Tasmania Attractions

Holiday Island

The heart-shaped island of Tasmania lies some 300km south of the Australian mainland, separated from it by the usually stormy Bass Strait. The smallest of the Australian states, it has an area of only 67,800 sq.km and measures only just over 300km from east to west and rather less than that from north to south. Lying as it does in the relatively cool Australian south, it cannot offer the attractions of coral reefs and all-year-round bathing; but immigrants from Britain must have been reminded of the climate they had been used to at home. During the summer months many mainlanders (inhabitants of the Australian mainland) like to spend their holidays in the temperate climate of the 'Holiday Island', with its scenic beauty and range of facilities for leisure activities.

Tasmania was known in the 19th C. as a convict island on which prisoners transported from Britain were condemned to hard labor, breaking stone, hewing coal, felling timber, building roads and bridges.

The topography of this hilly island in the cool temperate west-wind zone was shaped by glacial action during the ice age. Its highest peak is Mount Ossa (1617m). In the west of the island are temperate rain forests and, here and there, expanses of moorland; in the drier east eucalyptus forests predominate.

The island is comparatively rich in minerals - auriferous copper ore, tin, iron ore, wolfram and coal. Ample power is available from the island's vast hydro-electric potential, and over the last few decades an elaborate system of artificial lakes has been built up, particularly in western Tasmania, to power hydro-electric stations.

Tasmania has more hills than any other Australian state. Roughly two-thirds of its area is covered by plateaus bounded by escarpments ('tiers'). In the southeast, round the capital city of Hobart, the landscape is friendlier, and the early settlers were attracted by its fertile soil. Particularly attractive parts of the island are the Tasman Peninsula, with Port Arthur, and Huon Valley, the 'apple valley'. Along the north coast, too, Tasmania has the appearance of a well-tended garden. The volcanic soil and mild climate produce good grazing land and rich crops of fruit, potatoes and other vegetables. Important towns on the north coast, in addition to Launceston, are George Town, Devonport, Burnie, Wynyard and Stanley. The east coast has quiet fishing ports and beautiful sandy beaches, with such holiday resorts as Swansea, Bicheno and St Helens. In the hilly Midlands, so green and English that the early settlers at once felt at home, are a number of old settlements (Ross, Evandale, Richmond, New Norfolk, Oatlands), living museums which recall the early days of the colony. The central plateau reaches out towards the inaccessible south and west in imposing ranges of hills. The eastern part is known as the 'land of a thousand lakes', after the innumerable glaciated valleys and barrier lakes. Lake St Clair, 17km long and 200m deep, is a relic of the ice age. Almost the whole of the southwest - a unique expanse of undisturbed wilderness - is on UNESCO's World Heritage list and under strict statutory protection. The South West National Park, with an area of 605,000 ha, occupies a tenth of Tasmania. The damming of Lake Pedder to supply a hydro-electric station led to a sharp conflict between environmentalists and the electricity authorities. One benefit for visitors is that the construction of a road to the reservoir made the national park more easily accessible. The wild storm-lashed west and south coasts are still unspoiled. Apart from Strahan, on Macquarie Harbor, there is no better sheltered harbor.

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Address: Tourism Tasmania, BOX 399, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia

Related Attractions

Read More Tasmania North West, Australia

The North West region features a variety of attractions.

Burnie

(Near )

Burnie (pop. 20,500) is the fourth largest town in Tasmania. Founded in 1829 and named after the director of a land development company, it originally consisted only of a few huts, a warehouse and a blacksmith's shop. It was given a great boost by the opening of a tin mine on Mount Bischoff (75km southwest), the ore from which was shipped from Burnie's deep-water harbor. In 1938 a large paper mill was established in the town, using wood from the great expanses of forest round the town. Burnie is still an important industrial town, with foodstuffs factories (milk products, chocolate) as well as the paper mill.

In Burnie Park is the mid 19th C Burnie Inn, one of the town's oldest buildings, restored and re-erected here. The town's principal attraction is the Pioneer Village Museum in the Civic Centre Plaza, which carries visitors back to the early days of the settlement. A number of handsome old houses with wrought-iron ornament bear witness to Burnie's prosperity in its heyday, for example the richly decorated police office in Wibon Street, built in 1908 as a doctor's house.

Burnie holds a carnival, with a full program of sporting and other events, annually on January 1st.

Address: City of Burnie, Box 973, Burnie, TAS 7320, Australia

Rocky Cape National Park

(Tasmania)

Rocky Cape National Park, established in 1967 to protect the prehistoric caves, is a rugged stretch of coast with reefs and small offshore islands.

The caves, occupied by the aboriginal inhabitants of Tasmania over thousands of years, are of great archaeological interest for the great heaps of animal and fish bones and shells, which throw light on the life of the Aborigines. Rock shelters that provided protection from the weather can be seen at the west end of Sisters Beach and on Flagpole Hill at Rocky Cape. Along the coast are little hidden beaches sheltered by promontories of quartzite rock reaching out into the Bass Strait.

Address: Rocky Cape National Park, Smithton, TAS 7330, Australia

Tips: Access via Bass Highway; then side road to Sisters Beach or Rocky Cape, 12km and 30km west of Wynyard. Admission cost is per vehicle per day up to a maximum of eight people.

Savage River

(Near )

In the wild and rugged country of northwestern Tasmania is the mining town of Savage River, with Tasmania's only opencast iron mine. The deposits of iron ore were discovered around 1870, but they could not be worked until means were devised for transporting the ore from this inaccessible region. It took almost 100 years until a solution was found in 1967. The ore is now formed into a slurry which is pumped through an 85km long pipeline to Port Latta on the northwest coast, to the west of Rocky Cape National Park, where it is processed and exported, mainly to Japan.

Address: Waratah - Wynyard Council, Box 168, Wynyard, TAS 7325, Australia

Stanley

(Near )

The little town of Stanley (pop. 600) was founded in 1826. The town was the headquarters of the Van Diemen's Land Company, set up with the object of clearing land and rearing merino sheep. During the gold rush in the newly-formed state of Victoria, Stanley became an important port to which ships brought supplies for the prospectors. Today Stanley is home to a sizeable fishing fleet, shrimps and sharks being among the main catches.

Because of its well-maintained buildings Stanley is under the protection of the National Trust.

The town's emblem is 'The Nut', a massive volcanic hill standing 135m high. The softer material was eroded away long ago. Matthew Flinders, who viewed it in 1798, was reminded of a Christmas cake. There is a chairlift to the top.

At the foot of the hill stands Pets' Cottage, once the residence of the architect John Lee Archer, who designed what are probably the most beautiful of Tasmania's older buildings. However, the town's most famous son is Joseph A Lyons, who was prime minister of Australia from 1932 to 1939. The house in which he was born stands in Alexander Terrace. Around the old landing stages where whalers and sailing ships once berthed are grouped a number of attractive old buildings, including a massive grain store and the old customs house. The very popular Union Hotel on Church Street, with its vaulted cellars and narrow staircases, was built in 1847 and has since been restored. The Plough Inn on the same street has also been restored and is furnished in 19th C style. Also worth a visit is the Discovery Centre, with displays of folk art and a shell collection (open daily).

On the outskirts of the town lies Highfield, an estate with a period house, remains of a chapel and various outbuildings including farm cottages, stables and barns. The Van Diemen's Land Company representative lived here in the 19th C.

Address: Circular Head Council, Box 348, Smithton, TAS 7330, Australia

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Read More West Coast, Australia

The West Coast region features a variety of attractions.

Address: West Coast Council, Box 40, Zeehan, TAS 7469, Australia

Gordon River

(Macquarie Harbour)

From Strahan there are boat and seaplane trips to the lower course of the Gordon River, where there are still unspoiled expanses of rain forest, with idyllic waterfalls and Huon pines. There is a very rewarding Rainforest Walk. The tracts of dense and impenetrable rain forest and the tumultuous rivers Franklin and Gordon, untamed by any dams, are particularly impressive when seen from the air. There are also sightseeing flights to the junction of the Franklin and the Gordon at Sir John Falls, over Frenchmans Cap and to Queenstown.

Macquarie Harbour

(Near )

This large natural harbor, the only one on the wild west coast of Tasmania, was discovered in 1815 by James Kelly. It is named after Lachlan Macquarie, governor of New South Wales (see Famous People), for until 1825 Tasmania was part of that state. The harbor, into the southeast end of which the Gordon River flows, is protected from the storms of the Southern Ocean by Cape Sorell and Wellington Heads. Convicts sent to work here called the narrow entrance to the harbor Hell's Gates.

The harbor gained in importance in the 1880s, when tin and copper mining began on the west coast of Tasmania, and this led to the development of Strahan, in an inlet at the north end of Macquarie Harbor.

Queenstown

(Near )

Queenstown, with a population of just under 4000, is the largest town in western Tasmania. Gold and other minerals were found here in 1856, and practically overnight Queenstown became a boom town. Mining (mainly copper, silver and gold) has been continuous here since the 1880s.

As a result of this mining activity the land round the town has been turned upside down, and the forests have been stripped bare to supply fuel for the smelting of copper; and the regeneration of the forest has been hampered by acid rain combined with the heavy local rainfall, atmospheric pollution and the resultant erosion. Nevertheless it is planned to replant the bare hillsides, littered with boulders which produce a changing play of light and color, depending on the mineral content of the rock and the position of the sun.

In spite of modern development Queenstown has preserved something of the atmosphere of the 19th C. Wide streets and venerable old buildings bear witness to a time when Queenstown had a population of over 5000 and no fewer than 14 hotels.

The Empire Hotel (1901) is a representative example of the town's architecture in its heyday. The former Imperial Hotel (1898) now houses a museum which among much else has a collection of old photographs illustrating the development of the region. The Mount Lyell Mine and Mining Museum at 10 Garner Road traces the history of mining in the Queenstown area. The town's main employer is the Mount Lyell Company on the eastern outskirts of the town, whose mine can be visited.

Address: West Coast Council, Box 40, Zeehan, TAS 7469, Australia

Tips: Tours of Mount Lyell Company mine available daily.

Guides: Guided tour available as optional extra.

Rosebery

(Near )

The little mining town of Rosebery (pop. 2100) lies at the foot of Mount Murchison in northwestern Tasmania. Gold was found in Rosebery Creek in 1892. The town is now dominated by the large plant of the Electrolytic Zinc Company, to which ore is transported by cableway from a mine at Williamsford, 7km south.

The most striking features in the hills round Rosebery are Mount Murchison (1275m) to the east and the Montezuma Falls to the southwest. There are a number of artificial lakes and hydro-electric stations, among them the long (60km), narrow Pieman Lake to the west of Rosebery. Northeast of the town is Lake Mackintosh, fed by rivers flowing down from Cradle Mountain National Park.

Address: West Coast Council, Box 40, Zeehan, TAS 7469, Australia

Zeehan

(Near )

The little town of Zeehan (pop. 1200) is named after the ship in which Abel Tasman sailed round Tasmania in 1642. The discovery of silver in 1882 brought an economic boom, and by 1900 the town had a population of over 5000 and 26 hotels, making it Tasmania's third largest town. In 1908 mining began to decline, and in 1960 the last mine closed. Zeehan is now only a shadow of its former self.

A relic of the town's former prosperity is the Gaiety Theatre (1898; 1000 seats), in which such great stars as Enrico Caruso and Dame Nellie Melba once appeared. Another reminder of past splendor is the old Grand Hotel (1898), now used for a variety of functions. The West Coast Pioneers Memorial Museum, housed in the School of Mines (1894), has a magnificent collection of minerals. Beside the museum is a collection of old steam engines and rolling stock.

Address: West Coast Council, Box 40, Zeehan, TAS 7469, Australia

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