ZEEHAN, TASMANIA
A remote mining town in Tasmania's west that has gone from being the third largest town in Tasmania with a population of 10,000, to a deserted ghost town until the late 1960s, and back to a prosperous mining town again thanks to the Renison Bell tin mine (28 km north west).
The town is named after one of Dutch navigator Abel Tasman's ships, which explored the west and south coast of Tasmania in November 1642. Tasman's other ship, Heemskirk, is recalled in Mt. Heemskirk nearby which Tasman saw as he made the first landfall. Rich silver-lead ore was discovered in 1882 and within six years the Zeehan-Dundas area was the centre of a major mining boom. In 1890 Trial Harbour (19 km west) became the port through which the mines exported their ore. The mining boom lasted until 1908 when the mines fell into decline. The smelters were closed around the beginning of World War I.
Location: 293 km north west of Hobart; 38 km north of Queenstown; 155 km south of Burnie; 172 metres above sea level.
Points of Interest: Mt. Heemskirk; Gaiety Theatre; Zeehan Museum.