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| The Burnie
Inn (late 1840s) |
Burnie
Substantial centre on the island's north
coast
Located 152 km northwest of Launceston on the
Bass Highway, Burnie is characterised by
delightful wooden houses which cling to the
hills and overlook the bay.
Like most of the north coast of Tasmania the
area around Burnie was first explored by
Europeans when Bass and Flinders circumnavigated
Van Diemen's Land in 1798. As they passed the
Burnie area they named Round Hill Point and
noticed a 'peak like a volcano'. Bass and
Flinders did not land on the coast and it was
left to a party from the Van Diemen's Land
Company to climb the 'peak like a volcano' on 14
February 1827 and name it, appropriately, St
Valentine's Peak. The party, led by Henry
Hellyer, reported that the area was
agriculturally rich which resulted in Edward
Curr applying for a series of grants which
totalled over 100 000 acres. The land was
densely timbered and this, combined with high
rainfall, made it virtually useless for
agriculture. This, however, did not stop the
development of the district.
Later in 1827 a small settlement was
established at Blackman's Point (it was named
because of a large Aboriginal midden which was
found in the area) at the western end of Emu Bay
- near the present city centre. This settlement
was established by Henry Hellyer who built a
blacksmith's shop, a few cottages and a large
store which measured approximately 20 m by 7 m
and was used as the base for all the Van
Diemen's Land Company operations in the
district.
From the earliest days of the settlement Emu
Bay (as Burnie was known) was a timber port. The
timbers of the hinterland were felled and a
sawmill was established near the port. Timber
was exported across Bass Strait to Melbourne, to
the new settlement at Adelaide and to Launceston
along the coast. It was used for everything from
roof shingles to road paving, from house
building to ship building.
By 1842 the settlement, although still tiny,
was opened up with land being surveyed and sold
to settlers. The town was named after William
Burnie who was the director of the Van Diemen's
Land Company at the time.
It was around this time that the Burnie Inn
(now located in the beautiful Burnie Park) was
built to cater for the growing population. The
inn gained its license in 1847 and is now the
oldest standing building in the city.
The town grew slowly in the 1850s and 1860s.
By 1863 there were still only 50 permanent
residents. The discovery of tin at Mount
Bischoff in 1871 did much to encourage the
growth of the area. In 1878 the Van Diemen's
Land Company, who were still dominating the
economy of the town, built a tramway from the
tin mine to the coast. It was a remarkable
timber construction stretching over 75 km and
using horses to pull the tin laden carriages.
Tin ensured the continued growth of the town.
By the late 1880s the railway had been converted
to steam locomotives and the port facilities had
been greatly expanded. In the 1890s a railway
was built through the difficult terrain between
Zeehan and Burnie. Thus Burnie became the major
port for the shipping of silver from Tasmania.
And by 1901, when the railway arrived from
Launceston, the town's population had grown to
over 1500.
The combination of these factors - a port for
both mining and rural products and a service
centre for the surrounding area - ensured the
continuing development of the town. By the 1930s
the town's population was over 6 000. The
construction of the Associated Pulp and Paper
Mills in 1937 was instrumental in the town's
population growing to 10 000 by 1941. In 1948
Australian Titan Products (now known as Tioxide
Australia Pty Ltd) began operation. The town
continued to grow. The port was expanded, the
paper mill grew larger, container facilities
were built. Burnie is now established as one of
Tasmania's most important ports.
Things to see:
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Burnie Park
Burnie Park with its lawns, shady walkways,
animal enclosures and Burnie Inn is one of the
prettiest parks in Tasmania. The city is
justifiably proud of the park and there is an
interesting brochure Burnie Park and Tree Guide
(available at the Information Centre in the
Park) which details some of the more interesting
trees as well as providing information about the
old Burnie Inn. The park's animal reserve, with
its ducks, swans, peacocks, emus, wallabies and
rabbits, is an ideal stopover point for
children.
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| The
Blacksmiths Shop in the Pioneer Village
Museum |
Pioneer Village Museum
The Pioneer Village Museum is located between
Wilmot and Jones Streets adjacent to the Burnie
Civic Centre. This unique recreation of an old
town is sensibly located in a large building and
has an extensive number of authentic recreations
of shops which would have been commonplace on
the northwest coast of Tasmania around the turn
of the century. There is a dentist's surgery
with a fearful range of old equipment including
a foot operated drill, a cottage sitting room, a
kitchen with the usual array of antiquated
cooking utensils, an old wash house with a cast
iron copper and galvanised iron tubs, a
carpenter's shop with examples of the art of
joinery as well as good displays of tools, an
old butter factory, the Wellington Times
Printery, a general store and Post Office, a
saddler and bootmaker, a blacksmith's and
wheelwright's shop and a chemist's shop which
has an excellent display of early equipment and
medicines.
These buildings are merely facsimiles. The
city's most elegant building is the superb
Burnie Police Station (1907) in Wilson Street. A
magnificent two storey brick Edwardian house
with a huge verandah and magnificent ironwork it
was originally built as a family residence and
surgery for a dentist with the unusual name of
Loucadou-Wells.
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| Axe men try
their hands at a competition in front of
the Associated Pulp and Paper Mills at
Burnie |
The Timber Industry
Today Burnie is a substantial city (it became a
city in 1988) which is driven by its port and by
the surrounding timber industry. The huge
Associated Pulp and Paper Mills produce much of
Australia's writing, printing and special
wrapping papers. It is possible to visit the
paper mill. Enquiries should be made to (03)
6431 1222.
Bushwalks and Waterfalls
Behind the town are a number of waterfalls and
interesting bushwalks. The most accessible falls
are the Guide Falls which are clearly marked
beyond the township of Ridgley which lies south
of Burnie.
