TRIBUTES have been paid to a Hampshire woman killed in a van crash in Tasmania, Australia.

Family and friends of Gemma Louise Shayler-Appleton described the 35-year-old as “the sort of girl that every great movie tells you about” after a van knocked her over in Weetah, Tasmania on Wednesday, December 21.

Mrs Shayler-Appleton attended Cranbourne Business and Enterprise College and Basingstoke College of Technology (BCoT) before moving to Tasmania 10 years ago.

She, her young family and friends were driving back from a winter solstice celebration when she was hit by a van while standing outside her car, according to Tasmanian police.

She had been in the car with her husband Stephen Shayler-Appleton, 38, and two daughters – Willow Moon, eight, and sixyear-old Autumn Rain.

Mrs Shayler-Appleton’s brother Brett Shayler, 44, said she had fallen in love with Tasmania, adding: “She had a beauty that shone from the inside and an ability to bring joy and laughter to any situation.”

“She could not have been christened with a more appropriate name. She was an absolute little Gem.”

Mrs Shayler-Appleton married Stephen in 2004 in a special druid wedding on the island of Hoy, Orkney.

A keen beauty technician, she and Stephen decided to travel the world before settling in Tasmania.

Kellie Sweet Baird, a school friend, said: “We met at BCoT in 1997 and back then little did I know how she would shape my life and guide me like no other.

“Gem’s gentle soul taught me that it’s OK to just be yourself, even if it means you don’t quite fit in or people laugh.

"She knew her pathway in life and felt enormously confident in where she was going, what she wanted and how to get there.”

According to Australian newspaper The Examiner, mourners gathered near the crash scene the next day to pay respects.

Investigations into her death are ongoing.

Marcus Doidge, another friend of Mrs Shayler-Appleton’s, added: “She was full of life, she challenged you in all the right ways, she welcomed you along for any journey she took and her limitless spirit was infectious and full of joy and love.

“When I found out I’d lost my dear friend, the thought of her not being around was, and will always remain, impossible.

“Good thing I know that whatever light there is in this world, there will be a little bit of Gemma within it.”

Another close friend, Clive Smith, said: “Gemma was a free spirit, a true soldier of peace.

“I watched her help many people and you only had to know her for five minutes to know she was one of the good ones in life.

“The world is a little darker and a little sadder collectively since she has passed on to a better place.

“St Gabriel won’t take long making his choice with this one.”