Lottah is a rural locality in the local government area (LGA) of Break O'Day in the North-east LGA region of Tasmania, Australia. The locality is about 27 kilometres (17 mi) north-west of the town of St Helens. The 2016 census recorded a population of 13 for the state suburb of Lottah.[1]
It is a small town in Northeastern Tasmania. The closest settlement is Pyengana and the closest major town is St Helens.
History
Lottah was gazetted as a locality in 1969.[2] It was historically known as Blue Tier Junction. A post office of that name was established in 1877 and renamed "Lottah" in 1895,[3] supposedly an Aboriginal word for "gum tree".[4]
Tin was discovered in Lottah in about 1875.[5] The Anchor Mine became operational in 1880, and the town of Lottah grew up around the mine. At its peak, it had several hundred residents, and community facilities included a school, two hotels, two churches, a bakery, and a football club.[6] Lottah supported a small Chinese community, and one of its more notable residents was Senator Thomas Bakhap, who had a Chinese stepfather and worked as an interpreter.[7] People born in Lottah during its heyday include architecture professor Brian Lewis and RAAF officer Alan Charlesworth.[8] The Anchor Mine closed in 1950, at which point the town's population had been in decline for several decades.[6]
^"Tasmanian Road Route Codes"(PDF). Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water & Environment. May 2017. Archived from the original(PDF) on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
Further reading
Richardson, Garry (2016), Lottah and the Anchor: the History of a Tin Mine and a Dependent Town, Forty South Publishing