Rossarden is a rural locality in the local government areas (LGA) of

Northern Midlands Northern Midlands Council is a local government body in Tasmania, extending south of Launceston into the northern region of the Tasmanian central midlands. Northern Midlands is classified as a rural local government area and has a populatio ...

(89%) and Break O'Day (11%) in the Central and

North-east The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

LGA regions of

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. The locality is about east of the town of

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of ...

. The 2016 census recorded a population of 42 for the state suburb of Rossarden.

History

Rossarden was gazetted as a locality in 1973. It is an old

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

town in north-east Tasmania, located 19 km from Avoca and within sight of Ben Lomond. The town came into being primarily as a result of the

tin mining Tin mining began early in the Bronze Age, as bronze is a copper-tin alloy. Tin is a relatively rare element in the Earth's crust, with approximately 2 ppm (parts per million), compared to iron with 50,000 ppm. History Tin extraction and use ca ...

operations of Aberfoyle Tin Mining Company, N.L which created a demand for employees. The town is located in a valley below Stacks Bluff (1527 m) and it is an old

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

mining town, though the mine closed in 1982. Prior to this Rossarden was one of Australia's major tin producing towns. The main road into and out of the town is Rossarden Road. At the , Rossarden and the surrounding area had a population of 172. According to the 2011 census, this number had grown to 301 people. In 2008 an irregularity in the deed paperwork belonging to the residents of Rossarden was discovered. It was discovered that each resident actually owned the house next door to their own. The irregularity has since been corrected by the State Government. By 1933 the town was said to be growing steadily with a town hall, a post office, and 17 dwellings built in a matter of months, while a community ball was reported to have been arranged in order to raise funds for a tennis and badminton court. The post office opened on 20 November 1933. Nearby locations include Storeys Creek, where there was a wolfram mine,

Fingal Fingal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which ...

and Avoca. The town's decline was captured in the Weddings Parties Anything song "Rossarden". A book was written about the town in 2004 focusing on the stories of former residents. There are also various books written about the mineralogy in the area. In recent times there has been a campaign to draw tourists to the area. In 2016 plans for a new base station that would better serve mobile telephone coverage in the Rossarden area were revealed.

Geography

Almost all the boundaries are survey lines. Storys Creek, a tributary of the

South Esk River The South Esk River, the longest river in Tasmania, is a major perennial river located in the northern region of Tasmania, Australia. Location and features The South Esk springs from the eastern foothills of the Ben Lomond plateau near Mathi ...

, flows through from north to south.

Road infrastructure

Route B42 (Rossarden Road) runs through from south to north-east.

References

Mining towns in Tasmania Towns in Tasmania Localities of Northern Midlands Council Localities of Break O'Day Council {{NorthernMidlands-geo-stub