28-416: The Strahan–Zeehan Railway , also known as the "Government Railway", was a railway from Strahan to Zeehan on the west coast of Tasmania . It linked two private railways: the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company railway line (now known as the West Coast Wilderness Railway ) between Queenstown and Regatta Point , and the Emu Bay Railway between Zeehan and Burnie . Early photographs of
56-506: A conservation campaign opposed to the proposed Franklin-below-Gordon Dam. It is the home of the Round Earth Theatre Company , which conducts explanatory tours of Sarah Island and also has produced a daily enactment/play about Sarah Island, The Ship That Never Was , which has exceeded 5000 performances and is Australia's longest running play. Strahan was a stopping place on the former Strahan to Zeehan railway . It
84-402: A former British colonial penal settlement , established on Sarah Island , Macquarie Harbour , in the former colony of Van Diemen's Land , now Tasmania , operated between 1822 and 1833. The settlement housed male convicts, with a small number of women housed on a nearby island. During its 11 years of operation, the penal colony achieved a reputation as one of the harshest penal settlements in
112-457: Is rare, with an average of only one day reaching 35 °C (95 °F) or above every three years. The highest recorded temperature is 38.6 °C (101.5 °F) on 14 February 1982, with the lowest recorded being −3.0 °C (26.6 °F) on 30 June 1983. Snow down to sea-level is fairly rare, but falls frequently in the low hills just a few kilometres inland of Strahan. Sarah Island (Tasmania) The Macquarie Harbour Penal Station ,
140-659: Is the base for boat trips to Sarah Island , the notorious penal settlement that garnered the reputation as the harshest penal settlement in the Australian colonies, and the lower Gordon River. Strahan is an access point to the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park , which was declared part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area in 1982. For several years Strahan became the focus of
168-491: The Australian colonies. The former penal station is located on the eight-hectare (twenty-acre) Sarah Island that now operates as a historic site under the direction of the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service . The penal station was established as a place of banishment within the Australian colonies. It took the worst convicts, those who had reoffended and those who had escaped from other settlements. The isolated land
196-524: The Prince Leopold. Advice of his arrival and of the choice of Sarah Island for the headquarters of the new settlement was sent on 23 January 1822. Sergeant George Waddy of the 48th Regiment was Commissariat Sergeant and second in command of the experimental penal settlement in 1821. His youngest child Jane Waddy was born on Sarah Island in 1822. As Sarah Island could not produce food, malnutrition , dysentery , and scurvy were often rampant among
224-476: The Strahan wharf and buildings adjacent taken from the north usually have the railway tracks in the lower section of the photograph, as the line followed the shore from Regatta Point around the bay before passing northward in what is considered to be West Strahan today. The line ran parallel to Ocean Beach before heading towards Zeehan. It was a critical link, due to the difficulties of shipping negotiating
252-511: The convict population. The penal colony had to be supplied by sea. Living conditions were particularly bad in the early years of the settlement. The settlement was so crowded, convicts were unable to sleep on their backs in the communal barracks. Punishment involved solitary confinement and regular floggings - 9,100 lashes were given in 1823. In 1824 a prisoner named Trenham stabbed another convict in order to be executed rather than face further imprisonment at Macquarie Harbour Penal Station. It
280-436: The convict who had been given responsibility for administering the lashes was also lashed. The severity of the lashings was sufficient to cause death in some cases. If a convict appeared in danger of death, a doctor could intervene, the lashing would cease (for a time) and be resumed once the convict was deemed to have recovered sufficiently for it to continue. After a time, a Scottish shipbuilder named David Hoy, who had heard of
308-608: The entrance to Macquarie Harbour and was essential during the 1912 North Mount Lyell disaster . The track gauge of the lines between Burnie was the same all the way to Queenstown. Flooding and fire affected the most important link, the Henty Bridge, at stages in the line's history. 1920 was one year where the break in the line is recorded. The line was heavily reliant upon the mining industry and its fortunes, and traffic reduced drastically at times of mining down-turns. Following its closure, parts became tracks and eventually
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#1732786793476336-491: The formation was made into the Zeehan-Strahan Road . The line was opened on 4 February 1892, and it was closed 2 June 1960. Strahan, Tasmania Strahan ( / ˈ s t r ɔː n / STRAWN ) 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
364-433: The last escape from the island. His book The Sarah Island Conspiracies - Being an account of twelve voyages to Macquarie Harbour and Sarah Island furthers understanding of the history and the recent archaeological work on the island. The films The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce and Van Diemen's Land deal with one of the more notorious escapees. Photography of the island and ruins have at various stages shown
392-585: The logs down the river. Once the establishment of the penal station at Macquarie Harbour was decided upon, Lieutenant John Cuthbertson of the 48th Regiment was appointed as its commandant, magistrate and justice of the peace on 8 December 1821. Four days later he left Hobart with Captain James Kelly, harbourmaster, Surveyor George Evans and Surgeon Spence in the Sophia, accompanied by some 16 soldiers, their wives and children and 66 male and 8 female convicts in
420-525: The narrow rocky channel. The surveyor who mapped Sarah Island concluded that the chances of escape were "next to impossible". Neighbouring Grummet Island, a small island to the Northeast, was used for solitary confinement. Lieutenant-Governor William Sorell wanted the new penal colony to be economically viable. It could then reimburse the British government for the expense of its establishment. The island
448-406: The northern end of Macquarie Harbour. At the 2021 census , Strahan had a population of 634. 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
476-679: The region. The Huon Pine industry utilised stands around the harbour and up the tributary rivers - including King River , the Franklin River and the Gordon River . Strahan is the location of the only all weather commercial airport in Western Tasmania, Strahan Airport . Also located at the airport is the Automatic Weather Station, an important western Tasmania weather observation point. Strahan
504-405: The remarkable properties of Huon Pine for shipbuilding came, voluntarily, to the island. He negotiated with the convicts, allowing them rations of rum and tobacco, and more weatherproof sleeping quarters in exchange for their cooperation. For a short period, it was the largest shipbuilding operation in the Australian colonies. Chained convicts had the task of cutting down Huon pine trees and rafting
532-536: 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 Hobart Marine Board. Macquarie Harbour Post Office opened on 16 May 1878,
560-467: The town of Strahan . Sarah Island has been frequently featured in Australian literature and theatre, often representing the worst excesses of the British convict system. Notable books include: In Strahan , the main port and town on the shores of Macquarie Harbour today Australia's longest running play The Ship that Never Was by Tasmanian author Richard Davey dramatises the Frederick escape ,
588-486: Was also known as Strahan Wharf. The railway was government owned, and ran past the wharf at Strahan, and continued southwards around the harbour before running north on its way to Zeehan . Strahan was connected with the former Mount Lyell railway line at a terminus at Regatta Point which is also the terminus of the currently operating, West Coast Wilderness Railway . An extinct species of Banksia , fossils of which were found in sediment at nearby Regatta Point ,
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#1732786793476616-488: Was cleared soon after the arrival of the convicts and their Governor. However, this exposed the settlement to the howling gales of the roaring forties , so it was necessary to build a wall from Huon Pine to provide shelter. Convicts spent most of their waking hours, often up to their necks in water, cutting timber and preparing it for rafting down the river. Lashings were common and were to be administered by another convict. If they were not administered with sufficient severity,
644-404: Was finally closed in late 1833. Most of the remaining convicts were then relocated to Port Arthur . Despite its isolated location, a considerable number of convicts attempted to escape from the island. Bushranger Matthew Brady was among a party that successfully escaped to Hobart in 1824 after tying up their overseer and seizing a boat. James Goodwin was pardoned after his 1828 escape and
672-432: Was ideally suited for its purpose. It was separated from the mainland by the wide expanse of river, surrounded by a mountainous wilderness and was hundreds of miles away from the colony's other settled areas. The only seaward access was through a treacherous narrow channel known as Hells Gates . Strong tidal currents resulted in the deaths of many convicts before they even reached the settlement owing to ships foundering in
700-535: Was later used for pining purposes, and was known by the piners as Settlement Island, rather than Sarah Island, though it has since reverted to its original name. The ruins of the settlement remain today as the Sarah Island Historic Site —part of the larger Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area—though they are not as well preserved as those at better-known Port Arthur . The island is accessible via ferries and charter boats operating out of
728-580: Was named Banksia strahanensis after the town. Strahan has an oceanic climate ( Cfb ) with cool damp summers and cool to cold, very rainy winters. Lying on Tasmania's West Coast, Strahan is frequently buffeted by low pressure systems from the Southern Ocean , causing heavy rain and gusty winds. Strahan receives 15.7 days, on average, of clear weather annually. Temperatures vary little between summer and winter, with minimums below 3 °C (37 °F) having been recorded in every month. Hot weather
756-443: Was renamed Strahan in 1881 and closed in 1891. East Strahan Post Office opened in 1891 and was renamed Strahan in 1893. Historically Strahan has been a port to a small fishing fleet that braves the west coast conditions and Hell's Gates . It is the nearest inhabited locality to Cape Sorell and is literally the 'gateway' to the south-west wilderness - as boats, planes and helicopters utilise Strahan as their base when travelling into
784-408: Was subsequently employed to make official surveys of the wilderness he had passed through. Sarah Island's most infamous escapee was Alexander Pearce who managed to get away twice. On both occasions, he cannibalized his fellow escapees. As the station was closing down, ten convicts remained to complete an unfinished brig. The convicts later hijacked the vessel and escaped to Chile . The island
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