Queenstown. A name which conjures up the remote west coast of Tasmania, a rich and rugged mining history and a unique landscape that has to be seen to be believed. I had been there once before a great many years ago so only one of us had to draw breath at the dramatic hills and mountains, and the rocky ‘moonscape’ of bare coloured conglomerate. Although Mother Nature is slowly creeping back into the landscape, the scenic drive into Queenstown down a spiralling road with over 90 bends is still quite spectacular. We loved the heritage of the town, its many fine buildings and the excellent railway workshop.
We visited Queenstown on 30 & 31 October 2019
Getting There
Derwent Bridge > Queenstown ~ total of 86kms.
Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia
History
A short history of Tasmania, from pre-colonial times, to the arrival and growth of British colonial development, to the decimation of the First Nation Tasmanians, can be read here.
Sites containing First Nation implements have been found in the Queenstown area. The sites occur mainly on low ridge tops along the East Queen River and Reservoir Creek, and have been exposed only after removal of the original cover of rainforest and peat around the mine area. They suggest extensive inland habitation by First Nations people prior to the establishment of the rainforest.
Queenstown’s European history is tied to the mining industry. This mountainous area was first explored in 1862 but it was long after that until alluvial gold was discovered at Mount Lyell. This prompted the formation of the Mount Lyell Gold Mining Company in 1881. In 1892, the mine began searching for copper.
Early in 1895 a Post Office was opened at Penghana, at the Queen River fork and crossing, about a kilometre north of present-day Queenstown on the road to Strahan. The only other substantial building was a store.
Queenstown Post Office opened in 1896 and the Penghana office closed. The present-day Post Office building dates from 1902 and is heritage-listed. The name “Penghana” was adopted for a substantial house in the town from around 1925–1944, the residence of the Mount Lyell mine manager. Today that house is a B&B and is looking magnificent.
In the 1900s Queenstown was the centre of the Mount Lyell mining district and had numerous smelting works, brick-works, and sawmills. The area at the time was heavily wooded. The town population in 1900 was 5,051; the district numbers were 10,451. The town in its heyday had a collection of hotels, churches and schools that have largely disappeared with the demise of the Mount Lyell company.
The town was the base of the Queenstown council up until amalgamation with other west coast councils in the 1990s. There was a brief boom in prosperity in the 1980s, with the building of several nearby dams by the Hydro. The Darwin and Crotty dams that comprise Lake Burbury (a popular fishing and recreation venue) were built during this period. These followed the cancellation of the proposed Gordon-below-Franklin Dam in 1983 after strong protests in the ‘No Dams’ campaign. And thank heavens for that too….
The mountains surrounding Queenstown have unusual pink and grey hues that come from the conglomerate rocks on the two most adjacent mountains – Mount Lyell and Mount Owen. Owing to a combination of tree removal for use in the smelters and the smelter fumes (for about 40 years), and the heavy annual rainfall, the erosion of the shallow horizon topsoil back to the harder rock profile contributed to the stark state of the mountains for many decades. Typical of the aftermath of fire affected areas in Western Tasmania, the low shrubbery that has revegetated adjacent to hillside creeks is at a very early stage of a long recovery for the ecology of the region.
Today, the town and district attracts significant numbers of tourists. The mining operation at the original Mount Lyell mine continues, with Copper Mines of Tasmania operating between 1995 and 1999 independently, after which it became part of an Indian company group – and its concentrates are shipped to India for processing.
Exploration continues within the West Coast region for further economic mineral deposits, and due to the complexity of the geology, there is always the possibility that new mines will open. The Henty Gold Mine is a good example – it commenced operation in the 1990s.
Queenstown is the terminus of the West Coast Wilderness Railway, which travels southwards alongside the Queen River, and then along the northern slopes of the King River to the port of Strahan in Macquarie Harbour.
Day 1 – Wed 30 October – To and at Queenstown
After a magnificent cruise on Lake Saint Clare, we left Derwent Bridge heading west for Queenstown. We caught a parting look at the Derwent River – amazing to think this is the headwaters of this great river.
We stopped where the road touches Lake King William and had a brief look at that – this lake looks attractive but does not seem to be used for much.
It was a pleasant drive as we headed west, and we were seldom out of sight of the mountains. Much of the countryside is woodlands, but we are also seeing increasing areas of the orange/gold coloured buttongrass sedgelands. I suspect there could be a hell of a lot of peat bogs here in the high country, giver the colour of the water.
There are great views at King Williams Saddle, although we cannot really see where the saddle concept relates to.
Shortly after that we came to the Franklin River Nature Trail. This provides a lovely 1km walk along the bank of the Franklin River through cool temperature rainforest. The Franklin is indeed a splendid river, and the rainforests are delightful, especially the moss on the ground cover. And some of the other delicate plants attached to tree branches. A really good walk. It was such a lovely day – nice and warm and a great track to walk on. So many different lichens and mosses – pretty special.
I will always remember Bob Brown and all those protestors and thank them for protecting this unique and magnificent area.
Heading further west we began to increasingly see the Frenchmans Cap mountain peak emerging from the surrounding mountains. People can take a very long and arduous walk up to the mountain, but we elected to take a much shorter walk as far as the suspension bridge over the Franklin River. It is a very easy and short walk and it was great to get the bridge-top view of the river. 4-5 hours walk through rugged scrub – hmmm. Not after we saw the Black Tiger Snake yesterday
The next stopping point is Donaghys Lookout. The signs tells us that the track “climbs a small hill at an easy grade” and takes you to a rocky lookout. And that is partially true. However, about halfway up the track the hill gets quite steep and there were a few flights of steps in steeper places. Many of the trees on the track are labelled, and it is excellent to be able to put a name to a tree. Lovely plants there as well.
The lookout itself is indeed spectacular with great views in all directions. At one point the forest cover is open and we can see the mighty Franklin River charging its way west. It all looks so rugged and completely unspoiled – so good to see.
Our final stopping point before Queenstown is the Nelson Falls Nature Trail. This is a short 700m walk through the rainforest and adjacent to the river. At the end of the Trail is the small but beautiful Nelson waterfall. This short walk is a must for anyone coming close to this area – with the Franklin River bubbling alongside the track for quite a while, it is like walking through fairy-glens.
We drive on towards Queenstown, passing another area which has been devastated by bushfires earlier in the year.
Just before we get to Queenstown we cross Lake Burberry. This is a reservoir formed by 2 dams (Darwin and Crotty), which is surrounded by large mountains.
The further west we went, the landscape was changing to one of barren and exposed multicoloured rock faces.
We stopped at the Iron Blow Lookout and gazed in amazement at the surrounding landscape. The barren mass of coloured rocks with a small smattering of vegetation – it’s hard to come to grips with. The information panel tells us that in the late stages of volcanic activity in the area, seawater entered the volcanic rocks and the resultant process deposited large amounts of minerals rich in sulphur, copper, silver and gold.
The massive hole in front of us was caused by earthquake movements along the faults in the rocks. This was the first mine site on the Mount Lyell Field and the start of more than a century of copper mining that continues to this day.
The Lyell Schists hosts about 20 ore deposits making this area a hotspot for copper mining. The bare hills are a legacy of early mining smelter pollution, timber cutting and erosion.
From the lookout, we proceeded to Queenstown travelling down the road that features 100+ tight turns. On the way we could see the Hogarth Falls to our left. It is a long and steep walk to the falls.
In Queenstown we checked in our B&B, and then had a look around town. There are some fine buildings and a few examples of street art.
We are intrigued by the Gaiety Hall, which was built in the 1930s. The building was used as a picture theatre and dancehall and is now part of the West Coast district hospital.
The Empire Hotel is a fine looking building and I stayed there for a night many, many years ago. We went there for dinner that night and it was a pretty good meal. The old staircase is heritage-listed… made from Tasmanian Blackwood – felled here, shipped to England to build and shipped back to be fitted into the hotel. It is pretty stunning. The dining room is set up as it would have been back in the day too – a serene atmosphere.
Day 2 – Thu 31 October – Queenstown
We walked around town in the morning and were impressed with a number of the other buildings– the post office (1902), the Masonic Hall, the Anglican Church, the house behind the railway station, and a couple of unnamed buildings. And of course the Empire Hotel.
But there are a number of hotels and other large buildings that are either locked up for repair or simply slowly deteriorating.
Probably the saddest site is the green coloured Hunters Hotel in the middle of town. It is in a state of considerable disrepair, and there seems to be a campaign to preserve at least the wooden balcony. Apparently it has been used on many occasions for politicians and others to speak to the people of the town. But the local council has declared the balcony dangerous, and has ordered that it be immediately repaired or dismantled. Looks pretty dangerous too – some of the beams look rotten and part of the roof-gable of the main building looks ready to simply topple down. Very sad for what is probably a lovely traditional hotel.
At the Carswell Park Railway Workshop, we called in at the office to see if it was okay for us to look at some of the carriages and other railway items on the outside of the workshop. However, the fellow who met us said that it was morning tea time, and there were no workers actually working, so he gave us a quick tour of the workshop. It is great to see such a productive and effective workshop providing jobs in this area. It is fully set up to completely refurbish some carriages and also to rebuild some of the locomotives. This was a quite unexpected bonus – we just wanted to look at a couple of carriages on the track, but the sign said “visitors must report to the office” – so in we headed… certainly didn’t expect a tour (with safety glasses) with lots of info….
We had a good look at some of the carriages that have been repaired and they look simply stunning. They are full of character and sat there beaming in the sunshine.
At 12:20pm we made our way to the station as the steam train from Strahan was expected. Sure enough, it came in puffing up to the station – really good to see. There, the engine was uncoupled from the carriages and proceeded to the turntable where the driver, and a couple of assistants, manually turned the train around. It then proceeded back around the carriage, coupled up to another carriage and took that back down to the workshop. It later returned and coupled with the carriages again for the return journey to Strahan. Looks impressive on the video – click here
There was a good crowd on board. The train doesn’t run everyday and unfortunately we were there on a day when there was no return trip. Maybe next time.
Just beyond the train station is a monument to the history of the town. Statues of a typical family of the time welcomed us to the monument – the father, a child and a pregnant woman – with the dad in his mining gear.
There is a series of plaques along a water feature, each marking a point in the town’s history. These include the discovery of the ore in 1883 and the deaths of 42 miners in an accident in 1912.
Near the monument is the museum which was once the Imperial Hotel. This is one of the most extensive and intensively packed museum we have come across – there is just so much to absorb. Examples are the beautiful fireplace in one of the rooms, and a map that intrigued me showing the locations of shipwrecks around Tasmania. There are thousands of names recorded – so many lives lost on these rocky shores.
The lovely Pengham House, perched on a hill, is now a B&B, and unfortunately we could not get near it to have a look. But there are also a number of other smaller fine looking homes in the town.
The Gravel football ground is a bit of a hoot. Originally it was built out of gravel in 1880 – yes, they played Aussie Rules on gravel – specifically to withstand the heavy rainfall. In 1969 the gravel was replaced by the less abrasive silica from the copper mine. The ground was the first in Tasmania to install a siren at the start and end of each quarter, borrowed from the Mount Lyell mine.
Next to the football ground is a very pretty creek.
We drove out past the current mining activity, which is along the road to Strahan. But you cannot see much.
From the 1880s, and for almost a century, the Queen River which runs through the town, was used by the nearby Mt Lyell copper mines as a drain. An estimated 100 million tonnes of sulfidic tailings were dumped into the river – the worst case of acid mine drainage in Australia. Unfortunately, when we were there, the river was a bright yellow colour. We do not know why this persists in this day and age. We drove up-river to try to see where it was coming from, but past the mine, the river seemed clear again so the yellow is either still coming from the mine or the banks, silt and riverbed are still so deeply ingrained in the tailings that they are still leaching out… Pretty disgraceful actually…. nothing could live in this.
To see photos from this post, click here
To see video from this post, click here