1 November 2013 - Rosebery Cabin & Tourist Park, Rosebery, Tasmania

Just for a change, it rained again through the night, but did clear up by the time we were ready to pack up. We did not plan to travel far today although our destination was not set in concrete.

The forty six kilometres through to Zeehan was a doddle after having covered so many steep winding roads, although I found them less interesting than those passed over the past few days. Roadside trees screened any views there might have been, apart from a glimpse of the long surf Ocean Beach in the rear vision mirror. Soon we found ourselves in a wide gentle valley, in which lies the remnants of what was once Tasmania’s third largest township. Surprisingly we had climbed to 172 metres ASL from Strahan.

Known as “The Silver City”, Zeehan, named for Abel Tasman’s brig, was once a town of great prosperity, education and entertainment, experiencing the highs and lows of mining which still remains the major industry. In its heyday, the main street was two miles long and buzzing with activity. Consisting of a hospital, an electric power company, its own newspaper office and numerous hotels, the town serviced over 10,000 residents at its peak. Today it is rundown and uninspirational, supporting a population of just over seven hundred.

As you drive into the town, a detour off the main road, you pass through a multitude of old mining residences, none of them much older than sixty years or so, but without character or upkeep. The real estate window up town advertises semi-decent houses from about $45,000; this is definitely a first home buyer’s paradise. Those people would need to have work and it seems that the few left here work for Zeehan Zinc’s Comstock Mine or commute through to Bluestone Tin’s Renison Bell which we later passed as we continued on up the road to the north. Or pick up a job in tourism which is apparently what the town relies on fo most of its income, apart from the diminished mining operations. This latter comment is quite tragic, because quite frankly, very few folk detour into this “has-been” town on their way from Strahan through to tourist attractions further north.

And on the subject of real estate, our window gazing found notices offering a furnished two bedroom home complete with woodburner heating to rent for a modest $70 per week. This will have now spoiled your day, if as you read this; you thought you might come on down to Zeehan and buy up cheap rental investment properties. The returns are really not that great especially if you are a good landlord and intend to lift the maintenance level.

This weekly rental dovetails neatly with the accommodation offered at the Central Hotel, starting at $10 per day. Considering that includes your electricity and heating, this is even a better deal than renting one of Zeehan’s dwellings.

Needless to say we were not tempted to buy, or rent, or even bother with the museum which is well promoted in all the tourist brochures. The West Coast Heritage Centre is spread over several heritage buildings; the Gaiety Theatre, the Police Station Courthouse, Masonic Lodge and several sundry sheds out back. The Gaiety Theatre was built in 1898 and able to seat one thousand patrons, was once the largest concert hall in Australia. Alas, the museum demands a fee equal to one night’s accommodation for us, and so we gave it a miss.

Buildings of the West Coast Heritage Centre

We did happen upon the setting up of an art exhibition, the first solo exhibition of Tasmanian resident Pole Janusz Nesterowicw, a massive figure of a man, a bear of a man, who was busy photographing each work for the catalogue. Along one wall were portraits of locals, all colourful and all too childlike for my taste, however Chris was quite taken with his work. Or at least, that is what he told the artist who chatted amiably with him and was most welcoming to this very special pre-view we had. We were invited to return for the grand opening Saturday week when there would be drinks and nibbles however we told him we were from New Zealand and would be well gone. It is not often that my husband, a naturalised Australian, admits to being “from New Zealand”.

And so we wandered on up and down the street and learned what we could from the interpretative panels in the park.

The first discovery of argentiferous galena, the most important ore for silver mining, was in 1882 by Frank Long, who like most who discover valuable minerals, failed to gain much for his effort. As a reward for his discovery Frank received a claim which was granted a pension by the government of one pound per week in recognition of his discovery. Hardly a fortune however I guess it was more than some end up with.

Between 1893 and 1908 over $8 million of ore was recovered from several mines in the area. The deepest and richest mine in Zeehan was the Western. This mine was British owned and was the deepest and richest mine in Zeehan. By 1905 the Western had produced two and a half thousand tons of silver lead ore.

Apart from the Western which grew to a depth of 300 feet, most mines had shallow deposits, which by 1909 were exhausted and many of the 10,000 residents of Zeehan moved on. A few mines remained operational despite the downturn, with the last Zeehan area mine, the Oceana, closing in 1960. In the earlier 1960s with the growth of the Renison Bell Tin mine, Zeehan once again flourished and the population grew.

I am sorry that I can offer no “come hither” encouragement to tourists considering calling at Zeehan; it was worth the short visit but certainly did not change our mind about moving on. We had considered the possibility of staying at the caravan park there, another of the Treasure Island chain, but this was not to be.

And so we drove on, to Rosebery only twenty three kilometres to the northeast on a road far steeper, windier and more beautiful that that travelled earlier in the morning. Steep peaks rose out of the dense bush all around us and even as we approached Rosebery, also a mining town, we were surprised to still find ourselves still surrounded by bush. Even after climbing up and down so steeply, we had ended up at almost the same elevation as Zeehan; Rosebery sits at 165 metres ASL.

In 1893, a prospector by the name of Tom McDonald discovered gold in alluvial wash, along with boulders of zinc-lead sulphide in dense rainforest on the slopes of Mount Black, and this began the Rosebery Gold Mining Company which went through several rebirths, finally settled as the Primrose Mining Company in 1896. The following year the Rosebery post office opened.

The main mineral found in the ore-body was zinc but due to the lack of a technique to successfully extract the zinc from the ore, little was done to develop the ore-body. Finally after some experimentation, the plant closed down in 1914.

The Rosebery mines passed into the hands of the Mount Lyell Mining & Railway Company (remember Queenstown?) in 1916, eventually merged with the Electrolytic Zinc Company of Australasia, which discovered an effective method for extracting the zinc.

In 1926, the construction of a processing mill at Rosebery began, and in 1931, an aerial ropeway to transport ore from the Hercules Mine near Williamsford, further on the road to the north, was completed. The Great Depression caused delays in the development and it was not until 1936 that the Rosebery Mill was operational. The Rosebery Mine has operated continuously ever since then and is currently operated by Minerals and Metals Group Ltd producing zinc, lead, copper, silver and gold.

In the 2011 census, Rosebery had a population of 922 with an unemployment rate of 6.4%, which shows that this is a community of industrious people, evident by the busy-ness in the main street and the state of the houses, some not much better than those in Zeehan, but most having character or at least a few flowering azaleas.

The camp is close to mining activity but the sound of the nearby Stitt Falls is greater, and the  icecream van melodies this evening louder still. The high peaks visible out our windows are spectacular and as the day has passed, the changing light had presented a variety of fabulous scenery.

After we had set up camp and I had hung a couple of load of washing out in the warm sunshine (a real treat, the sunshine that is) we walked down the street to the falls and stood at the lookout in awe of their force and the beautiful scene below us. We do plan to see the highest falls in Tasmania tomorrow, but these were an impressive entrée.

Given the shortness of the walk, we decided we had better wander further about the town, which we duly did and thus saw the varying state of the miners houses, the schools which were breaking up for the week and the friendly folk in the street, all of whom smiled and passed the time of day.

At 4 pm we found the manageress had returned from her day job, or wherever she had been, paid for a couple of days and formalised our tenure. This is a sister park to that in Queenstown, owned by the same folk who are not too keen to carry out repairs or renovation, all in keeping with the towns in which they are situated. But like that in Queenstown, all is clean and tidy and cannot otherwise be criticised.

The view from our camp

I had emailed the caravan park through at Cradle Mountain some days ago to learn the tariff, been duly shocked, and had also been told that it was essential to book ahead. You should realise by now that we hate working to a schedule, however I do accept that it is the only caravan park in a rather remote and off-route location, and that it would be particularly annoying to arrive and find there was “no room at the inn”. So we telephoned through this afternoon, having established when we plan to be there, were booked in and told that snow was expected on Sunday, that we should not come before midday, by which time the snow should have been dispersed by traffic. This forecast was confirmed later this afternoon when the weather man on ABC One advised that there will be snow down to 700 metres tomorrow night. Something to look forward to!

In the meantime we have so enjoyed the gorgeous weather today, encouraged to open the windows wide and to herald summertime by painting my toenails red; apart from the few snowy days ahead, we hopefully will soon be able to wear sandals. This is one of my few concessions to female frivolity. And it is November after all!