Tasmanian Bush Heritage
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
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
Water was everything at the Mount Bischoff Tin Mine. Rain pelting on Waratah meant tin ingots shipped to London and coin rattling in shareholders’ pockets. The ‘Bischoff mist’ ensured that cassiterite (tin ore) was separated from its host rock. On the mountain itself, water from the Summit Dam snaked its way down the slopes, supplying … Read moreFinding the Fossey flume – part 1
Ronald Smith (1881–1969) never prospected with his famous father, James ‘Philosopher’ Smith, but took to the Tasmanian highlands like they were in his DNA. During the years 1903–14 he made more than a dozen hikes into the Forth River high country. Some of the places he visited would have been lost to history if not … Read moreIn the footsteps of ‘Philosopher’ Smith: revisiting the hut site at the Copper Creek Mine, Lea River, Tasmania.