Lake Plimsoll. The old footings Dundas.

Ghost Towns Tasmania’s Forgotten Stories

The ruins of Linda. Pillinger boiler. Gormanston Hall.

History has a way of find western Tasmania a fascinating to my friend and resident Luke Campbell, These are the final words of a man to during the mining booms in western Tas- hard to imagine that this small, all but life- producing stories that place. It’s wild, rugged, feels 20 years who lives with his family in what was for- his wife, a man about to perish in the North mania, it soon waned. People decamped, less town was once home to eleven pubs. Ibehind much of mainland Australia merly the town bank – now contains two Mount Lyell disaster, one of the greatest buildings were moved or left to crumble Eleven! After being welcomed by Luke and fascinate and capture and its landscape is littered with crum- houses that are permanently occupied. disasters in Australian mining history. On and the town became a forlorn testament his family, we decided to explore, heading bling testaments to a bygone era. Ghost As of 2013, the town’s population was of- a late Saturday morning in 1912, a fire to a bygone era. to an old abandoned hall near the top of the imagination of us towns. Basing myself in the remarkably in- ficially six. Just how did Gormanston come raged through the somber catacombs of Upon entering Gormanston, I was town. all. Tasmania’s west tact ghost town of Gormanston, I explored to its present state? the Mount Lyell copper mine. For many pleasantly surprised. The place has real Here slabs of timber and iron peeled four other such places that lie scattered A letter from a dead man: workers, the alert reached them too late. atmosphere. Stopping roughly half a kilo- away in gaping chunks, within and without. is full of wonderful amongst the region’s forests and hills, har- “Seven hundred level. North Lyell mine, Forty-two men perished on the mountain metre from town, I beeped my horn while It was as if we were hiding in Dresden in stories of ghosts and bouring forgotten stories beneath rusted 12-10-12. If anyone should find this note that day. talking to Luke on the phone. “Is that you?” the ’40s, evading the bombs that had all iron and splintered rubble. convey to my wife. Dear Agnes. – I will say The nearest settlement to the disaster he said. I found this amusing. Gormanston but shattered our hideout. As the light fad- interesting incidents. Gormanston good-bye. Sure I will not see you again was Gormanston, a small town perched on is a place of little activity, where a noise can ed fast behind the hills, I used my phone While the town post office closed in any more. I am pleased to have made a the slopes of Mount Owen in western Tas- easily betray the presence of an outsider. to illuminate a hive of bees hidden in the 1979, and most of the town’s buildings little provision for you and poor little Lorna. mania. Built for the Mount Lyell Mining and Rolling into town, the gravel crunched corner. Later that evening my friend and Story and photography by (which are few) wearily endure through Be good to our little darling. My mate, Len Railway Company operations for the Iron noisily under my tyres, piercing the ghostly photographer Dee Kramer found, rather ANDY TOPE shattered panes and dark, crumbling hulls, Burke, is done, and poor old V. and Driver Blow open cut copper mine, Gormanston silence of the streets. Several rabbits dart- curiously, that his photos of the hall had Gormanston is not technically a ghost too. Good-bye, with love to all. Your loving was used as a relief centre for the disas- ed across the road, while a cool, overcast disappeared, while other shots remained. town anymore. Gormanston – according husband, Joe McCarthy.” ter. And, like many towns that shone briefly sky lent the place an otherworldly air. It’s Several days after returning from my u

54 ON THE ROAD August 2015 www.ontheroad.com.au ON THE ROAD August 2015 55 The trail to Pillinger.

Japanese style bridge in Wollongong Botanic Gardens.

Gormanston shacks showing their age. visit to Gormanston, Luke phoned me. He Park, in the Kelly Basin. Skirting the choco- das, another mining town gone bust. Dun- knows I’m always sniffing for a story. “A lo- late coloured Bird River, the 11-kilometre re- das is located in a fairly obscure part of the cal told me six or seven ghosts roam these turn walk to Pillinger meanders through lush country, and it was with a bit of luck that streets Tope. There could be a reason rainforest, over slippery bridges, through we found the sign into the old ghost town, Dee’s photos disappeared.” Of course I tunnels of trees, past varied wildlife and which led us down a labyrinth of dirt roads, had not a skerrick of proof for such a story, tumbling cascades. Our walk to this historic some of which branched off into goodness but if ever there were a place for 42 souls site was as wet as it was beautiful. Bring knows where. to escape from the smouldering, caligi- some good wet weather gear. Pressed for time and taking a couple of nous tunnels of Mount Lyell, Gormanston The walk follows an old train line, built wrong turns, we arrived at more of a ruin would be a wonderful (and likely) spot. between 1898 and 1900, which is visible than a ghost town. At one time, however, Linda in parts along the forest. The once thriving Dundas contained a post office which oper- Roughly a kilometre walk downhill from community of Pillinger comprised both East ated from 1890 to 1930 and its own news- Gormanston lies the ghost town of Linda and West Pillinger and was home to 1000 paper, entitled the Zeehan and Dundas Her- and its only surviving edifice, the Royal people at its peak. East Pillinger contained ald (1902 – 1922). The Adelaide Mine near Hotel, which was abandoned during the two boilers which powered several brick Dundas is purportedly home to rare miner- 1950s. This once thriving town, which is kilns and a sawmill. In West Pillinger, on als, with one particular specimen, Dunda- located in the Linda Valley in Tasmania’s the edge of Kelly Basin, a 240-metre-long site, being named after the town. West Coast Range, served to support the wharf helped transport bricks and timber At Dundas, I slipped on some clay, North Mount Lyell mine. Once the mine onto boats. nearly shattering my lens, fired off a couple was taken over by the Mount Lyell Mining Located several hundred metres from of shots and left feeling liked I’d missed and Railway company in 1903, its resi- East Pillinger, West Pillinger was a govern- even the faintest whiff of the party by about dents began shifting uphill to Gormanston. ment town comprising stores, a community 100 years. The town was also used to transport ore mess hall (much like a modern day café) a Williamsford from the Mount Lyell mine to Crotty, which hotel and a police station. The place held Formed as a mining community to sup- is now submerged beneath Lake Burbury, regular sporting events and parties, sug- port the nearby town of Rosebery, Wil- while metal was transported to Pillinger gesting it was once a thriving community. liamsford similarly exudes an air of embar- (which I’ll discuss shortly). Walking down- The nearby town of Strahan, however, was rassment, as if it was a mistake best left hill from Gormanston, our party descended eventually favoured due to mining politics forgotten, containing barely any remains of upon the Royal Hotel. Here photographer and the last of Pillinger’s residents left in its general store, post office and hotel. The Dee Kramer flew his drone amongst the 1943. prominent feature of Williamsford was its ruins, which I’m sure inflamed the curiosity Arriving at Kelly Basin absolutely sat- haulage system, named Hercules, which of the town’s sole resident, who watched urated (it had been steadily raining the climbed over 500 metres in altitude and warily from the cafe next door. whole way), we managed to dry out a little stretched over 1.5 kilometres. The haulage Apart from the hotel, whose scarred, on an adjacent wharf before wandering was closed in 1986 with the development grey pillars have been given an ‘atmo- amongst the brick rubble, past the re- of mining techniques in Rosebery. spheric boost’ with pentagrams and phras- mains of a bakery, tools, a train carriage A lone plaque reveals that pioneers es such as “help me”, there’s not a whole and over to the remarkably intact boilers brought Williamsford to life during the lot to see in Linda anymore. However, the at East Pillinger. The lush, iridescent for- late 19th century in cold, wet, unforgiving surrounding countryside contains plenty est lends the ruins a wild, adventurous air, country, the rugged environment failing to of character. If you look hard enough, you making it a little difficult to imagine that hamper their indomitable spirits. During might even find the forsaken cemetery on a settlement once clanged, banged and its time, Hercules hauled minerals such the slopes of a nearby hill. whistled with life in this all but forgotten as lead and zinc, which came from fine- Pillinger part of the world. grained volcanic sediments. Ore was also Pillinger is an adventure to get to. Ac- Dundas harvested and transported to Rosebery via cessible via a two-hour walk from the car About five minutes drive from the town an aerial ropeway, which still hangs precar- park, this ghost town rests on the edge of of Zeehan – where Houdini tightrope- iously across the Murchison Highway – a the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National walked across the main street – lies Dun- curious relic of times gone by.

56 ON THE ROAD August 2015