Tasmanian Bush Heritage
The broken wire The weather turned bad in the middle of August 1900. Tasmania was swept by heavy rain and hail.1 Snow fell and covered the mountains and the high country.2 It was said to be the worst weather in five years.3 On the morning of Friday 17 August, the telegraph line between Queenstown and … Read moreThe Frozen Travellers at Mount Arrowsmith – Part 2 – What Happened
We love the beauty and history of the Tasmanian high country. Why else would we brave steep mountains and valleys, difficult scrub and bad weather? We know that every time that we go into the wilderness we risk tragedy. Sudden bad weather, a slip or fall, poor preparation or sheer bad luck could ruin our … Read moreThe Frozen Travellers, Mount Arrowsmith, August 1900
Most of the pictures taken on our searches don’t make it into our blogs. This is because a lot of searches are unsuccessful, or at least not yet successful. And even for successful searches many of the pictures don’t fit with the aim of the blog. These are some landscapes that didn’t make it from … Read moreLandscapes (2023)
In mid 2021, we found one small reminder of the original dray track to the Mount Bischoff mine. It was the faint, but definite, remains of an old bridge, just the approaches, a rotten beam and a few small pieces of timber driven with big iron spikes. We were pretty excited considering is age. It … Read more150 year-old Secrets Preserved at the Waratah Reservoir
The Number Plate Tree We were looking for Damper Inn on the Gordon Track (read about that here). It turned out that knowing the location of the junction of the Gordon Track and the Port Davey Track would help us find the old hut. But the junction also had a history. Originally it was … Read moreThe Port Davey & Gordon Track Junction
We decided to visit the north-east in early 2019. That summer, the ‘tin province’ was the safest place in Tasmania. The rest of state seemed to be threatened by fires. Nic had a few things to show us. Near Gladstone, Ian and I followed him along some old roads towards the Ringarooma River. … Read moreDorset Dredge – the river eating machine
I hear the thresh of the spiteful hail, And I feel the lift of the wind beneath, The forward heave and the lightning lurch And the shuddering gasp like a living thing, As we crouched in the heel of the tempest’s grip High on the shoulder of Hamilton!1 – Marie EJ Pitt, ‘A West Coast … Read moreThe Hercules heist: a lament for Thomas Goldie and the Mount Read Hotel
The story so far It has been a few months since we posted about the Colebrook mine. We have told its story from the promise of a brilliant future to its reality as a sad memory.1 The Fiasco For years, the Colebrook Prospecting Association (the Association) had proclaimed that the mine was big, full of … Read moreThe Colebrook Fiasco Part 4 – Who caused the fiasco and the failure?
We didn’t find the old dray track on our first trip to the Waratah Dam. Our consolation prize was a very old timber tramway and bridge. They were pretty interesting. Searching in the forest had been easy. It had an open understorey and it was relatively undisturbed by later activity. Old things like a 150 … Read moreFollowing the Philosopher – The Mount Bischoff Dray Road
Waratah Dam has been getting a lot of press in the last few years. TasWater wants to drain it.1 They are worried that the dam wall will fail and flood Waratah. The local community wants the dam kept. They like it for fishing, as a tourist attraction, for its history and many other things.2 The … Read moreA bridge under troubled waters – Waratah Dam