4] a Launceston congregational minister, author and newspaper editor.