NW Tasmania: Heritage & History

Aboriginal Tasmanians

Tribes of the North West

First arriving in Tasmania around 40,000 years ago, the ancestors of the Aboriginal Tasmanians were cut off from the Australian mainland 8,000 years ago.

Burnie City History

History and Heritage

Recollections from the past of the people, the places and the events in the establishment, growth and development of the City of Burnie.

Cape Grim Massacre

10 February 1828

An incident in 1828 in which a group of Aboriginal Tasmanians gathering food at a beach were ambushed and shot by white farmers.

Jørgen Jørgensen

Convict and Explorer

Jørgen Jørgensen is one of the most fascinating characters in Tasmanian - indeed Australian - history. He was there at the founding of Hobart, he was the first European to see Tasmania's The Walls of Jerusalem and has his image carved into the stonework of Ross Bridge.

Early Mining History

Mining in the Old County of Devon

The old County of Devon exhibited an extraordinary diversity of minerals, and the discovery and limited mining of high-grade iron ore in 1805 was followed by the establishment of lime works in 1816, gold being found at Beaconsfield in 1847, and then coal being mined at Latrobe in 1850.

Crossing Bass Strait

History of the Bass Strait ferries

By the 1950s an increasing number of tourists were travelling to Tasmania, and many wanted to drive their own cars. The first car ferry linking Tasmania and the mainland was the Taroona, of 4,286 tons, which arrived in Melbourne in March 1935 to begin the Bass Strait service.

The Three Counties

Tasmania was initially divided into two counties in 1804. The population grew, and in 1836 a redistribution into 18 counties was proclaimed, and this arrangement can still be seen in many council and electoral boundaries today.

Don - Melrose Railway

In about 1854 a mill and wharf were built on the west bank of the River Don. To get the timber out of the bush a tramway was built up the valley, and from 1862 the line also served a small coal mine, 3km beyond the mill.

Van Diemen's Land Co.

In 1824 the Van Diemen's Land Company was formed to develop a pastoral and agricultural settlement in north west Tasmania ( then known as Van Diemen's Land). Their first settlement was established at Circular Head in 1826.

Place Names of North West Tasmania

A potted history of the towns and settlements across the North West of Tasmania..

Bass Strait Sealers

In the late 1790s, sealing in Bass Strait was a highly profitable enterprise, however, anarchy prevailed and countless Tasmanian Aboriginal women were kidnapped as slaves and concubines by the sealers.

Deloraine's Industrial Heritage

It wasn't until the mid 1820s that the district of Deloraine started to be settled by Europeans.