Cradle Mountain
Creek near Cradle Mountain with the mountain in the background.
Cascades near Cradle Mountain
Creek near Cradle Mountain
Lake St Clair
Lake St Clair
Monday, 12 March 2007
Cradle Mountain & Lake St Clair
Cradle Mountain/Lake St Clair National Park is truly a beautiful place. The scenery is superb everywhere you look. These pictures were taken in November and there was still snow on the peaks. It was extremely cold and windy the day we were there, but we were lucky that the mountain itself was visible. Apparently is is usually hidden behind fog or clouds.
Cradle Mountain
Creek near Cradle Mountain with the mountain in the background.
Cascades near Cradle Mountain
Creek near Cradle Mountain
Lake St Clair
Lake St Clair
Cradle Mountain
Creek near Cradle Mountain with the mountain in the background.
Cascades near Cradle Mountain
Creek near Cradle Mountain
Lake St Clair
Lake St Clair
Zeehan
The museum at the Zeehan School of Mining and Metallurgy is worth a few hours.
Museum
Order of Australia Medal in the museum.
A couple of old steam locomotives at the museum
Old mining train
Vintage car shooting past
Another old loco
... and another.
Museum
Order of Australia Medal in the museum.
A couple of old steam locomotives at the museum
Old mining train
Vintage car shooting past
Another old loco
... and another.
Gordon River & Macquarie Harbour Cruise
These are some pictures of the cruise around Macquarie Harbour and the Gordon River from Strahan.
Hell's Gates at the entrance to Macquarie Harbour.
The tea coloured water of Macquarie Harbour is from the oils secreted from the pine trees in the rainforest.
Macquarie Harbour
Gordon River
Gordon River
Gordon River
Macquarie Harbour
Gordon River
Rainforest along the Gordon River
Rainforest along the Gordon River
Rainforest along the Gordon River
A fallen huon pine in rainforest. This tree is thousands of years old and still alive. It sends up new trunks whenever it falls.
Salmon farm on Macquaire Harbour
Sarah Island - harsh penal colony
Gordon River mouth
Gordon River
In the rainforest
In the rainforest
In the rainforest
Hell's Gates at the entrance to Macquarie Harbour.
The tea coloured water of Macquarie Harbour is from the oils secreted from the pine trees in the rainforest.
Macquarie Harbour
Gordon River
Gordon River
Gordon River
Macquarie Harbour
Gordon River
Rainforest along the Gordon River
Rainforest along the Gordon River
Rainforest along the Gordon River
A fallen huon pine in rainforest. This tree is thousands of years old and still alive. It sends up new trunks whenever it falls.
Salmon farm on Macquaire Harbour
Sarah Island - harsh penal colony
Gordon River mouth
Gordon River
In the rainforest
In the rainforest
In the rainforest
Strahan
Strahan is the only town on the west coast of Tasmania and must be the most isolated place on the island.
Originally a base for the penal colony at Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour, it became a port servicing the mining industry in the nearby towns of Zeehan and Queenstown.
Now, mainly a tourist town, there are plenty of things to do. You can take a cruise down the Gordon River, take a helicopter ride over the wilderness or take the tourist train to Queenstown.
Shops in the main street of Strahan
Strahan Harbour - once a thriving port
People's Park
Hogarth Falls
Originally a base for the penal colony at Sarah Island in Macquarie Harbour, it became a port servicing the mining industry in the nearby towns of Zeehan and Queenstown.
Now, mainly a tourist town, there are plenty of things to do. You can take a cruise down the Gordon River, take a helicopter ride over the wilderness or take the tourist train to Queenstown.
Shops in the main street of Strahan
Strahan Harbour - once a thriving port
People's Park
Hogarth Falls
Queenstown
Queenstown, on the west coast of Tasmania is an unusual place. In a state famous for its natural beauty, Queenstown is famous for its unnatural appearance.
Years of gold and copper mining, deforestation and air pollution from smelting have denuded the surrounding hills of Mt Lyell and Mt Owen to the point where all vegetation has disappeared and the topsoil eroded to bare rock.
Although mining is still going on, tourism is the town's big industry now, and the ABT West Coast Wilderness Railway is based there and travels along the Queen and King Rivers to Strahan.
The Queenstown "moonscape".
Orr St. - Queenstown's main drag
Mt Owen
The turntable at Queenstown Station
ABT West Coast Wilderness Railway steam engine
Years of gold and copper mining, deforestation and air pollution from smelting have denuded the surrounding hills of Mt Lyell and Mt Owen to the point where all vegetation has disappeared and the topsoil eroded to bare rock.
Although mining is still going on, tourism is the town's big industry now, and the ABT West Coast Wilderness Railway is based there and travels along the Queen and King Rivers to Strahan.
The Queenstown "moonscape".
Orr St. - Queenstown's main drag
Mt Owen
The turntable at Queenstown Station
ABT West Coast Wilderness Railway steam engine
Sunday, 11 March 2007
Port Arthur
Port Arthur was the most memorable place in Tasmania for me. The ruins, the tragic history - old and recent, the irony. It is such a beautiful place in many ways, yet such terrible things have happened there over the past two centuries.
It started out in the 1830s as a penal colony, progressive in its day. It was built by the convicts themselves, as an inescapable prison settlement and the philosophy of the gaolers was to reform the prisoners. It wasn't just about punishment, but redemption as well. For its time this was very advanced thinking with regard to prisoners.
The "Separate Prison" built in the 1840s was designed to subjugate the convicts mentally rather than physically as had been the previous practise. From today's perspective, the prison facilities and the stories of the day to day lives of the convicts seem harsh and extreme - especially considering the crimes that many were said to have committed. For something as trivial as a poor, hungry boy stealing a loaf of bread, he was sentenced to be transported to Port Arthur for years. I don't know how many ever got to go home after their sentences were carried out. Of course there would have been some serious criminals of the murdering kind there as well, but it's hard to imagine today such hard punishments being handed out for the minor offences many committed.
Originally a timber station, the convicts established the industries of ship building, timber, brick-making, blacksmithing and shoe-making.
Most of the main buildings were destroyed or damaged beyond repair during bushfires in the late 1890s while the settlement was no longer a penal colony, but a town of free settlers attempting to develop it into a sustainable community.
The recent tragic history of Port Arthur involves the terrible day on the 28th of April 1996 when Martin Bryant went on a rampage killing 35 people at the site and nearby towns. The Broad Arrow Cafe has been converted into a memorial for the victims.
The memorial at the former Broad Arrow Cafe commemorating 28th April 1996.
The Penitentiary in the right of the picture was originally built as a granary and flour mill.
Ruins of the Penitentiary.
Below are ruins of the church at Port Arthur.
Commandant's house
The Hospital ruins
Church at the Separate Prison - note the pews are boxes so the prisoners could only see in front of them, not the other prisoners each side of them.
Inside the Separate Prison
Inside the Separate Prison
Separate Prison exercise pens - originally walled off in between each pen.
Cell door
The Asylum
The Penitentiary
A cell in The Penitentiary
A cell in The Penitentiary
It started out in the 1830s as a penal colony, progressive in its day. It was built by the convicts themselves, as an inescapable prison settlement and the philosophy of the gaolers was to reform the prisoners. It wasn't just about punishment, but redemption as well. For its time this was very advanced thinking with regard to prisoners.
The "Separate Prison" built in the 1840s was designed to subjugate the convicts mentally rather than physically as had been the previous practise. From today's perspective, the prison facilities and the stories of the day to day lives of the convicts seem harsh and extreme - especially considering the crimes that many were said to have committed. For something as trivial as a poor, hungry boy stealing a loaf of bread, he was sentenced to be transported to Port Arthur for years. I don't know how many ever got to go home after their sentences were carried out. Of course there would have been some serious criminals of the murdering kind there as well, but it's hard to imagine today such hard punishments being handed out for the minor offences many committed.
Originally a timber station, the convicts established the industries of ship building, timber, brick-making, blacksmithing and shoe-making.
Most of the main buildings were destroyed or damaged beyond repair during bushfires in the late 1890s while the settlement was no longer a penal colony, but a town of free settlers attempting to develop it into a sustainable community.
The recent tragic history of Port Arthur involves the terrible day on the 28th of April 1996 when Martin Bryant went on a rampage killing 35 people at the site and nearby towns. The Broad Arrow Cafe has been converted into a memorial for the victims.
The memorial at the former Broad Arrow Cafe commemorating 28th April 1996.
The Penitentiary in the right of the picture was originally built as a granary and flour mill.
Ruins of the Penitentiary.
Below are ruins of the church at Port Arthur.
Commandant's house
The Hospital ruins
Church at the Separate Prison - note the pews are boxes so the prisoners could only see in front of them, not the other prisoners each side of them.
Inside the Separate Prison
Inside the Separate Prison
Separate Prison exercise pens - originally walled off in between each pen.
Cell door
The Asylum
The Penitentiary
A cell in The Penitentiary
A cell in The Penitentiary
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