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Strahan, Tasmania
Strahan ( ) is a small town and former port on the west coast of Tasmania. It is now a significant locality for tourism in the region. Strahan Harbour and Risby Cove form part of the north-east end of Long Bay on the northern end of Macquarie Harbour. At the , Strahan had a population of 634. Port Originally developed as a port of access for the mining settlements in the area, the town was known as Long Bay or Regatta Point. In 1881, the settlement was renamed, after the colony’s new Governor, Sir George Cumine Strahan. The town was officially proclaimed in 1892. Strahan was a vital location for the timber industry that existed around Macquarie Harbour. For a substantial part of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century it also was port for regular shipping of passengers and cargo. The Strahan Marine Board was an important authority dealing with the issues of the port and Macquarie Harbour, up until the end of the twentieth century when it was absorbed into the H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macquarie Harbour
Macquarie Harbour is a shallow fjord in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. It is approximately , and has an average depth of , with deeper places up to . It is navigable by shallow-draft vessels. The main channel is kept clear by the presence of a rock wall on the outside of the channel's curve. This man-made wall prevents erosion and keeps the channel deep and narrow, rather than allowing the channel to become wide and shallow. A reported Aboriginal name for the harbour is ''Parralaongatek''. The harbour was named in honour of Scottish Major General Lachlan Macquarie, the fifth Colonial Governor of New South Wales. History James Kelly wrote in his narrative ''First Discovery of Port Davey and Macquarie Harbour'' how he sailed from Hobart in a small open five-oared whaleboat to discover Macquarie Harbour on 28 December 1815. However, different accounts of the journey have indicated different methods and dates of the discovery. In the commentary to the '' Historic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gordon River
The Gordon River is a major perennial river located in the central highlands, south-west, and western regions of Tasmania, Australia. Course and features The Gordon River rises below Mount Hobhouse in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park draining the eastern slopes of the King William Range. The river flows generally south and to the west of the Gordon Range before flowing west through the Gordon Gap and spilling into Lake Gordon, an impounded reservoir created by damming the Gordon at the Gordon Dam. Together with water fed from Lake Pedder, the principal purpose of the reservoir is for generation of hydro-electricity at the Gordon Power Station. Flowing from east to west through Lake Gordon, the river continues west, passing through the Gordon Splits, a series of gorges once considered impassable until 1958 when Olegas Truchanas, a conservationist and nature photographer, was the first person to navigate the Gordon River in a kayak. The river flows north by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banksia Strahanensis
''Banksia strahanensis'' is an extinct species of tree or shrub in the plant genus ''Banksia''. It is known only from a fossil leaf and several fossil leaf fragments found in Early to Middle Pleistocene sediment at Regatta Point in western Tasmania. These are long and very narrow, with entire margins, superficially resembling leaves of the extant '' B. spinulosa'' (Hairpin Banksia). The fossils clearly belong to genus ''Banksia'', section '' Oncostylis'', series '' Spicigerae'', the only difficulty being that all ''Oncostylis'' taxa have a visible network of veins on the upper leaf surface, whereas the fossil leaves appear not to. They are most similar to the leaves of ''B. spinulosa'', differing only in the absence of surface venation; a longer petiole; and the combination of narrow leaves with hairless undersides (all forms of ''B. spinulosa'' with leaves as narrow as those of ''B. strahanensis'' have hairy undersides). Because of these differences, the fos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banksia
''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and woody fruiting "cones" and heads. ''Banksias'' range in size from prostrate woody shrubs to trees up to 30 metres (100 ft) tall. They are found in a wide variety of landscapes: sclerophyll forest, (occasionally) rainforest, shrubland, and some more arid landscapes, though not in Australia's deserts. Heavy producers of nectar, banksias are a vital part of the food chain in the Australian bush. They are an important food source for nectarivorous animals, including birds, bats, rats, possums, stingless bees and a host of invertebrates. Further, they are of economic importance to Australia's nursery and cut flower industries. However, these plants are threatened by a number of processes including land clearing, frequent burning and disease, and a number of species ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology (biology), morphology, behaviour, or ecological niche. In addition, palaeontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. About 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a binomial nomenclature, two-part name, a "binomen". The first part of a binomen is the name of a genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specific name (zoology), specific name or the specific ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extinction
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and recover. As a species' potential Range (biology), range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as Lazarus taxon, Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "reappears" (typically in the Fossil, fossil record) after a period of apparent absence. Over five billion species are estimated to have died out. It is estimated that there are currently around 8.7 million species of eukaryotes globally, possibly many times more if microorganisms are included. Notable extinct animal species include Dinosaur, non-avian dinosaurs, Machairodontinae, saber-toothed cats, and mammoths. Through evolution, species arise through the process of specia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West Coast Wilderness Railway
The West Coast Wilderness Railway is a reconstruction of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company Mount Lyell railway in Western Tasmania between Queenstown and Regatta Point, Strahan. The railway is significant because of its Abt rack system to conquer the mountainous terrain through rainforest, with original locomotives still operating on the railway today. Now operating as a tourist experience with a focus on sharing the history of Tasmania's West Coast, the original railway began operations in 1897 as the only link between Queenstown and the port of Strahan. History Original operation The Mount Lyell Mining Co (reformed on 29 March 1893 as the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company) began operations in November 1892. The railway officially opened in 1897, and again on 1 November 1899 when the line was extended from Teepookana to Regatta Point and Strahan. The railway was the only way to get copper from the mine at Queenstown to markets. Until 1932, when a Hobart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regatta Point, Tasmania
Regatta Point is the location of a port and rail terminus on Macquarie Harbour (West Coast, Tasmania). Port Regatta Point is often assumed into the name of the locality across the bay in Macquarie Harbour, Strahan, Tasmania. The other ports in Macquarie Harbour were Strahan, and Pillinger at the southern end of the harbour. Most shipping through the notorious Hells Gates is now the fishing fleet. The last sea-based delivery of explosives for the Mount Lyell company occurred as late as 1976. Railway terminus It was the port and terminus of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company railway line from Queenstown. When fully operational before closure in the 1960s, it was the location of the transfer of Mount Lyell materials to ships. Regatta Point was the location of the connection between the Mount Lyell private railway and the government railway line, which passed through Strahan on the way to Zeehan when that line was operational. It was possible to utilise passenge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Lyell Railway
The Mount Lyell railway line was a railway operated by the Mount Lyell Mining & Railway Company between 1899 and 1963. Many name variations were used for identifying the line, the most common being the ''Abt railway''. After closing of the railway, most of the railway infrastructure was removed, except for a few buildings and bridges. History Surveying for the railway line began in 1892. A bill for construction of the railway was introduced into the Tasmanian House of Assembly in November 1892. A further survey was undertaken in March 1893 to determine the best route and in June the same year preparations were made to float the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company to undertake the work. Services The line was primarily the only transport service out of Queenstown prior to roads being constructed. Passenger and freight services were consistent over the duration of the operation of the railway. In the 1920s as typical passenger service was the daily mail train that left Q ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zeehan, Tasmania
Zeehan is a town on the West Coast, Tasmania, west coast of Tasmania, Australia south-west of Burnie, Tasmania, Burnie. It is part of the West Coast Council, along with the seaport Strahan, Tasmania, Strahan and neighbouring mining towns of Rosebery, Tasmania, Rosebery and Queenstown, Tasmania, Queenstown. History The greater Zeehan area was inhabited by the indigenous Peerapper and Tommeginne clans of the Aboriginal Tasmanians#North West, North West group for over 10,000 years prior to the British colonisation of Tasmania. They were greatly coastal peoples, residing in small numbers on a diet consisting of Short-tailed shearwater, muttonbirds, Brown fur seal, seals, swan eggs and cider gum, and constructed bark huts when strong westerly winds brought about rain and icy temperatures. European naming On 24 November 1642, Dutch people, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European explorer to sight and document the Heemskirk and West Coast Range, Tasmania, West Coast Ran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Round Earth Theatre Company
The Round Earth Company, founded by the late Richard Davey, performs in Strahan, West Coast, Tasmania. Each night the company performs Australia's longest-running play, '' The Ship That Never Was''.Eaves, Rick.The Ship That Never Was: Play about convict escape celebrates 25 years in Strahan, ''ABC News'', 12 January 2019. Retrieved 30 December 2019 During the day the actors work as tour guides on Sarah Island, explaining the history and unique story of this Tasmanian penal settlement. History The Round Earth Company was established in Western Australia in 1972 as an on-the-road performing company taking stories to networks of communities and collecting new stories from the communities. In 1973–1974, funded by the Australia Council, three journeys into the North and Central deserts were undertaken, with storytellers, musicians, artists and craft workers visiting mining towns and Aboriginal communities. In 1975, the family company travelled to North and Central America, Brita ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
