The Esk Highway, which passes through the Fingal valley, provides the shortest access to Tasmania's East Coast from the north of the island. The valley of the South Esk River is extremely picturesque countryside dotted with numerous former mining towns, abandoned mine sites and settlements on the southern slopes of Ben Lomond. The Esk Highway's western end begins at the Midland Highway at Conara Junction, just north of Campbell Town.
This top end of the valley is dominated by Stack's Bluff. The Highway's eastern end passes through St Marys and then deviates in a north-east direction, where it connects to the Tasman Highway. Another road, which follows a path south-east from St Marys, joins the Tasman Highway at Chain of Lagoons after traversing Elephant Pass.
The Journey
Take the Midland Highway south out of Launceston to Conara Junction. Turn left onto the Esky Highway and follow it to St Mary's (74 km) Many of the towns and localities detailed on this drive are off the main road. They are listed in the order you will reach them when travelling west to east (Launceston to St Marys). If you intend visiting places of the main drive, the roads to them are well signposted. To continue along the drive, return to the main road and head towards St Marys.
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Off the Midlands Highway not long ater leaving Launceston, Longford is the region centre for the York Plains that has been classified as an historic town. The Plains have been recognised as a prosperous farming district noted for its wool, dairy produce and stock breeding since early colonial times. The Longford district has many buildings included on the Tasmanian Heritage Register, with many in Longford itself. Christ Church, a sandstone building which dates from 1839, boasts a clock and bell that were gifts from King George IV; its stained glass window is impressive, and the church's graveyard includes many prominent Tasmanian families.
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Brickendon Estate
Proceed south out of Longfomd along Wellington Street and you'll pass two historic farming estates, both of which are World Heritage listed convict sites. The first is Brickendon Estate, home to a colonial farm and homestead, fully intact and maintained in its original condition. A visit is highly recommended.
Brickendon Estate
Continue along the road and you will come to another World Heritage listed farming complex - Woolmers. Guided tours through the homestead, farm buildings and rose garden are a highlight of a visit. Continue on Woolmers Lane to the Midland Highway. Turn left and then right soon after along Leighlands Road and you'll soon reach Evandale.
A classified historic town, Evandale is a storehouse of superb Georgian heritage buildings which remain in largely original condition. The village itself is an agricultural and administrative centre located on a knoll rising from highly modified plains. Not far from the village centre is Clarendon House, arguably one of Australia's greatest Georgian houses still standing today. It has formal gardens and grounds, a tree lined avenue, Italianate facade, restored early colonial outbuildings and is owned by the National Trust.
Return to the Highway, turning left towards Campbell Town. Around 33 km south of Evandale at Conara Junction, turn left onto the Esk Highway.
10 km north-west of Conara Junction, Epping Forest is a rural locality on the South Esk River. The name was given to the area on 6th December 1811 by Gov. Lachlan Macquarie, when he spent the night there "at the northern extremity of Macquarie Plaims at the edge of Epping Forest". The township was originally named 'Epping' only. Since the 1820s it has been home to numerous cropping/grazing properties, such as Fairfield, a 2-storey homestead on a 1,417 hectare property that enjoys 8km of frontage to the South Esk River.
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The village of Cleveland, 5 km north west of Conara Junction, was established in 1842 as a stopping point on the coaching route between Hobart and Launceston. It is said that in its early years, Cleveland was a gathering point for travelers before they ventured onward through the dangers of Epping Forest, a notorious area for bushrangers. A convict station accommodating up to 100 prisoners at a time was built in 1839 as a serving station to build and repair roads in the area. Cleveland was originally planned as a large town, similar to what Campbell Town is today, but it never eventuated.
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The village of Conara used to be very well known by travellers on the Midland Highway, though very few knew its name. What caught their attention was what they called "the disappearing house". Standing at the turnoff to St Marys at Conara, the so-called “Disappearing House” earned its name by the illusion of its sinking into the ground as travellers approached along the main road from Hobart to Launceston, due to the peculiar conformation of the landscape.
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The remnants of the small village of Llewellyn can be found between Conara Junction Avoca to the south of the Esk Highway. Llewellyn was often alternatively referred to as Stony Creek, a small tributary of the South Esk. Stony creek was a named rivulet in the 1800s but does not appear on modern maps. It was mentioned in colonial times in reference to the eponymous Tasmanian Aboriginal tribe (the Tyerrernotepanner clan) that still bears this name. The town now is a ghost of its former self and remains a mapped locality and railway siding. Salisbury Rivulet crosses the track at Llewelyn before flowing into the Esk. Salisbury was also the parish name in the area of Conara. Stony Creek and Salisbury Creek may well be one and the same.
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Nestled between the junction of the St Pauls and South Esk Rivers, the small village of Avoca is the most westerly of the Esk/Fingal Valley settlements and is overshadowed by the sentinel of the entrance to that region, 1027 metre high St Pauls Dome. The town was officially settled in 1834, and has relied almost continuously upon farming and mining for its economic stability, likewise enduring the fortunes and failures of these industries. Sadly the coal and tin mines which for so long provided the life blood for this isolated community, are now all closed, though some fine old buildings from early times remain.
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17 km to the east of Avoca, Royal George is a former mining village on the St Pauls River. At the 2006 census, Royal George had a population of 127. The mine and locality were named after one of the HMS Royal George ships from the 19th century. The first Royal George Post Office opened on 5 May 1914 and closed in 1920. The second office opened in 1955 and closed in 1971. None of th tin and coal mines in the area achieved big outputs, but struggled on for a few years. Royal George is reached by turning south from the A4 Esk Highway onto C410.
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Located off the highway, 19 km north of Avoca along Story Crerek Road is Rossarden, a scattering of old weatherboard and corrugated iron buildings is all that remains of the one-time boom town of Rossarden. Nestled at the foot of Ben Lomond, Rossarden was buzzing as late as the 1960's, when the Aberfoyle mine was working to full capacity. The mine, which opened in 1931 produced wolfram - another name for tungsten - operated until February 1982, when its closure sounded the death knell for the town. The mine tried to sell its former employees their home for a dollar, but few took up the offer and the town's population fell from 500 to just 90. Within a month, what was not sold was demolished and carted away.
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Continue along the Esk Highway to Fingal, once the centre of Tasmania's coal mining industry. Situated in the Esk Valley, Evercreech Forest Reserve in the Fingal area is the home of the famous White Knights, the tallest white gums in the world. Fingal Valley Festival and World Coal Shovelling Championships staged in early March each year. It attracts both interstate and overseas competitors as well as thousands of spectators. Veterans cycling race, sheaf tossing, wood chopping (inc.tree felling), the Tasmanian shearing titles, Sheepdog trials, arts and craft stalls and childrens entertainment are all part of the action.
The Fingal area is believed to have been named after Fingal's Cave in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland rather than Fingal in Ireland. The town of Fingal came into existence in 1827 as a convict station, and experienced a boom when Van Diemen's Land's first payable gold was discovered in nearby Mangana. Throughout the 19th 20th centuries, the valley was a major producer of gold and tin. Major deposits of black coal were discovered in the valley in 1863. The completion of the railway line to St Marys in 1886 enabled the establishment of large scale coal mining in the Fingal Valley and this area has provided the majority of Tasmania's coal since this time.
23 km north of Fingal, Evercreech Forest Reserve reserve is home to the tallest White Gums in the world. They are known as 'White Knights' because they grow to a height of 90 metres. The reserve has many short bushland walks through the forest including a loop past the White Knights and to Evercreech Falls. Apart from these spectacular trees, large ferns and mountain streams abound, many flowing dramatically over falls deep in the forest.
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To the west of Evercreech Forest Reserve is the village of Mathinna was once the scene of an important gold strike. The Mathinna goldfield started, like many others, with the discovery of alluvial gold in Black Horse Gully. The area contains one of Tasmania's largest gold mines, the New Golden Gate, which had a total (historical) production of over 260,000 ounces (8 tonnes) of gold. The area is riddled with abandoned mines, prospects and old workings, and is mostly crown land, meaning fairly easy access. Unlike other areas in Tasmania, the bush is fairly open and easy to walk through, though the grades of the hills are steep.
Some 70 plus metres tall, Mathinna Falls consists of four drops, only two of which can be seen from the viewing area. Access is a via a 30-minute return walk from the car park and picnic area. The falls are located off Mathinna Plains Road near Mathinna, close to the Evercreech Forest Reserve.
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To the north-west of Fingal is the remains of the settlement of Mangana. It became the first gold mining site in the Fingal Municipality and indeed, in Australia, when alluvial gold was discovered there in 1852. A minor gold rush to The Nook, as it was then known, resulted, and soon 500 prospectors were panning the creeks and digging tunnels and shafts. The township of Mangana gradually declined as one by one the mines closed, and none is operational today. A few of the town's original buildings remain. Stacks Bluff on the Ben Lomond plateau can be seen looming out of the clouds beyond tin mine tailings near Rossarden.
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Return to Fingal and coninue travelling east along the Esk Highway. The tiny settlement of Cornwall, half way up the hillside as you near St Marys, is home to the Coalminers Heritage Wall and Heritage Walk, a monument to the miners who hand-tunnelled a coal mine beneath the Mount Nicholas Range. Coal has been mined in various areas of Tasmania from the earliest days of European settlement, with major deposits of black coal being discovered in the Fingal Valley in 1863. The completion of the railway line to St Marys in 1886 enabled the establishment of large scale coal mining in the Fingal Valley and this area has provided the majority of Tasmania's coal since this time.
Jubilee Mine is about 5 kms out of St. Marys along German Town Road. The walk takes approximately 90 minutes return. The path follows an old pony track some of the way and is mainly through rainforest, with patches of Eucalypt forests. At the old mine site there are relics left from the miners living quarters. The cement entrance into the old tunnel can still be seen. Birdlife is abundant, and the species found include Blue Wrens and Robins.
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Nestled beneath the impressive rocky outcrop, St Patricks Head (694 metres), St Marys is located the junction of the Tasman and Esk Highways. A small town that is a centre for dairying, pastoral, timber getting and coal mining in the nearby St. Nicholas Range, St. Marys is surrounded by hills, trees and majestic lookouts with fantastic views of the coast below. It sits in a valley between the grandeur of the Douglas Apsley National Park and the visual signpost of St. Patricks Head.
From St Marys, there are three ways by which to return to Launceston. Backtracking along the Esk Highway is the shortest, at 128 km. The second is to travel down St Marys Pass to the coast, then north to St Helens (36 km) and on to Launceston via Scottsdale (161 km for St Marys). The third option to is take Elephant Pass Road from St Marys, drive down Elephant Pass and turn right upon reaching Tasman Highway at Chain of Lagoons. Follow the highway south through Bicheno, taking Lake Leake Highway to the right before reaching Swansea. Follow Lake Leake Highway to Campbell Town, turn right into Midland Highway and return to Launceston. (203 km from St Marys). Stacks Bluff Stacks Bluff: at 1,527 metres, this peak on the Ben Lomond Plateau at the southernmost end of the escarpment is the sixth highest point in Tasmania. A major feature of the Ben Lomond National Park, it is a popular venue with bushwalkers and mountain climbers. The track to the summit begins at Story's Creek.
View from St Patricks Head
The challenging climb to the top of the cone shaped St Patricks Head is rewarded by stunning forest and coastal views. It is a not an easy walk (there are places where metal cables and ladders are used to help the climber) but the view is spectacular and well worth the effort. A more accessible vantage point is South Sister Peak. The coast, the valley and the Mathinna Plains are just a few landmarks that can be seen from South Sister.
St Marys Pass
In the area
Meadstone Falls: a pretty waterfall, however it is seasonal and can be little more than a trickle in summer. The walking path leads to a viewing platform.
Located east of Fingal along the Esk Highway, Valley Road branches off to the right towards the logging area of Mt. Puzzler.
Hardings Falls: situated in the Hardings Falls Forest Reserve. The walk from the car park and picnic area is through dry forest dominated by eucalypts, oyster bay pines and banksias. There is a steep walk from the lookout down to the Swan River. Rocky platforms along the river bed provide a great place to relax and observe the tranquil series of cascades. Located off the MG Forestry Road, Fingal Valley via Avoca or Fingal.
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South Esk River at Avoca
The South Esk springs from the eastern foothills of the Ben Lomond plateau near Mathinna and the river's course describes an arc around the entire southern promontory of the mountain – running through Fingal, Avoca and Evandale before winding its way northwest through Perth, Longford and Hadspen. The river merges with the tributary Meander River, then flows through the narrows of the Cataract Gorge to finally meet the North Esk River at Launceston. From this confluence arises kanamaluka/Tamar River, which runs to the Bass Strait.
The natural river flow is interrupted by the Trevallyn Dam, near Launceston, constructed as part of the Trevallyn Power Station hydroelectric power scheme. The river is subject to flooding which overflows at Lake Trevallyn to create the spectacle of high rapids coursing through the narrows of the Gorge.
The river's two largest tributaries are the Macquarie and Meander Rivers, with lesser tributaries being the Nile River, River Tyne, Storys Creek and the Break O'Day River – upstream of the junction with the Macquarie. The Meander's main tributaries are the Liffey River and Quamby Brook and the Macquarie's main tributaries are the Lake, Isis, Elizabeth, Blackman, and Tooms rivers. These tributary watercourses drain the entire north Midlands valley, the watersheds of the Western Tiers, Ben Lomond plateau and Eastern Ranges south of Ben Lomond.
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