Located in Tasmania's west coast region in a valley surrounded by hills and rainforest, Zeehan was first established as a
mining field.
Situated 115.18 km (71.57 miles) from Devonport and north of Strahan, and Queenstown, explore historic streetscapes, lakes, dunes and lush rainforests.
The town of Zeehan was named after the nearby Mount Zeehan, which had been named by George Bass and Matthew Flinders after Abel Tasman's Fluyt (ship)
Zeehaen.
Peerapper and Tommeginne Aboriginal People
Aboriginal people first arrived in Tasmania about 40,000 years ago when the area was part of mainland Australia.
Mainland Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania were part of the same landmass through much of the Pleistocene era (Sahul).
The end of the Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago, caused rising sea levels. About 6000 BC, Tasmanian Aboriginal people (Palawa) became isolated from the rest of humanity for 8,000
years, until European arrival.
The food sources of Tasmanian Aboriginal people came from hunting, gathering and fishing. Kangaroo and wallaby, possum and wombat, muttonbird and penguins were hunted, mostly by men. While edible wild plants, roots, flora fruits, eggs and sap were collected in season, by women.
There are similarities between prehistoric Australian megafauna and some mythical creatures from the Aboriginal Dreamtime. However, Aboriginal people, along with climate change, caused a "perfect extinction storm" and rapidly eliminated the megafauna of Tasmania about 41,000 years ago. (Megafauna were large vertebrates up to almost three tonnes) (
1.)
A commonly
reported practice of Tasmania Aboriginal people was carrying the bones of a recently deceased relative, in a kangaroo skin bag, around the neck. The spirit, however, would return to the sky country.
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Aboriginal petroglyph at Trial Harbour, TAS, on granite
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Creator spirits often moved between the Earth and sky in Aboriginal Belief systems. But it was in the Dreamtime when creator spirits roamed the Earth, creating the hills, rivers and laws for people to follow. Laws and stories were passed down orally, along with song and dance.
Members of a clan
were united by kinship ties and common territory.
The French expedition, under Nicolas Baudin, in
Géographe and
Naturaliste, landed in Tasmania in 1802. The French spent time interacting with Aboriginal people and making notes about their language and culture. They also collected flora and fauna and cultural objects.
The French artists Charles-Alexandre Lesueur and Nicholas-Martin Petit documented their meetings with local Tasmanian Aboriginal people.
Aboriginal
culture was severely disrupted by the arrival of the British, bringing illnesses to which they had no immunity.
British arrival was also the meeting of the most different people on Earth. Divergent concepts of land ownership, beliefs and laws created tensions leading to warfare and great losses for Aboriginal people.
George Augustus Robinson was brought in as a "conciliator" between settlers and Aboriginal people. Assisted by Aboriginal woman, Truganini, an agreement with the greatly feared Big River and Oyster Bay peoples was made. By the end of 1835 most Aboriginal people had been
relocated to a new settlement.
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| Group of Natives of Tasmania (1859) by Robert Hawker Dowling (1827 – 8 July 1886) |
1640s
The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was the first European to sight Van Diemen's Land in 1642. One of the first mountains he saw was on the West Coast of the island, was later named Mount Zeehan.
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| Abel Tasman's ships the Zeehaen and the Heemskerck |
1798
Georges Bass and Lieut. Matthew Flinders became the first people to circumnavigate Tasmania on a
voyage of exploration aboard HMS
Norfolk. They named the nearby Mount Zeehan after Abel Tasman's vessel
Zeehaen.
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| The Bass and Flinders Maritime Museum is home to a full-size working replica of the sloop Norfolk. Located George Town Tasmania. Here |
1870s
In 1876, the Government Surveyor led an exploration party southwards from Waratah through dense rain forest. They crossed the Pieman River 30 miles SW of Waratah and found traces of tin and gold near Mt Heemskirk. This led to
further explorations in the region.
In 1879, tin was discovered at nearby Mount Heemskirk.
1880s
Silver was discovered at Zeehan in 1882, when trackcutter and prospector Frank Long, discovered the Zeehan-Dundas silver-lead field near the later site of the Zeehan Post Office. He was the son of ex-convicts, born in Launceston, in about 1844.
Some 80 acres were pegged by Frank Long for the Arthur and Long Plains Prospecting Association, which later became the Mt Zeehan mine. J. Healy pegged
the adjoining 80 acres for the Despatch Company.
Supplies and equipment were brought in by
pack~horse from Trial Harbour.
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| First store at Zeehan, TAS, 1880s |
Mining grew slowly at Zeehan until 1887 when G. Bell discovered galena (mineral form of lead) nearby. This would become the Silver Queen mine.
A post office opened in 1888.
The Zeehan-Trial Harbour road
was completed in 1889.
Population was about 130 in 1889.
1890s
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| Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1881 - 1894), Saturday 26 September 1891 |
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| Zeehan, TAS, 1891, Weekly Courier |
Mineral prices crashed in the 1890s. The Bank of Van Diemens Land, who invested heavily in silver mining ventures, crashed on August 3 1891. The next day 27 mines closed.
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| The Stock Exchange, Zeehan, TAS, Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1881 - 1894), Saturday 20 June 1891 |
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| Messrs. Wilson and Pontifex's Premises, Zeehan, Tasmania. Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1881 - 1894), Saturday 20 June 1891 |
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The tunnel of the Central Balstrup Silver Mining Company, Zeehan, TAS, Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1881 - 1894), Saturday 18 July 1891 |
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| Mr J Stubbings' premises at Zeehan, TAS, Illustrated Sydney News (NSW : 1881 - 1894), Saturday 18 July 1891 |
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| Charles Sedery unloading goods on Zeehan Williamsford Railway, Tasmania - circa 1890s. Charles Sedery marked with X. He was a guard on the North East Dundas railway. Kaye |
In 1891 there were 159 companies and syndicates in the area.
In 1892 the Zeehan-Strahan railway opened and the increased
accessibility led to many hopeful miners rushing to the area.
Important mines at Zeehan were the Silver Queen. Western and Oceana.
The Emu Bay Railway that linked Zeehan to the North West Coast opened in 1891. The line started in Zeehan's Main Street, about 750 metres from the railway station. The line ascended a steep grade to the summit. When it reached there, the horses were detached and the car under the control of a very powerful brake, moved downwards, with its own momentum to the mine.
Charlie Murphy, a boxer from Zeehan made his debut in 1892.
The Zeehan School of Mines and Metallurgy committee was formed in January 1892. A school with instructors was operating by 1896. In February 1903 the school building was completed.
The Wesleyan Church opened in Main-street in 1897.
The
Zeehan and Dundas Herald was published by William Lawrence Calder and Joseph Bowden from 1890 to 1922.
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| Main Street, Zeehan, TAS, 1891-2 |
The Mount Dundas – Zeehan Railway (also known as the Maestris Tram) was a railway line running 7 miles (11 km) from Dundas to Zeehan. It operated from 1892 until 1932, but the rails were removed in 1940.
First printing plant arrived at Trial Harbour in September 1893.
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| An old photograph of Aubrey Clifford (left), who fought Alf. James a vicious bare-knuckle fight at Zeehan in 1895. .. Harry ('"Darky") Miller (seated), a fine all-round athlete and boxer, and Joe Priest, who promoted the first boxing bouts at Queenstown in 1897.Saturday Evening Express (Launceston, Tas. : 1924 - 1954) |
Construction of the smelters at Zeehan in 1898, by the Tasmanian Smelting Company. (closed 1960)
According to a newspaper article of 1898, most people lived in the West End, where the main mines were: The Silver Queen, Western, Montana, Oonah and many others. Along the main road there paling shanties, but also palatial
hotels. Close to the railway station stood the hospital. But
typhoid was lurking about the town. (
1.)
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| The Mount Dundas – Zeehan Railway was a railway line running 7 miles (11 km) from Dundas to Zeehan on the West Coast of Tasmania. Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 9 April 1898 |
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| The Concentrating Works, Machinery, Ore Shed, and No. 1 Main Shop, Zeehan, TAS, Melbourne Punch (Vic. : 1855 - 1900), Thursday 3 August 1899 |
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| Cutting on the Colonel North Railway, Zeehan, TAS, Melbourne Punch (Vic. : 1855 - 1900), Thursday 3 August 1899 |
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| The Colonel North Main Shaft No, 2, Zeehan, TAS, Melbourne Punch (Vic. : 1855 - 1900), Thursday 3 August 1899, |
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| An early overview of Zeehan station looking south showing the 3ft 6in Government and Emu Bay lines in the centre with an EBR train arriving and the 2ft gauge North East Dundas yards to the right. TGR photo 4S26. Ted Lidster collection, Trainiac |
1900s
In 1900, Zeehan was the third largest town in Tasmania after Hobart and Launceston, with a population of 10,000 people.
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| Zeehan Station, circa 1900. Ex Tasmanian Main Line Railway carriages, Trainiac |
The census of 1901 showed the population of Zeehan was 5014.
There was a strike at the Hercules mine from 1905 to 1907.
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| 1. EMU HAY RAILWAY BRIDGE OVER PIEMAN RIVER BETWEEN' BURN1E AND ZEEHAN, TAS 2. EMU BAY RAILWAY BRIDGE OVER QUE RIVER. BETWEEN' BURNIE AND ZEEHAN, Punch (Melbourne, Vic. : 1900 - 1918; 1925), Thursday 6 April 1905 |
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| Zeehan station staff, Zeehan, TAS, 1906, Trainiac |
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| The marriage of George Alexander Fulton and Alice Elizabeth Gardner at Zeehan, Tasmania in 1906. maypm |
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| ARRIVAL OF LINOTYPES AT ZEEHAN IN OCTOBER, 1907. Zeehan and Dundas Herald (Tas. : 1890 - 1922), Saturday 21 December 1907 |
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| LINOTYPES Room, The Herald, ZEEHAN. TAS, Zeehan and Dundas Herald (Tas. : 1890 - 1922), Saturday 21 December 1907 |
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| Zeehan, Tasmania - 1908, Kaye |
The
main street of Zeehan in its heyday was over three kilometres long with twenty hotels, shops, banks and theatres.
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| Messrs Dunkley Bros moving 10 ton engine with 20 horses through main street of Zeehan, TAS, to Heemskirk Tin Syndicate's mine at Tasman River. TAHO Weekly Courier 1912 |
The Zeehan mines were starting to run out of shallow ore and there were insufficient resources for further exploration.
WWI
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| First volunteers from Zeehan departing on the EBR mixed train to Burnie. O S White photo, 1914. 08. 27. Trainiac |
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| Rosa Elizabeth Kate Quarterman (1872–1940). In 1904, she was appointed matron of the hospital in Zeehan, south west Tasmania. Zeehan was a thriving town of around 6000 people, enjoying a boom from silver mining. Matron Quarterman and her nurses received the Maltese Cross medals for their handling of a typhoid epidemic. War Service: Sailed from Melbourne on the "Kyarra" and arrived in Egypt on 20 January 1915. 1AGH was set up in the Heliopolis Palace Hotel, a four story luxury facility in the Cairo suburb of Abbassia, on 28 November 1914 with 160 other nurses and medical officers (e.g. Mercury [Hobart], 9.1.1907, 15.4.1907).Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954) Read more |
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| Private PERCY RIGBYE, Only son of Mr. H. H. Rigbye, late of Orlando-street. Eaglehawk, and now of Zeehan (Tasmania). Private Rigbye was at first reported to be missing, then reported as a prisoner of war, and now officially declared to have been killed in Gallipoli between 25th and 28th April, 1915.Bendigonian (Bendigo, Vic. : 1914 - 1918), Thursday 23 November 1916 |
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| Studio portrait of Captain (Capt) Claude Henry Stubbings, 52nd Battalion, of Zeehan, Tas. (c.1916) He enlisted on 21 August 1914 and was appointed colour sergeant of D Company, 12th Battalion, with the service number 407. He embarked for service overseas from Hobart aboard HMAT Geelong on 20 October 1914. He was present at the landing on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and was promoted to second lieutenant three days later. On 4 August he was promoted to lieutenant but was evacuated sick to Malta on 21 August, suffering from severe gastro-enteritis. He rejoined his unit on Gallipoli in October. In March 1916 Stubbings transferred to 52nd Battalion before leaving for service in France. He was promoted to captain in May 1916 and was appointed adjutant of the battalion in August of that year. The following month he was given the command of the battalion's A Company. Stubbings was awarded the Military Cross for his actions at the Battle of Messines 28 August 1917. On 10 August 1918 he suffered a serious gunshot wound to the left thigh, which also fractured his femur. After hospitalisation in France and England his condition was sufficiently stable to allow him to be repatriated to Australia on 5 January 1919. On arrival in Melbourne he was transferred to No 11 Australian General Hospital at Caulfield, on 16 March 1919, housed in a private mansion called 'Glen Eira'. Here he endured a further eight operations on his leg, between April 1919 and February 1921 and also contracted osteomyelitis. While still confined to a wheelchair bed he was presented with his Military Cross by the Governor General Munro Ferguson. Stubbings fell in love with his hospital masseuse (physiotherapist), Catherine Campbell Bothroyd, and they married in 1921 after he was finally discharged from the AIF. He took up a soldier settler block at Red Cliffs in Victoria where he produced citrus fruit. During the Second World War Stubbings was involved with wartime manpower administration. He died in 1950. AWM |
Some silver-lead ore was being produced at Zeehan but the field had greatly declined.
1920s
During the Depression years, Zeehan almost became a ghost town.
"Life in Zeehan in the early days lacked
polish, but not sincerity. There was
much money, much gambling, and many
sporting and pastime institutions. There
were some five skittle alleys where big
stakes were placed for, and a man
could be accommodated -with a wager
far or against anything."News (Hobart, Tas. : 1924 - 1925), Saturday 24 October 1925
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| Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Thursday 7 February 1929 |
1930s
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| Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Wednesday 1 July 1931 |
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FIRST BAND FORMED ON THE MINING HELD OF ZEEHAN, TAS, IN MUSICAL ARRAY.-Zeehan Band photographed on the opening day ot the Silver King silver - lead mine in 1889. Its first
bandmaster was Bishop Osborne, and its second J. Shegog, and its third (two years later) Mr. A. Caddie. The group includes :Standing (left to right): Bandmaster Shegog, S. Trembath, H.Allen, Stokell Bros. (2), J. Craig, J. Pearn, E. C. James (founderof the band), - Stokell, - Boys, H. Mery, C. Riley,-'-. Kneeling:- (bass drum), Geo. Cooper & J. Hannon (kettledrum) Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Friday 30 December 1932 |
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| Zeehan Tram going past Cecil Hotel towards Zeehan station. It is turning off Main St. and into Wilson St., no date, Trainiac |
1940s and WWII
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THE UP-TO-DATE Diesel car recently imported by thc Emu Bay Railway Co.
was put into service on the Burnie=Zeehan run yesterday. Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Tuesday 14 May 1940 |
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| Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Saturday 27 October 1945 |
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| Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Tuesday 30 October 1945 |
"Broken Hill mining interests sent geologists to Zeehan in 1946. After a systematic survey of the fields, the Oceana mine, nestling in a wide valley under Mt. Zeehan about three miles from the town, was selected as the first attempt to bring the Zeehan fields back into production." (
2.)
Notable
The famous navigator and naturalist Harold Charles Gatty (1903-1957) was a student at the state primary school at Zeehan, where his father was headmaster. Interestingly, Harold was the grandson of a convicted highwayman
transported to Van Diemens Land in 1842.
In January 1932, Harold Gatty became Chief Air Service Navigation Research Engineer with the United States Army Air Corps. When the war in the Pacific broke out in 1941, Harold
returned to Australia as Director of Air Transport for the South West Pacific with the rank of Group Captain in the RAAF.
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| Harold Gatty, Tasmania |
Eileen Joyce (1908-1991), a concert pianist, was born on 1 January 1908 at Zeehan. She became famous and performed on screen and in soundtracks. The height of her fame was during WII.
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| Eileen Joyce (1908-1991), a concert pianist, was born on 1 January 1908 at Zeehan, TAS, Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Monday 24 May 1948 |
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| Matron Cicely O'Brien, of the Zeehan Hospital, and formerly of Tuntnack, who recently was awarded the M.B.E.Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Wednesday 21 July 1948 |
1950s
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| Staff at Zeehan Hospital, TAS, taken just prior to the departure of Dr. Worcester. Back row (I. lo r.) : Mr. M. K. Robertson (secretary), Nurse Payne, Sister Powe. Nurse Wordsworth. Nurse Farley. Mr. A. T. M'Guinness (chairman of the Zeehan Municipal Commission). Middle: Sister Winter, Matron O'Brien, Dr. Worcester, Sister Davie, Sister Hossendcll. Front: Nurse M'Carlhey and Nurse Smith. Nurse Water-worth, the remaining member of the nursing staff, was on holiday. Hospital staff at Zeehan, TAS, Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Friday 22 September 1950 |
1950s
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| 1. A view of the Montana mine. 2. The Oceana mine buildings, with Mt. Zeehan in the background.Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), Saturday 15 December 1951 |
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| Saturday Evening Express (Launceston, Tas. : 1924 - 1954), Saturday 5 May 1951 |
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| The late Charlie Murphy one of Tasmania's best lightweights, big or small, Charlie could keep them busy. On his right, Steve Ford, one time A.M.A. secretary at Zeehan, and trainer Bill O' Toole, a fine mile runner. Saturday Evening Express (Launceston, Tas. : 1924 - 1954), Saturday 5 May 1951 |
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Two Tasmanian MPs. - the Minister for Lands and Works (Mr. Reece) and Mr. D'Alton, M.L.C.
-who competed in the 24-mile wheelbarrow race from Zeehan to Queenstown on Saturday, finished the course four hours behind the winner's time of 5h. Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Monday 3 August 1953 |
1960s
The West Coast Pioneers' Memorial Museum opened in 1965.
1980s
A bushfire destroyed 40 homes over several days in Zeehan in February 1981.
Around Zeehan
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| Gaiety Theatre, Zeehan, TAS, built opened in the 1898, now part of the West Coast Heritage Centre |
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| Mount Zeehan Post Office, TAS. opened on 1 August 1888 and was renamed Zeehan in 1890 |
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| Masonic Lodge display at West Coast Heritage Centre at Zeehan, TAS |
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| St Fursaeus' Catholic Church, Zeehan, TAS, The cornerstone of the church was laid in April 1891, and the first Mass was celebrated in November 1891. |
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| Mining remains near Spray tunnel Zeehan, TAS |
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| The Spray Tunnel is a 100 metre long abandoned railway tunnel that was once part of silver mining operations in the Zeehan. Today, walk through the tunnel along a boardwalk and see glow worms and the remains of the Spray Silver Mine, Zeehan, TAS |
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| Zeehan School of Mines and Metallurgy built in 1903, Zeehan, TAS |
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| Shorty’s Museum at Zeehan, TAS |
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| Zeehan, TAS |
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| Zeehan, TAS |
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| Hotel Cecil, Zeehan, TAS, built 1900 |
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| West Coast Pioneers' Museum, Zeehan, TAS. Attractions include photo galleries, locomotives, mining machinery and blacksmith shop |
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| Smelter ruins, Zeehan, TAS |
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| The first Anglican chapel was opened in 1891, Zeehan, TAS, replaced by a concrete church in 1909 |
Things To Do and Place To Go
West Coast Heritage Centre
Shorty’s Museum at Zeehan, 22 Shaw Street, Zeehan, Tasmania 7469
Spray Tunnel Loop, an easy one-hour return walk that passes through the Spray Tunnel, a 100-metre long abandoned train tunnel that leads to what was the Spray Silver Mine.
Folkloric recording: Terry Casey, born and raised in Zeehan, Tas. speaks about the mines in the area; his memories of the conditions experienced by his father and others in the mines; the types of houses in the area and how they were constructed; his time in the Army during WWII; his later trade as a bootmaker in Zeehan; describes life in the isolated Tasmanian town.
Here
