Trial Harbour is a rural locality in the local government area (LGA) of West Coast in the North-west and west LGA region 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 south-west of the town of

Zeehan Zeehan is a town on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia south-west of Burnie. It is part of the West Coast Council, along with the seaport Strahan and neighbouring mining towns of Rosebery and Queenstown. History The greater Zeehan a ...

. The 2016 census has a population of 24 for the state suburb of Trial Harbour. It is a small anchorage on the

West Coast, Tasmania The West Coast of Tasmania is one of the regions of Tasmania in Australia. It is mainly isolated rough country and is associated with wilderness, mining and tourism. It served as the location of an early convict settlement in the early history ...

and historical locality, located in the northern part of Ocean Beach, Tasmania. It was an exposed and particularly vulnerable anchorage which was susceptible to the prevailing local weather of the

Roaring Forties The Roaring Forties are strong westerlies, westerly winds that occur in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40th parallel south, 40° and 50th parallel south, 50° south. The strong eastward air currents are caused by ...

, seventeen miles north of Macquarie Heads (the entrance to

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 th ...

History

The locality was named Remine until 1987, when it was renamed. Trial Harbour was gazetted as a locality in 1987.

Indigenous usage

Carvings and

midden A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human oc ...

s were identified in the 1930s and 1990s.

European usage

It was named after the cutter ''Trial'', which first anchored there in 1881, and it was established by four Baltic sailors, Gustav Weber, and the three Karlson brothers, Karl, Peter and Steve, otherwise known as the Russian Finns. The harbour was utilised for a short while during the establishment of the early mining communities of

, and Queenstown, prior to the establishment of the settlements and facilities at Strahan and Regatta Point. It came under the control of the Hobart Marine Board. It had two hotels and other facilities in its early days and currently it is the location of holiday homes. It has been also a location on the west coast where whales have been sighted close to shore. Further north along the coast – a similarly dangerous and exposed location was Granville Harbour.

Geography

The waters of the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

form the western boundary, and the Little Henty River forms most of the southern.

Road infrastructure

Route C248 (Trial Harbour Road) enters from east and runs through to the west, where it ends.

Notes

References

* {{cite book, author-link = Charles Whitham, last=Whitham, first= Charles, title=Western Tasmania – A land of riches and beauty, edition=Reprint 2003, publisher=Municipality of Queenstown, location=Queenstown, year = 2003 History of Tasmania Coastline of Tasmania Localities of West Coast Council Towns in Tasmania