Originally named the Vale of Chamoni after similar scenery in the
French Alps, the Linda Valley, as it became known, has been transformed
by mining. Most of the floor of the valley has been dug in search of
gold. The most famous discovery was at the head of the valley - the
Iron Blow, birthplace of the Mt Lyell mine.
The Iron Blow is one km from the top of Gormanston Hill. A plaque
commemorates the discovery and subsequent mining of this extraordinary
ore body which so puzzled the early prospectors. Steve Karlson, Bill
and Mick McDonough discovered the "Blow". They traced gold in a nearby
creek to its source on the top of the Blow. But they were at first
deceived by iron pyrites or 'fool's gold", an ironstone capping over
the riches beneath.
The whole area around the Iron Blow is much disturbed by old mine
workings and by dumps of waste rock from the Mt Lyell mines. Beyond the
car park is the West Lyell open cut which is on a mine lease and not
open to the public. Quartzite and volcanics are the main rocks on
Prospectors Ridge connecting Mts Lyell and Owen. The Heemskirk Range
and Mt Zeehan are prominent mountains towards the northwest.
Like its neighbour, Gormanston, Linda was once a prosperous mining
town, but is now a ghost town. It is well worth a visit by people
interested in seeing how towns, once they have outlived their
usefulness, simply die. Linda was the town supporting the North Mount
Lyell mine and the terminus of the North Mount Lyell Railway when it
was in operation. Ore was taken from the mine to smelters at Crotty
(now under the waters of Lake Burbury) then the refined metal taken to
a port at Pillinger on the shores of Macquarie Harbour at Kelly Basin.
When North Mount Lyell was taken over by Mount Lyell Mining and Railway
Company in 1903, Linda was quickly reduced in significance and
eventually most residents moved to Gormanston, the nearby Mount Lyell
town. Linda was the site of a serious underground mining disaster in
1912 when 42 miners were killed by a fire deep within the mountain. The
remains of the townsite of Linda are at the northern side of the Linda
Valley, to the north or ‘down the hill’ from the equally
abandoned community of Gormanston. Linda Valley in 1923.
Where is it?
240 km north-west of Hobart, adjacent to the Lyell Highway 8 km east of Queenstown.
