Historical Australian Towns

Kanyaka, SA: Isolated and Remote Ruins

Kanyaka is located in the Far North region of South Australia, about 320km north of Adelaide.

The Hundred of Kanyaka was gazetted on 6 July 1876. Today, Kanyaka lies in ruins.

The Barngarla and Adnyamathanha People

Occupation of the Warratyi rock shelter dates back approximately 49,000 years.

Today, Aboriginal Australian people of the northern Flinders Ranges consist of clans of several distinct peoples: Adnyamathanha. Also known as the Wailpi, and including the Guyani, Jadliaura, Pilatapa and sometimes the Barngarla peoples.

Barngarla is a member of South Australia’s Thura-Yura group of languages, spoken traditionally on the Eyre Peninsula and north into the Gawler Rangers, as far as the southern end of Lake Torrens.

People of the northern Flinders Ranges share a common identity, which relates to ancestral spirits and origin stories; language and culture, which is known as Yura Muda.

Aboriginal men: warriors and hunters

The important creator being, the rainbow serpent, is known as akurra. The Dreaming was the time when Ancestral Beings travelled across the landscape creating life and geographic features of the land.
During the Dreaming, the rules for life, social organisation and the spiritual world view also came into being.

Bila, the sun, is a female celestial being, believed to be a cannibal, roasting her victims over a fire. The fire of the sun also provides light for the world. The story passed orally, goes that one day, the lizard man Kudnu, and Muda, the Gecko Man, decided to stop Bila from eating people. So, Kudnu threw a boomerang at Bila and injured her. Bila then turned into a ball of fire and left the world, leaving it in darkness. After this, Adnyamathanha people no longer ate lizards or geckos.

The anthropologist, Charles Percy Mountford, collected a lot of information about the sky beliefs and ancestral beings of the Adnyamathanha people. Mountford recorded in 1939 that the Adnyamathanha people believed that spirit children (muri ) originated from the breasts of two mythic women or Mothers, the Maudlangami.

The Pleiades star cluster is also seen as a group of women (Artunyi), to the Adnyamathanha people.

The name Adnyamathanha means "rock people" or "hill people".

Adnyamathanha clans were divided into two parts: moieties called Mathari and Ararru. For Adnyamathanha people, the moiety was passed down from mother to child. The Matheri Moiety (the south wind) and Arraru Moiety (the north wind), would determine your relationships, rights and responsibilities, and who you could marry.

Death Rock is a large seven-metre high quartzite rock beside a permanent spring-fed waterhole. It is said that local Aboriginal people were brought here when near death and laid down under the rock.

1802

Matthew Flinders sighted the Flinders Rangers aboard HMS Investigator during his mapping of the Australian coastline in 1802.

Investigator (ship), A painting by John Allcot. SLQLD

1830s

Edward John Eyre made two expeditions into the interior of South Australia in 1839.

1850s

In 1851, Wilpena, Arkaba and Aroona were established as sheep stations.

In 1853, driving 7,000 sheep, William Pinkerton is believed to be the first European to find a route through the Flinders Ranges, via Pichi Richi Pass.

In 1852 Kanyaka Station was established as a cattle station by Hugh Proby, who possessed both money and connections, approximately 40 km (25 mi) north-north-east of Quorn.

Hugh Proby was the son of Admiral Granville Leveson Proby (the third Earl of Carysfort of Ireland) and Isabella Howard. He arrived in South Australia on the Wellington in May 1851.

From 1st July 1851, Hugh Proby took up three pastoral leases in the northern Flinders Ranges, for a term of 14 years, with the rent set at 10 shillings per square mile. Lease number 74 became the Mookra Run. Leases 117 and 118, totalling 101 square miles, were the start of Kanyaka Station. By 1852 he had 1000 head of cattle, and some huts had been built.

Typical bark hut, Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954)

Hugh Proby, whose ancestral home was Elton Hall in Derbyshire in England, wrote letters to his family during 1851-52 and described his experiences establishing Kanyaka. (An Earl's Son: the letters of Hugh Proby / Louise Neal, 1987).

The Kanyaka area receives low rainfall, so it is tragic that in August 1852, a thunderstorm caused a herd of cattle to break into a stampede. It was the middle of the night when Hugh and an Aboriginal stockman set out to rescue the cattle. Whilst attempting to cross the swollen Willochra Creek, Hugh was swept off his horse and drowned.

The grave of Hugh Proby is located near where he drowned. His family shipped out a tablet of Scottish granite from Britain, six years later, and it was hauled out to Kanyaka by a bullock team, from Port Augusta. The grave is located near the side of the Arden Vale road between Quorn and the ruins of Simmonstown. Some years later, his sister, Lady Hamilton, came to Australia to visit his grave.

After Hugh Proby's death, Kanyaka Run was taken up by Alexander Grant and then, John Randall Phillips.

James Grant set out for Kanyaka Station. However, while on his way, he and a friend who rode with him, became lost. Their remains were found a year later.

John Randall Phillips changed Kanyaka Station from cattle to sheep. Then Phillips set about building a homestead and establishing a small village, with an overseer and workmens' cottages, blacksmith workshop, cart and harness sheds, stockyards and animal enclosures.

It was said that Phillips spent about £10,000 on the property, including the enormous woolshed and a 16 roomed homestead. The buildings were mostly of local stone, due to limited supplies of suitable local timber.

John Randall Phillips, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 26 April 1934

In 1856, Phillips built an eating house on the main road, about 5km away, to divert visitors away from the Kanyaka Station.

Kanyaka, which was isolated and remote, became a fairly self-sufficient small village. However, there was little in the way of medical care.

In 1857 George Goyder wrote that Kanyaka was "assuming the appearance of a village".

1860s

The region was so badly affected by the droughts of the mid-1860s that Kanyaka was abandoned for a year.

The station office at Kanyaka was also the post office. In 1862, more than 23,300 letters were received at Kanyaka and nearly 21,600 were sent.

Kanyaka Station, SA. .John Randall Phillips, 1832-1917, arrived in South Australia in March 1846 on board the ship the "Alpha" (from Western Australia). Pastoralist, Kanyaka station. About 1862, SLSA

The eating house, Blackjack, was run by David Bowman during 1864 and early 1865. By 1864 the eating house had become a two storey hotel, the Great Northern, with twenty four rooms, stables and a coaching house.

1864 about 41,000 sheep were shorn at- Kanyaka and 11,000, sold.

South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 - 1900), Tuesday 29 March 1864

Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), Saturday 8 April 1865

Adelaide Express (SA : 1863 - 1866), Friday 16 June 1865

Kanyaka was a distribution centre for food, blankets and rations for Aboriginal people in the area.

In 1866, after several years of severe drought, the surviving stock was removed, and Kanyaka abandoned.

John Phillips, when giving evidence of losses to the Northern Runs Commission in 1867, estimated that between 1864 and 1866, 20,000 sheep on the run had died of starvation.

1870s

Richard Gloyne died in 1871 and was buried 5km from Kanyaka. Gloyne came to South Australia from England, leaving a wife and two children to work as a labourer in the district. Local stories say that he fell from the balcony of the hotel. An inquest later revealed that he took his own life. His lonely grave is difficult to access without a four-wheel drive.

"The sad and tragical
death of Mr. Holyoake, which took place at
Kanyaka. It appears Mr. Holyoake, a hawker,
in the employ of Mr. Marshall of this place.
was engaged at his business with a man named
Hope, and through some disagreement a fight
ensued which terminated fatally."

South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 - 1889), Monday 6 January 1873

"The Kanyaka Creek had risen to
such a height that the coach had to be left
there all night, and the guard, putting the mails
on a horse, swam the creek. The driver and
passengers also got over on horseback and -pro-
cured a vehicle on the other side. The Bul
cunda Creek was also forded with difficulty.
The roads were very heavy all along the route,
and it was with great difficulty that the mail reached

the Burra at 7 o'clock on Thursday morning."

South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1868 - 1881), Saturday 1 February 1873

Express and Telegraph (Adelaide, SA : 1867 - 1922), Wednesday 3 November 1875

In July 1876, the Hundred of Kanyaka was proclaimed, with the pastoral station and lands subject to resumption.

The land was sub-divided and cleared for agriculture with heartbreaking and disastrous consequences for the land and the families, who faced drought and ruin despite their toil and sacrifice. Wheat farms were not viable this far beyond Goyder’s line.

Port Augusta Dispatch (SA : 1877 - 1880), Saturday 22 December 1877,

1880s

The hotel closed in 1881, as a new railway station 10km away at Wilson caused carriers to stop there, not at Kanyaka.

John Phillips left the leasehold in 1881, and the buildings were left to crumble.

In 1883, James Bole, was lost in the hills and died. "His cricket bat lay by his side; he had carried it faithfully through those awful hours of wandering and privation. He was buried in the cemetery on the old Kanyaka station...." (1.)

There was a substantial earthquake in January 1888.

1920s

ENGLISH EARL'S LONELY GRAVE. — Surrounded by. a stockyard fence this is the last resting place of Hugh Proby, third son of the. Earl of Carysfort, who was drowned in the Willochra Creekin 1852. Mail, Kanyaka, SA (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 17 July 1926

A disastrous drought of 1928-29.

Aboriginal children from the Flinders Rangers, SA, News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Friday 5 July 1929

1930s

Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 16 June 1938

1940s

All the "legends of the Flinders Ranges" were told to me by black men and women of the northern part of Flinders Ranges, near Lake Frome. News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Friday 26 September 1941

Aboriginal child of the Flinders Ranges, News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Friday 26 September 1941

1950s

The first Technicolor film filmed on location in Australia. Cattle stampede scenes in the film "Kangaroo". Here Aboriginal stockman Clyde Combo, who also appeared in "Bitter Springs,". and Frank Ransom, try to check a cattle rush on the dusty plains below the Flinders Ranges. News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Wednesday 25 June 1952

2000s

War of the Worlds movie screening took place among the Kanyaka ruins in 2017.

War of the Worlds movie screening took place among the Kanyaka ruins in 2017, SA

2021

A young woman, believed to have been kidnapped, was tragically found in a shallow grave some days later. The woman's ID, and the shoes she was seen wearing before her disappearance, were found in a bin at the Kanyaka Ruins.

The ruins of Kanyaka are a reminder of the optimism, hardships and isolation, that people endured in many remote areas

Around Kanyaka

The Kanyaka Station ruins consist of two main historical sites: The homestead and the woodshed.

Kanyaka Homestead Ruins, SA

Kanyaka Homestead Ruins, SA, shearer's quarters

Kanyaka shearing shed, SA. Drive up and over the hill to the ruins of the woolshed

Kanyaka ruins, SA.

Grave of Hugh Proby, founder of Kanyaka Station, SA

Kanyaka ruins, SA

Kanyaka Water Hole & Death Rock, SA

Kanyaka ruins, SA

Richard Gloyne's grave at the old hotel at Kanyaka. SA

Kanyaka Homestead Cemetery, SA

Kanyaka shearing shed, SA,

Things To Do and Places To Go

Adnyamathanha Language Lessons

Hawker Visitor Information

Beaconsfield, TAS: A Gold-Mining Town in The Tamar Valley

Beaconsfield in north eastern Tasmania is located north of Launceston, on the western banks of the Tamar River.

North of Beaconsfield are the ruins of Yorktown. Yorktown was the first settlement in Tasmania.

Aboriginal Tasmanian (Palawa) People

Tasmania was a peninsula of Australia around 40,000 years ago when Aboriginal people first arrived in the region.

About 12000 years ago, sea levels began to rise, with the end of the Ice Age, and Tasmania became separated from the mainland.

Tasmanian Aboriginal people became the most isolated people on Earth. Before this, Aboriginal people had travelled between modern-day Victoria and Tasmania.

Tasmanian Aboriginal Clans were based on loose associations of family or hearth groups (up to about 30) that identified with a particular country.

Aboriginal Tasmanians were primarily nomadic people, moving around according to seasons and food sources. Specific skills and knowledge were needed in hunter gatherer communities.

An area of extensive ochre deposits north of Beaconsfield may have been used by Aboriginal people.

The French expeditions of d’Entrecasteaux (1792) and Baudin (1802) recorded many observations about the Tasmanian Aboriginal people and their customs.

Nicolas-Martin Petit (1777–1804): Tasmanierin mit Kind in Känguruhaut (Ausschnitt), Muséum Le Havre

Complete Aboriginal Tasmanian languages have been lost. One reasoning is that there was no written language: words were not written down.

There are more than 250 Australian Aboriginal languages across Australia and approximately 800 dialects. These languages are closely connected to the environment they are spoken in. Aboriginal languages mostly have many words relating to rituals, spirituality, and kinship.

Historian Geoffrey Blainey wrote of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people that by 1830: "Disease had killed most of them but warfare and private violence had also been devastating".

Europeans

Abel Tasman became the first European to set eyes on Tasmania in 1642. Tasman named it Van Diemen's Land to honour the East Indies Governor-General, Anthonie Van Deimen.

Portrait of Abel Tasman, his wife and daughter. Attributed to Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp, 1637

1790s

Multicultural seal hunters begun visiting the Bass Strait islands, as well as the north and east coasts of Tasmania, from the late 1790s, and established semi-permanent camps in the region. Trade in Aboriginal women soon began.

1800s

A government lime works was established in the area in 1816. Limestone was important for mortar, concrete and render.

1820s

The first European settlers on mainland Tasmania's North-West Coast arrived in the 1820s with the Van Diemen's Land Company;

1800s

In early 1802, French explorers and artists from Nicolas Baudin’s ships landed in Tasmania and spent time interacting with the Tasmanian Aboriginal people. They recorded their language and culture, flora and fauna and collected objects and specimens. Most of these drawings are owned by the Museum of Natural History in Le Havre, France.

During the voyage, which charted significant stretches of the Australian coast, François Péron, who wrote a lot about the Tasmanian Aborigines of the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, on south-eastern Tasmania, also wrote a report for Bonaparte on ways to invade and capture the British colony.

Charles Alexandre Lesueur, a French naturalist, artist, and explorer, also travelled to Australia as an artist on the expedition of Baudin and Péron and made many drawings.

Portrait de Bara-Ourou dans l'atlas du Voyage de découvertes aux terres australes, Charles Alexandre Lesueur et Nicolas-Martin Petit

Fearful that the French would attempt to colonise Van Diemen's Land, caused the British to establish a settlement on the Derwent River in 1803.

Beaconsfield was first explored by Europeans in 1804 when Colonel William Paterson, the Governor of Cornwall (northern Tasmania), was on an expedition to Port Dalrymple and established a settlement at York Town. Colonel Paterson discovered limestone at Beaconsfield in December 1805,

Tasmania was initially divided into two counties on 24 September 1804. These were Buckingham in the south and Cornwall in the north.

In the early days of the colony, under Governor Arthur, Tasmania was divided into Hundreds. Each 100-square-mile (26,000 ha) hundred was divided into four 25-square-mile (65 km2) parishes. The counties, hundreds and parishes were gazetted on 1 July 1836. Today there are 20 land districts in Tasmania.

1840s

Alluvial gold may have been found at Beaconsfield in 1847 by a man working at the Tamar Lime Works.

Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Tuesday 12 March 1946

1850s

Settlement of Beaconsfield did not occur until the 1850s. The area was known as Cabbage Tree Hill, and then, Brandy Creek, because of the colour of the water in the creek.

1870s

Early in July 1877, William Dally discovered a rich quartz reef at Brandy Creek. The early development of the area was entirely due to mining.

In the early days, people lived in tents and bark and log huts.

The Boiler House showed the importance of steam power from 1877 to 1914.

Called the Tasmania Reef, the mine at Beaconsfield produced three times more than the New Golden Gate Mine at Mathinna and was the largest mining district in Tasmania.

In current money, about $3 Billion came out of Beaconsfield mine over the years. The Beaconsfield mine was extremely important to the development of Tasmania, especially during the long depression and contributing to the development of the city of Launceston.

The police quarters was an old hut between Brandy Creek and the Ophir*

Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899), Saturday 15 June 1878

Brandy Creek was renamed Beaconsfield in March 1879 by Aloysius Weld, standing on the veranda of the Ophir Hotel, in honour of Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield and the British Prime Minister.

By September 1879 there were three churches, four hotels, six or seven general stores, 262 houses and a population of 962 (Morris-Nunn & Tassell 1984).

Underground mining began in 1879.

1880s

In 1881 the census showed a population of 1,520.

In 1881 William Wyett commenced construction of a tramway, drawn by horses, which opened in December of that year. Changed to steam power in 1886.

At one stage, Beaconsfield had up to 12 hotels.

The Beaconsfield newspaper was called the “Tickler” in 1881.

There were 43 mining companies at Beaconsfield in 1883.

. In 1881 Mr. John 

Willi

am Wyett obtained the right to 

build and operate a tramway at 

Beaconsfield.

Church trustee Henry Sands owned the Club Hotel, in 1883, Beaconsfield, TAS

Gold was extracted using gravity, flotation and cyanidation methods.

Mining increased laterally and to greater depths. The large inflows of water required continuous pumping.

In 1883, higher productivity was demanded of miners, so some of the Beaconsfield miners formed a miners’ association.

The school was founded in 1883.

The Beaconsfield State School, TAS, was built in 1883

The biggest bank robbery in Tasmanian history occurred at Beaconsfield in 1884. The owner of the Exchange Hotel, Richard Collins and his son George were among seven men arrested over the robbery of the Bank of Tasmania at Beaconsfield. Charges were later withdrawn, and no one was ever convicted of the robbery.

Daily Telegraph (Launceston, Tas. : 1883 - 1928), Thursday 30 December 1886

1890s

Beaconsfield Band, TAS, in 1890

Post and Telegraph Office, Beaconsfield, TAS, Tasmanian (Launceston, Tas. : 1881 - 1895), Saturday 26 May 1894

Luhrig Concentrating Works, Beaconsfield, TAS, Tasmanian (Launceston, Tas. : 1881 - 1895), Saturday 26 October 1895

1. View of Beaconsfield, TAS. 2. The Tasmanian Gold Mine. 3. The main battery. Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Saturday 2 January 1897

The Alicia Hall was named by Thomas Henry "TH" Walduck after his eldest daughter in 1899. The next owner, Belle Cowie, turned the building into the town's cinema and accompanied the silent movies on her piano.

Mr T H Walduck, Tasmanian (Launceston, Tas. : 1881 - 1895), Saturday 26 May 1894

1900s

Beaconsfield, TAS, showing goldmine, Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), Tuesday 1 January 1901

Weld Street, Beaconsfield, Tasmania - very early 1900s, Aussie~mobs

Beaconsfield, TAS, Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 13 June 1903

The Grubb Shaft Engine House was built in 1904.

Weld Street, Beaconsfield, Tasmania - 1906, Aussie~mobs

Holy Trinity Church in Margaret Street was built in 1907

New Year Greetings from Beaconsfield 1908 (Weld Street), Tasmanian Archives and State Library (Commons)

Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Friday 10 June 1910

WELD STREET, BEACONSFIELD, TASMANIA - 1910s, Aussie~mobs

The Tasmania Mine at Beaconsfield closed in 1914 due to the cost of pumping water from the mine. The mine did not reopen again until 1999. Some of the original pumping equipment can be seen at the local museum.

WWI

In 1916 and 1917, referenda were held about conscription (compulsory service). A pro-conscription rally was held at Alicia Hall a few days before the 1916 referendum, with an audience of about 700 people. The rally, however, was interrupted by a "terrific" explosion, as a bomb was thrown over the fence behind the Alicia Hall during the pro-conscription rally.

Tasmanians voted by a large majority - 48,493 votes to 37,833 - for conscription.

Sergeant Percy Clyde Statton, from Beaconsfield, won the Victoria Cross.

Portrait of Percy Clyde Statton VC MM, an Australian recipients of the Victoria Cross during the First World War.

1920s

Three of the buildings remaining at the Tasmania Mine at Beaconsfield, TAS, Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Tuesday 22 July 1924

View of the Beaconsfield Hospital, TAS, Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Saturday 20 September 1924

Matron and Staff of Beaconsfield Hospital, TAS, Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Saturday 20 September 1924

Daily Telegraph (Launceston, Tas. : 1883 - 1928), Thursday 19 March 1925

1930s

Extension of Hydro Electricity to-Beauty Point OFFICIAL SWITCHING ON CEREMONY TO-NIGHT AT BEACONSFIELD NEW ERA OPENS IN TIHE HISTORY OF THE WEST TAMAR DISTRICTExaminer (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Saturday 20 February 1932

1. The oldest church in Beaconsfield, TAS. 2. Members of the council. 3. Members of the hospital board. 4. Weld St, Beaconsfield. 5. Bullock team. 6. Some of the former members of the Beaconsfield band. 7. Clay and stone mine at Cabbage Tree Hill. Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), Saturday 14 May 1932

Beauty Point Cool Store , TAS, Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Wednesday 17 February 1932

Alicia Hall (established 1899), and Mr. and Mrs. D. Barnard's store, Beaconsfield, TAS, Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Monday 1 January 1934

De Luxe Passenger Service for Beaconsfield and St. Leonards, TAS, Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Wednesday 24 June 1936

Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Saturday 12 December 1936

Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Friday 23 April 1937

1940s and WWII

F-Officer Wilbur David Parsons, RAAF, of Beaconsfield (T), photographed at his station in Britain after he had been awarded the DFC for having displayed great courage, skill, and determination in piloting his damaged bomber home.Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Thursday 26 August 1943

Girls at the canning factory of the Tamar Valley Co-operative Co. Ltd. at Beaconsfield operating the apple pulping, coring, peeling and cleaning machines. Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Thursday 4 July 1946

Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Saturday 14 June 1947

Mrs Ken Hutton, of Beacons-field, who is the first municipal Mascot Girl in the R.A.A.F. Memorial Centre appeal to be nominated outside Launceston. Mrs Hutton is an English girl and during the war served with the W.A.A.F. in England as a transport driver. Her husband, who was killed in action over Germany, was a Stawell Giftwinner. Mrs Hutton will be called the Tamar Mascot girl. The Beaconsfield R.S.L. and Country Women's Association branch are working for Mrs Hutton and help from committees on both sides of the Tamar will be appreciated.Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Saturday 19 July 1947

A petition signed by 143 residents of Beaconsheld and Beauty Point seeking better water facilities was tabled on March 21 1949.

Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Tuesday 22 March 1949

1950s

THE LIBRARIAN (Miss Katherine Rugare) helps school children select books from the BeaconsfieldLibrary. In the picture are (from left) Ronald Cowie, Miss Rugare, Wendy Lean, Frank Rugare, Bevin Walker, Christine Pedder. The library is in the Council buildings. It supplies all schools in the West Tamar area. Four hundred books are exchanged with the Launceston Library every three months.Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Thursday 4 May 1950

In 1953, Beaconsfield was the first town in Australia to fluoridate the water supply.

From left: Mrs. M. OToole, secretary of the Beaconsfield Hospital Auxiliary,
Matron E. Midgley, and Sister K. Treloggen. Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Thursday 2 July 1953

THE New Beaconsfield school, main classrooms, ofwhich will be "open.for business" about the middle of June. TAS,- Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), Tuesday 6 April 1954,

1960s

Beaconsfield was gazetted as a locality in 1967.

2000s

Disaster and Rescue

A magnitude-2.2 earthquake at Beaconsfield mine resulted in a landslide in April 2006.

The mine collapsed on Anzac Day 2006 killing miner Larry Knight and trapping Todd Russell and Brant Webb 925 metres underground. They were rescued 15 days later.

The mine stops in 2012 extracting gold because it is no longer profitable.

2020

In February 2020, Australian mining company NQ Minerals bought the Beaconsfield mine for $2 million.

2021

Beaconsfield Wetland project environmental cleanup begins. Since the 1870s, untreated water from the mine was pumped into the wetlands and the cleaning process may also lead to millions of dollars of gold profits.

Abandoned tunnels run more than 1km beneath Beaconsfield.

Around Beaconsfield

Beaconsfield Mine & Heritage Centre, TAS

Old Beaconsfield Gold Mine cart at Beaconsfield Mine & Heritage Centre, TAS

The original Sand's Club Hotel, TAS, papers to have opened in 1883. Later remodelled in Art Deco style

Former workshop of Manion's Motor Garage, Est 1924, Beaconsfield, Tasmania

Former Bank of Tasmania building in Beaconsfield, TAS, established in the early 1880s. The Bank of Tasmania was a small bank established in Launceston in the 1850s