Linda Valley


Linda valley looking west to the North Mount Lyell workings, Mount Lyell being the mountain in view - taken from eastern shore of Lake Burbury

Linda Valley is a valley in the West Coast Range of Tasmania. It was earlier known as the Vale of Chamouni. It is between Mount Owen and Mount Lyell.

Human settlement

Linda Valley is the location of two historical settlements, Linda and Gormanston. These settlements were close to the Mount Lyell mines and workings, at the western edge of Lake Burbury, and east of the old Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company operations.

The terminus of the North Mount Lyell Railway was at Gormanston for a short time, the main point of operations for the railway was the yard and works at Linda.

A curiosity in the landscape is the formation created for the Comstock Tram that was proposed to circumnavigate Mount Lyell but was never completed, it started at Linda. The formation created can still be seein in parts around the sides of Mount Lyell.

Fires

The valley suffered from extensive bushfires in the early twentieth century, and as a consequence the forested valley became denuded. Large numbers of tree stumps line the Mount Lyell slopes in the valley a hundred years after the fires.

Glaciation

The valley is the site of extensive evidence of glaciation in the West Coast Range with a particular stage known as the Linda Glacial stage [1] The valley is also known as part of the landscape affected by the King River Glacier, which also left morraine at Crotty and Henty River [2]

The valley's glacial morraine is the only Late Pliocene site with plant fossil assemblages in Tasmania and one of only a few in Australia.[3]

The valley has been part of recent mineral exploration lease areas - however prospective mineral deposits have not been located to date, possibly due to the glacial morraine.[4]

See also

Notes

  1. Kiernan, Kevin (1983) Weathering evidence for an additional glacial stage in Tasmania Australian Geographical Studies Volume 21 Issue 2, Pages 197 - 220
  2. see Geology of Tasmania in relation to this
  3. "Entry AHD14287". Australian Heritage Database. Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.
  4. http://www.mrt.tas.gov.au/mrtdoc/tasxplor/download/01_4558/1399_200104_02_MainReport.pdf

References

2003 edition - Queenstown: Municipality of Queenstown.
1949 edition - Hobart: Davies Brothers. OCLC 48825404; ASIN B000FMPZ80
1924 edition - Queenstown: Mount Lyell Tourist Association. OCLC 35070001; ASIN B0008BM4XC