West Coast Range

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The West Coast Range (42°05′S 145°36′E) of Tasmania is a group of mountains in the West Coast area of Tasmania that has had a significant number of mines utilising the geologically rich zone of Mount Read Volcanics. A number of adjacent ranges lie to the east: the Engineer Range, the Raglan Range, the Eldon Range, and the Sticht Range but in most cases these are on a west–east alignment, while the West Coast Range runs in a north–south direction, following the Mount Read volcanic arc.

The range has encompassed multiple land uses including the catchment area for Hydro Tasmania dams, mines, transport routes and historical sites. Of the communities that have existed actually in the range itself, Gormanston, is probably the last to remain.

Contents

[edit] Geographical features

These are determined by a number of factors - the southerly direction of glaciation in the King River Valley and around the Tyndalls. As well as the general north -south orientation of the West Coast Range itself.

Rivers

  • Anthony River on the northern part of the range
  • Eldon River on the eastern side of the range
  • Henty River on the western side of the range
  • King River starting in the Eldon Range and passing between Mount Huxley and Mount Jukes, dammed by The Hydro
  • Queen River runs through Queenstown, then to join with the King River to the west of Mount Huxley
  • Tofft River runs between the Thureau hills and Mount Owen and Mount Huxley
  • Yolande River runs between Lake MArgaret and the Henty River

Lakes

  • Basin Lake
  • Lake Adam - a tributary lake for Lake Margaret
  • Lake Barnabas
  • Lake Beatrice - on the eastern edge of Mount Sedgwick
  • Lake Burbury - created by the damming of the King River by The Hydro.
  • Lake Dora
  • Lake Dorothy
  • Lake Julia - in the area of the range known as 'The Tyndalls'
  • Lake Macintosh, Tasmania - created by damming the Mackintosh River
  • Lake Mary, Tasmania - a tributary lake for Lake Margaret
  • Lake Margaret on the northern side of Mount Sedgwick
  • Lake Murchison, Tasmania - created by the damming of the Murchison River
  • Lake Plimsoll
  • Lake Polycarp
  • Lake Rolleston - between the Tyndall Range and the Sticht Range
  • Lake Selina - just west of Lake Plimsoll
  • Lake Spicer - just west of Eldon Peak
  • Lake Westwood - next to Mount Julia

Mountains Including 'Ranges' within the West Coast Range with no specifically named peak - also including subsidiary peaks

Smaller Hills and Features

  • Darwin Meteorite Impact Crater
  • Gooseneck Hill
  • Henty Glacial Morraine
  • Marble Bluff - adjacent to the confluence of the Eldon and South Eldon rivers and the northern edge of Lake Burbury
  • Teepookana Plateau
  • Thureau Hills - adjacent to the eastern slopes of Mount Owen and Mount Huxley
  • Walford Peak - adjacent to Lake Dora

[edit] Vegetation

The slopes of Mount Owen, Mount Lyell and Mount Sedgwick are covered in stumps of forest trees killed by fires and smelter fumes from the earlier part of the twentieth century. The devastation of forests close to the mining operations at Queenstown was substantial as early as the 1890's and continued late into the twentieth century.

Some Huon Pine on the slopes of Mount Read have been found that show considerable age.

Due to fire, mining and a range of human activities the vegetation zones along the West Coast range can be considered to be mainly modified, and few pockets of vegetation could be considered unchanged since european presence.

The eastern side of the range is on the western boundary of the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, and at these points the forests are in better condition.

Forestry conservation zones exist along its length in accordance with the Regional Forestry Agreement (RFA).

[edit] Climate

In the average winter the '1,000 metre snowline' sees most of the mountains with snow. In previous decades Lake Margaret was the main long term weather reporting location, however the Mount Read automatic weather station now maintains extremes regularly reported on the Bureau of Meteorology website for extreme conditions. The rainfall records of Lake Margaret were on a par with Tully in Queensland for the highest rainfall in Australia. Approximations for the West Coast Range are made at 2800 - 3000 mm precipitation per year.

The prevailing weather is due to the location of the West Coast. It has no landmass sheilding it from the Southern Ocean or Antarctic weather, and being in the Roaring Forties cold fronts and extreme weather are regular occurrences on the West Coast. The Cape Sorell Waverider Buoy which was initiated by the BOM in 1998 (there had been earlier testing Bouys in the early 1990's) has given good indications of the behaviour of ocean swells to correlate with weather conditions.

Earlier weather records were kept for Queenstown and Zeehan. Due to change in population distribution and resources in the west coast, the main weather data is currently from Strahan Airport and Mount Read.

The Following BOM recorded locations are relevant to West Coast Range:

BOM number   Location Name                               Start   End   South    East         Height    Comments
                                                         Record               
097035 97    Crotty            1917    1929 -42.2000  145.6000               (Compare with Princess River and  Lake Burbury Park)       
097058 97    DUNDAS                                          1896    1917 -41.8833  145.4333      
097002 97    FARRELL SIDING                              1934    1948 -41.7000  145.5500        
097003 97    GORMANSTON         1895    2000 -42.0747  145.5986 ... 380.0     (Compare with West Lyell)     
097088 97    LAKE BURBURY PARK                         1995    1996 -42.0983  145.6733     245.0       
097006 97    LAKE MARGARET DAM                       1912      .. -41.9939  145.5706     665.0     
097020 97    LAKE MARGARET POWER STATION      1945      .. -42.0056  145.5419     320.0         
097040 97    MAGNET                                            1906    1936 -41.5000  145.4500       
097085 97    MOUNT READ  1996      .. -41.8444  145.5419     1119.5    (Current Automatic Weather Station)  
097039 97    MOUNT READ (MOUNT LYELL M.&R.)   1901    1920 -41.9000  145.5500        
097057 97    PILLINGER                                          1907    1924 -42.3333  145.5333               
097033 97    PRINCESS RIVER                                 1948    1976 -42.0833  145.6667 ....215.0     (Compare with Crotty and Lake Burbury Park)     
097034 97    QUEENSTOWN (7XS)                           1964    1995 -42.0967  145.5447 ... 129.0     
097008 97    QUEENSTOWN (COPPER MINE)             1906    2005 -42.0661  145.5681     191.0      
097068 97    QUEENSTOWN AERODROME                 1968    1988 -42.0769  145.5294 .   262.0    
097086 97    QUEENSTOWN (UPPER PRINCESS CREEK)1995    1999 -42.0833  145.5286 .   250.0      
097091 97    QUEENSTOWN (SOUTH QUEENSTOWN)  1996      .. -42.0972  145.5439     118.0      
097087 97    TULLAH (MEREDITH STREET)                 1995      .. -41.7383  145.6108     167.0      
097056 97    TULLAH MINE SITE                                1969    1978 -41.7167  145.6333 .   183.0       
097046 97    WILLIAMSFORD (LEVEL 5)                      1965    1971 -41.8333  145.5167 .   853.0       
097015 97    WEST LYELL                                          1945    2003 -42.0622  145.5794     421.0     (On south west slope of Mount Lyell

Main Source: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/how/sitedat.shtml

[edit] History and exploration

Early European exploration of the range was made by explorers, and by convicts escaping from Macquarie Harbour Penal Station on Sarah Island. Most occurred in the late nineteenth century, but as late as the 1940s some government maps had "unexplored" or "insufficient survey" or words to that effect.

Perhaps the most salient sentinels on speedy decisions - of the mountains that are viewable from Macquarie Harbour - most were named after proponents for and against the ideas that Charles Darwin was putting forward in the late 19th century. The irony is those who were against Darwin were given the higher mountain names, while the smaller were named after his supporters.

There were very small mining settlements in the Tyndalls, on Mount Darwin and Mount Jukes, and possibly very small camps of short duration in other locations. Linda in the Linda Valley is probably the only other remaining named location with population in a valley in the range. Queenstown lies in the Queen River valley on the western slopes of Mount Owen, or south western slopes of Mount Lyell, and is in effect 'out' of the range.

[edit] Mining

The Tasmanian Mines Department (in its various names over the last hundred years) has had guides to the minerals found in Tasmania - most are found in the West Coast region, these include Barium, Copper, Gold, Pyrites, Silver, Zinc.

Mining sites, in most cases short-lived exist on the upper regions of Mount Darwin, and Mount Jukes. Longer lasting mines existed on the middle slopes of Mount Lyell (North, West and South sides), and on the middle and upper slopes of Mount Read. Mineral exploration has occurred on the slopes of almost all of the named mountains over time. Conservation measures in recent decades have put special restrictions on the activity so as to not replicate the damage of the Mount Lyell operation. A good example of the capacity to mine in a sensitive area is the Henty Gold Mine, at the northern end of the range. See also West Coast Tasmania Mines for mines that occur on the West Coast Range - and the West Coast region.

[edit] Dams

The West Coast of Tasmania was always attractive to plans for dams for hydro electricity. The King River was surveyed for this at the time of the First World War. Then in the 1960's the early HEC surveys were conducted. The upper part of the Pieman scheme dammed parts of the West Coast Range, and the final major projects of the HEC dam making project were the Henty and King River Schemes.

[edit] Pieman River Scheme

The Pieman River Power Scheme involved the damming of rivers that start in the West Coast Range. It was the scheme that followed the Gordon River Scheme - and was to be followed by the Franklin River Scheme - but in reality was followed by the King River and Henty River schemes instead.

Construction commenced in 1974 and the scheme was completed by 1987. It involved dams on the Murchison and Macintosh rivers, as well as the Pieman River. The main construction town and administrative centre for the Hydro was at Tullah.

The Mackintosh Dam and power station were north of Tullah, while the Murchsion Dam and Lake were south. A third dam - the Bastyan Dam was just north of Rosebery, while the Reece Dam was a long wat to the west - close to the town of Corinna.

[edit] King River Scheme

The Crotty Dam is an 82 metre high Hydro Tasmania dam on the King River between Mount Huxley and Mount Jukes. The Darwin Dam is a saddle dam at the foot of Mount Darwin. Both of the dams contain the 54 square kilometre Lake Burbury water storage area.

[edit] Railways

To support the Mount Lyell and North Mount Lyell mines, railways were built from ports on Macquarie Harbour and travelled to the edge of the Range. They did not traverse the range.

Similarly the lines that connected with the Emu Bay Railway - the North East Dundas Tramway for example, did not traverse the range, but travelled to the foot of the mountains where the mines were active.

[edit] Historical features and recent sites

Tramways and Railways

through the Crotty and Darwin townsites to Pillinger and Kelly Basin.

Townsites

Mine sites

Hydro sites

  • Franklin River proposed power development - cancelled in the 1980's
  • Gordon River proposed power development - cancelled in the 1980's

Main Roads

  • Lyell Highway [A10] in the Linda Valley between Mounts Owen and Lyell
  • The Henty River Rd [B24] From Henty Glacial Moraine to the Lake Murchison Dam (Anthony Power Station) and Tullah
  • Walking Tracks
Numerous historic walking tracks blazed in the nineteenth century, and the twentieth century exist throughout the Range - some survive, some are overgrown.
C. Binks Explorers of Western Tasmania, has an Appendix 'The exploration tracks 1880-1910' which is a thorough examination of the record.
The most famous of the track makers was Thomas Bather Moore. He named many features including Mount Strahan, the Thureau Hills and the Tofft River.

[edit] References

  • Banks, M.R. and Kirkpatrick, J.B. Editors. Landscape and Man, the interaction between man and environment in Western Tasmania.
  • Binks, C.J. (1980). Explorers of Western Tasmania. Launceston: Mary Fisher Bookshop. ISBN 0-908291-16-7.
  • Blainey, Geoffrey (2000). The Peaks of Lyell, 6th ed., Hobart: St. David's Park Publishing. ISBN 0-7246-2265-9.
  • Rae, Lou. The Abt Railway and Railways of the Lyell region. Sandy Bay: Lou Rae. ISBN 0-9592098-7-5.
  • (1993) Stoddart, D.Michael: Walk to the West. Hobart: The Royal Society of Tasmania. ISBN 0-9598679-9-6.
  • Stringer, I. The West Coast Range.
  • Whitham, Charles (2003). Western Tasmania - A land of riches and beauty, Reprint 2003, Queenstown: Municipality of Queenstown.
  • Whitham, Lindsay (2002). Railways, Mines, Pubs and People and other historical research. Sandy Bay: Tasmanian Historical Research Association. ISBN 0-909479-21-6.
  • Wilkinson, Bill The Abels/ Tasmania's Mountains over 1100m High

[edit] External links

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