Gormanston is a town in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

on the slopes of Mount Owen, above the town of Queenstown in Tasmania's

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

. At the 2016 Gormanston had a population of 17.Australian Bureau of Statistics, "2016 Census Quickstats: Gormanston", published 23 October 2017, retrieved 28 May 2019 https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC60238 It lies at the shoulder between Mount Lyell and Mount Owen and is south or "up the hill" from an equally abandoned community, the remains of the townsite of

Linda Linda may refer to: As a name * Linda (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters so named) * Linda (singer) (born 1977), stage name of Svetlana Geiman, a Russian singer * Anita Linda (born Alice Lake i ...

which is at the northern side of the

Linda Valley Linda Valley is a valley in the West Coast Range of Tasmania. It was earlier known as the Vale of Chamouni. It is located between Mount Owen and Mount Lyell. Human settlement Linda Valley is the location of two historical settlements, Linda a ...

History

It was built as the company town for the

Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company was a Tasmanian mining company formed on 29 March 1893, most commonly referred to as ''Mount Lyell''. Mount Lyell was the dominant copper mining company of the West Coast from 1893 to 1994, and was based in ...

operations at the

Iron Blow Iron Blow was the site of the earliest major mining venture at Mount Lyell on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia in 1883. Original form Geoffrey Blainey describes the appearance prior to its being mined: They (Those mentioned above) exam ...

open cut copper mine and later also became the location of the short lived terminus of the

North Mount Lyell Railway The North Mount Lyell Railway was built to operate between the North Mount Lyell mine in West Coast, Tasmania, West Coast Tasmania and Pillinger, Tasmania, Pillinger in the Kelly Basin of Macquarie Harbour. History At the start of the Twenti ...

Gormanston railway station Gormanston railway station ( ga, Stáisiún Baile Mhic Gormáin, links=no) (often mistakenly written ''Gormanstown'') serves Gormanston, County Meath, Ireland. It is located between Balbriggan and Laytown, north of a cast-iron bridge on which th ...

before it closed. It may have been named in honour of

Jenico Preston, 14th Viscount Gormanston Jenico William Joseph Preston, 14th Viscount Gormanston, (1 June 1837 – 29 October 1907), was an aristocratic Anglo-Irish colonial administrator. Born at Gormanston Castle, County Meath, he was son and heir of Edward Preston, 13th Viscou ...

Governor of Tasmania The governor of Tasmania is the representative in the Australian state of Tasmania of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The incumbent governor is Barbara Baker, who was appointed in June 2021. The official residence of the ...

1893–1900. ''Mount Lyell'' Post Office opened on 1 January 1891, was renamed ''Gormanston'' in 1894 and closed in 1979. It is the only remaining townsite that lies in effect 'in' the

West Coast Range The West Coast Range is a mountain range located in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. The range lies to the west and north of the main parts of the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. The range has had a significant number ...

. It was a major settlement of employees of the

, especially of those who were employed at parts of its workings that were located in the North Lyell and open cut areas. At the peak of its population and importance, Gormanston had its own local government authority, of which mine manager R. M. Murray was the long-standing Warden. The company also had a daily bus to take workers down to the mine and plant in Queenstown. It was the nearest community to the

1912 North Mount Lyell Disaster The North Mount Lyell disaster (also known as the Mount Lyell disaster and North Mount Lyell fire) refers to a fire that broke out on 12 October 1912 at the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company operations on the West Coast of Tasmania, killing ...

and was used as a base by company officials attending to this disaster.* (Available at Galley Museum Queenstown) Considerable numbers of buildings have been removed to other locations, and the local government authority was absorbed into the new '

Council' and the adjacent Mount Lyell workings have been closed down. It is the closest settlement to

Lake Burbury Lake Burbury is a man-made water reservoir created by the Crotty Dam inundating the upper King River valley that lies east of the West Coast Range. Discharge from the reservoir feeds the John Butters Hydroelectric Power Station, owned and op ...

, a hydro created lake from the damming of the King River. There are currently no other settlement or other buildings on the

Lyell Highway The Lyell Highway (Route A10) is a highway in Tasmania, running from Hobart to Queenstown. It is the one of two transport routes that passes through the West Coast Range, the other being the Anthony Road. Name The name is derived from ...

towards

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

until

Derwent Bridge Derwent Bridge is a rural locality in the local government area (LGA) of Central Highlands in the Central LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about north-west of the town of Hamilton. The 2016 census has a population of 23 for the stat ...

. There are booklets available in the Galley Museum in Queenstown, that give historical information about the town in its heyday, and in particular lists of registered inhabitants in the early 1900s.

References

External links

* http://www.rootsweb.com/~austas/gormans.htm - for residents in 1910 Mining towns in Tasmania Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company West Coast Range North Mount Lyell Railway Localities of West Coast Council {{WestCoastTAS-geo-stub

History

References

Further reading

External links