Trial Harbour

Trial Harbour
Tasmania
Trial Harbour is located in Tasmania
Trial Harbour
Trial Harbour
Coordinates41°55′46″S 145°10′33″E / 41.9295°S 145.1757°E / -41.9295; 145.1757
Population24 (2016 census)[1]
Postcode(s)7469
Location20 km (12 mi) SW of Zeehan
LGA(s)West Coast
RegionNorth-west and west
State electorate(s)Braddon
Federal division(s)Braddon
Localities around Trial Harbour:
West Coast West Coast West Coast
Southern Ocean Trial Harbour West Coast
Southern Ocean West Coast West Coast

Trial Harbour is a rural locality in the local government area (LGA) of West Coast in the North-west and west LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south-west of the town of Zeehan. The 2016 census has a population of 24 for the state suburb of Trial Harbour.[1]

It is a small anchorage on the West Coast, Tasmania and historical locality, located in the northern part of Ocean Beach, Tasmania. It was an exposed and particularly vulnerable anchorage which was susceptible to the prevailing local weather of the Roaring Forties, seventeen miles north of Macquarie Heads (the entrance to Macquarie Harbour).

History

The locality was named Remine until 1987, when it was renamed. Trial Harbour was gazetted as a locality in 1987.[2]

Indigenous usage

Carvings and middens were identified in the 1930s and 1990s.[3][4]

European usage

It was named after the cutter Trial, which first anchored there in 1881,[5] and it was established by four Baltic sailors, Gustav Weber, and the three Karlson brothers, Karl, Peter and Steve, otherwise known as the Russian Finns.[6][7][8]

The harbour was utilised for a short while during the establishment of the early mining communities of Zeehan, and Queenstown, prior to the establishment of the settlements and facilities at Strahan and Regatta Point. It came under the control of the Hobart Marine Board.[9]

It had two hotels and other facilities in its early days[10] and currently it is the location of holiday homes.

It has been also a location on the west coast where whales have been sighted close to shore.[11]

Further north along the coast – a similarly dangerous and exposed location was Granville Harbour.

Geography

The waters of the Southern Ocean form the western boundary, and the Little Henty River forms most of the southern.[12]

Road infrastructure

Route C248 (Trial Harbour Road) enters from east and runs through to the west, where it ends.[2][13]

Notes

  1. ^ a b "2016 Census Quick Stats Trial Harbour (Tas.)". quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Placenames Tasmania – Trial Harbour". Placenames Tasmania. Select “Search”, enter "23059S", click “Search”, select row, map is displayed, click “Details”. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  3. ^ Jones, J. F (1937), Aboriginal carvings found at Trial Harbour, retrieved 24 December 2019
  4. ^ Jones, Julie; Caville, Jeanymaree (1993), Sites at Trial Harbour, West Coast of Tasmania, retrieved 24 December 2019
  5. ^ "HOBART SHIPPING". Launceston Examiner. Tasmania, Australia. 10 February 1882. p. 2. Retrieved 25 December 2019 – via Trove.
  6. ^ The Peaks of Lyell pp.18 of the fourth edition
  7. ^ "The Karlson Brothers". The Advocate (Australia). Tasmania, Australia. 7 January 1924. p. 4. Retrieved 25 December 2019 – via Trove.
  8. ^ "EARLY HISTORY OF MOUNT LYELL". The Mount Lyell Standard And Strahan Gazette. Tasmania, Australia. 20 February 1897. p. 4. Retrieved 25 December 2019 – via Trove.
  9. ^ "TRIAL HARBOUR". The Mercury. Hobart, Tas. 3 November 1890. p. 4. Retrieved 28 June 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ page 184 of Atkinson, Sue, (Museum consultant), (compiler.) (2012), Tasmania : island of treasures, 40 Degrees South, ISBN 978-0-9874468-1-7{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ "Whales at Trial Harbour". The Mercury. Hobart, Tas. 22 February 1938. p. 2. Retrieved 28 June 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ "Trial Harbour, Tasmania" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  13. ^ "Tasmanian Road Route Codes" (PDF). Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water & Environment. May 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2020.

References

  • Whitham, Charles (2003). Western Tasmania – A land of riches and beauty (Reprint 2003 ed.). Queenstown: Municipality of Queenstown.