Tyenna, Tasmania

Tyenna is a settlement in Tasmania, Australia, located 81 kilometres (50 mi) west of the state capital, Hobart in its current form it is but a vestige of a once thriving rural community.

Tyenna was mentioned as early as 1896 when Mr T Stephens presented a paper to the Royal Society of Tasmania on possible land routes to the west coast of the island.^[1]

Many settlers had already settled, and started to clear the heavy forest^[2] in the area when it was officially gazetted as a town in 1918. Early timber fellers established sawmills in the area. The mills were reliant on the Tyenna River and Marriots Falls Creek for steam power. Before the establishment of the towns of Fitzgerald and Maydena it was the resupply base for Adamsfield for osmiridium miners travelling McCullum's Track. At its peak it boasted at least 2 hotels, 2 dance halls, a combined shop and post-office, a school, cricket ground, a blacksmith's shop, sawmills and Millars Timber and Trading Company. During the 1930s hops were grown along the river, processed in oast houses and sent on the rail to Hobart. Raspberries, currants and other produce also went by rail to Hobart.

Bushfires have since claimed much of Old Tyenna but there are still many small holdings along the main road. In spring these farms are ablaze with Vansion daffodils that have naturalised.

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