West Coast Range

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Aerial view of the West Coast Range

The West Coast Range is a mountain range in the west of the Australian state of Tasmania. It is located west of the Franklin - Gordon Wild Rivers National Park on the west coast of the island.

In this mountain there was a large number of mines in the geologically rich zone of the Mount Read- volcanoes. East of the West Coast Range are several mountain ranges, such as the Engineer Range, the Raglan Range, the Eldon Range and the Sticht Range, which emphasize the direction from east to west. The West Coast Range, however, sweeps north to south and follows the series of extinct volcanoes.

To the mountains around the country has been used in many ways. One finds there the reservoirs of the Hydro Tasmania, mines, highways and historically significant places. Among the settlements in these mountains today only Gormanston inhabited.

6.1 Pieman River system
6.2 King River system

7.1 Railways
7.2 roads
7.3 airfields

Geography

The geography of the site results from a number of factors, for example, the southern flow direction of glaciation in the valley of the King River and the Tyndall and the north-south orientation of the West Coast Range itself

Anthony River on the north side of the mountain
Eldon River on the east side of the mountain
Henty River on the west side of the mountains
King River, which rises in the Eldon Range and flows therethrough between Mount Huxley and Mount Jukes; dammed by Hydro Tasmania
Queen River through Queenstown, flows west of Mount Huxley in the King River
Tofft River between the Thureau Hills, Mount Owen and Mount Huxley
Yolande River between Lake Margaret and Henty River

Lakes

Basin Lake
Adam Lake - a Nebensee of Lake Margaret
Lake Barnabas
Lake Beatrice - on the eastern flank of Mount Sedgwick
Lake Burbury - created by the damming of the River King
Lake Dora
Lake Dorothy
Lake Julia - in the field of Tyndall
Lake Mackintosh - created by the damming of the Mackintosh River
Lake Mary - a Nebensee of Lake Margaret
Lake Margaret on the northern flank of Mount Sedgwick
Lake Murchison - created by the damming of the Murchison River
Lake Plimsoll
Lake Polycarp
Lake Rolleston - between the Tyndall Range and the Sticht Range
Selina Lake - just west of Lake Plimsoll
Spicer Lake - west of Eldon Peak
Lake Westwood - at Mount Juliet

Mountains

Including mountain ranges within the West Coast Range, which do not have a separately designated Summit:

Black Mount: 950 m
Mount Darwin: 1,031 m South Darwin: 780 m

Proprietary peak: 1103 m
Pyramid Peak
South Jukes Peak: 1,000 m
West Jukes Peak

Smaller surveys and other geological attractions

Darwin Crater - probably by a meteorite impact
Gooseneck Hill
Henty Glacial Moraine - a moraine at the Henty River
Marble Bluff - at the confluence of the River and the South Eldon Eldon River on the north shore of Lake Burbury
Teepookana plateau
Thureau Hills - on the eastern slopes of Mount Owen and Mount Huxley
Walford Peak - on Lake Dora

Vegetation

The slopes of Mount Owen, Mount Lyell and Mount Sedgwick are littered with the remains of trees that were dying by the fire and the smoke of the furnaces in the first half of the 20th century. The devastation of the forests around the mines at Queenstown began in the 1890s and continued until well into the 20th century on.

Some Huon Podocarpus ( Lagarostrobos franklinii ) with considerable antiquity can be found on the slopes of Mount Read.

Due to forest fires and the impact of mining and other human activities, the vegetation zones of the West Coast Range were modified significantly. Only in a few places there is vegetation that has remained unchanged since European colonization.

The eastern slopes of the mountain range forms the western boundary of the Franklin - Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. There, the forest is in better condition. Throughout the mountains, there are forest areas.

Climate

In winter, the snow line is usually at 1,000 m, so most peaks of the West Coast Range are covered with snow. At Lake Margaret was a long -time weather observation station, but today provides the installed from the Bureau of Meteorology automatic weather station on Mount Read data regularly for their website for extreme weather conditions. The measured on Lake Margaret rains are along with those in Tully in Queensland, the highest measured in Australia. On average, they are for the entire West Coast Range at 2800-3000 mm / year.

The exceptional weather conditions are at the location of the mountain on the west coast of Tasmania. Here the mountains are equally exposed to the storms of the Indian Ocean as the adverse weather conditions of Antarctica, and so are in this, located in the Roaring Forties field cold fronts and extreme weather quite common.

Past weather records are available for the cities of Queenstown and Zeehan. Because of the changes in population distribution, the weather data is currently mainly come from the airport in Strahan and the Mount Read.

History

First, the West Coast Range of European researchers, and of convicts who escaped from the penal colony on Macquarie Harbour, Sarah Iceland, explored. End of the 19th century, the largest part of the mountain was explored, but no end of the 1940s reported official maps " unexplored " or " inadequately measured " regions in this area from.

Perhaps the most prominent peaks of the mountains that are visible from Macquarie Harbour from, were named for supporters and opponents of the theories of Charles Darwin. Interestingly enough, the higher peaks were given the names of the opponents, while the lower were named after the supporters.

There were very small mining settlements in the Tyndall, at Mount Darwin and Mount Jukes, and probably other small branches of short duration in other places. Linda and Linda Valley are probably the only other populated and named places in a valley of the West Coast Range. Queenstown is located in the valley of the River Queen on the west flank of Mount Owen, and on the southwest flank of Mount Lyell and therefore outside of the mountain.

Mining

The Tasmanian mining authority regulated the degradation of the natural resources found in Tasmania. Most of them were found in the territory of the West Coast, for example, Barium, copper, gold, pyrite, silver and zinc.

Mines - usually operated only briefly - it was on the upper slopes of Mount Darwin and Mount Jukes. Longer existing mines were located on the middle slopes of Mount Lyell ( on the north, west and south side ) and in the middle and upper slopes of Mount Read. Over time, almost all the slopes of these mountains were screened for minerals.

The government ordered in the last decades of environmental protection measures by mining, as they were known from Mount Lyell, limited the damage. A good example of the operation of a mine in an environmentally sensitive area is the Henty Gold Mine on the northern end of the mountain.

Dams

The West Coast of Tasmania has traditionally been viewed as an attractive location for dams to generate electricity from hydropower. The King River was surveyed for this purpose as early as the time of the First World War.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, the HEC led to initial measurements. In the upper part of the Pieman River system parts of the West Coast Range were provided with dams, and the final projects of HEC were the Henty River system and the King River system.

Pieman River system

The Pieman River system includes the damming of rivers that originate in the West Coast Range. This project followed the Gordon River system. Actually, this should be followed by a Franklin River system, but actually followed the damming of the King River and the Henty River.

Construction began in 1974 and was completed in 1987. Included are the dams on the Murchison River and the Macintosh River, and on the Pieman River. For the workers on this project, the settlement Tullah, which was also the administrative center of the HEC was created.

The Lake Mackintosh, with its power plant located north of Tullah, while the Lake Murchison is situated south. A third dam, the Bastyan Dam was built north of Rosebery and the Reece Dam is located far to the west near the settlement of Corinna.

King River system

The Crotty Dam is a 82 m high dam during the King River between Mount Huxley and Mount Jukes. The Darwin Dam is a saddle dam at the foot of Mount Darwin. Both dams stow on the 54 -acre Lake Burbury.

Traffic

Initially, the West Coast was only on foot or by sea reached. Railways were built much earlier than roads in the area. The road to Hobart ( Lyell Highway) emerged only in the 1930s and to the north coast ( Murchison Highway) even until the 1960s.

Railways

To exploit the mines Mount Lyell and North Lyell Mount emerged Railroads from Macquarie Harbour to the foot of the mountain. None of them crossed the West Coast Range.

North Mount Lyell Railway - from the seaport Pillinger in Kelly Basin
Mount Lyell Railway - from the seaport Regatta Point

Similar routes combined with the Emu Bay Railway - eg the North East Dundas Tramway to the foot of the West Coast Range, where the mines were.

The Lyell Highway through the West Coast Range and the Linda Valley. It was only in the 1930s.

The road from Crotty to Queenstown - or actually by Lynch Ford - from HEC as Mount Jukes Road, part of the King River system, built in the 1980s - continues high above the gorge of the King River on the north flank of Mount Jukes.

The Anthony Road ( B28), which was built by Hydro Tasmania as part of the Anthony - system, cuts through the northern part of the mountain and allow the access to the glacial lakes in the Tyndall, Lake Westwood, Lake Selina and Lake Julia.

Airfields

The airport of Queenstown - in operation in the 1960s and 1970s west of the city - though was not regularly overflown landing site, but was closest to the West Coast Range. The airfield of Strahan is the closest official airfield.

At several points of the mountain there was heliports, which were used by the mine operators. However, there are also no more records.

Attractions

Railways

Comstock tram around the slopes of Mount Lyell - not to be confused with the homonymous track in Zeehan
Lake Margaret Tram on the west side of Mount Sedgwick
North Mount Lyell Railway in Linda Valley, along the valley of the River King,

By Crotty and Darwin to Pillinger at Kelly Basin.

Settlements and ghost towns

Crotty ( ghost town ) on the eastern slopes of Mount Jukes
Darwin ( ghost town ) on the eastern slopes of Mount Darwin
Gormanston on the northern slopes of Mount Owen
Lake Margaret ( ghost town )
Linda between Mount Owen and Mount Lyell
Rosebery
Tullah on Lake Rosebery
Williams Ford

Mines

Henty Gold Mine
Mount Jukes Mines on the upper slopes of the mountain - including the ' Lake Jukes Mine'

Dams and power plants

Anthony Power Station
Bastyan Power Station
Crotty Dam
Darwin Dam
John Butters Power Station
Lake Margaret Power Station

Main roads

Lyell Highway at Linda Valley between Mount Owen and Mount Lyell
Henty River Road from the Henty Glacial Moraine to Lake Murchison Dam ( Anthony Power Station ) and after Tullah

Trails

Geological maps

Geological maps of Tasmania: Mount Read Volcanics Project P. Komyshan ... et al. Hobart: Geological Survey of Tasmania, Division of Mines and Mineral Resources, Mount Read Volcanics Project, 1986-1993 - 13 maps: col.; 92 x 96 cm. or smaller.

Map 1 Geology of the Mt Charter - Hellyer area
Map 2 Geology of Rosebery -Mt. block area
Map 3 Geology of the Henty River -Mt. Read area
Map 4 Geology of the Mt Murchison area
Map 5 Geology of the Tyndall Range area
Map 6 Geological compilation map of the Mount Read volcanics & associated rocks, Hellyer south to Darwin Peak
Map 7 Geology of the Back Peak - Cradle Mountain Link Road area (not West Coast Range area)
Map 8 Geology of the Mt Cattley -Mt. Gate area (not West Coast Range area)
Map 9 Geology of the Winter Brook Moina area (not West Coast Range area)
Map 10 Geology of the Elliott Bay -Mt. Osmund area (not West Coast Range area)
Map 11 Geology of the Wanderer River - Moores Valley area (not West Coast Range area)
Map 12 Geology of the D' Aguilar Range area (not West Coast Range area)
Map 13 Geology of the Mt Jukes -Mt. Darwin area.

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