Queenstown - West Coast, Tasmania.
Queenstown, the largest settlement on Tasmania's west coast, is best known for its copper mines and smelters and the fact that in more than 100 years of very intense industrial activity the pollution generated by various processes, together with the industries insatiable need for timber to fire the smelters, virtually denuded the surrounding area of all natural growth.
Hundreds of men were employed as timber-cutters and it has been estimated that between 1896 and 1923 more than three million tonnes of timber was harvested. For many years Queenstown and its surrounds were deemed to be the nearest thing on earth to the sparse and forbidding Lunar landscape - a virtual moonscape.
The area around Queenstown was first explored in 1862 and not long afterwards the discovery of alluvial gold led to the formation of the Mount Lyell Gold mining Company. By 1892 the gold had disappeared and the company began the search for copper, at the same time changing its name to the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company.
For 101 years from 1893 to 1994 Mount Lyell was the dominant mining company on Tasmania’s west coast, supporting the townships of Queenstown, Strahan and Gormanston, and producing in its life-time more than a million tonnes of copper, 750 tonnes of silver and 45 tonnes of gold.
Today Queenstown is a designated historic township. Part of the old Mount Lyell company rack-and-pinion railway has been restored and operates breathtaking trips between Queenstown and Strahan.
Surface and underground mine tours are available taking about 1 hour and 3.5 hours respectively.
This Tassie Local snapshot was produced by Footloose Photographic & Media Solutions
Things to see around - Queenstown
Queenstown - West Coast, Tasmania
