Mathinna is a rural locality in the local government areas (LGA) of Break O'Day (97%) and

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

(3%) in the

North-east The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

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 St Helens. The 2016 census recorded a population of 142 for the state suburb of Mathinna. It is a small Australian town in the north-east of Tasmania, 63 km east of Launceston. It was named after a young Aboriginal girl sent to live with the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land,

Sir John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer and colonial administrator. After serving in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and thro ...

and his wife, Lady Jane Franklin.

History

Mathinna was gazetted as a locality in 1976. The town became established as a gold mining centre, shortly after gold was discovered in the area in the 1890s. The Golden Gate Mine in Mathinna was one of Tasmania's highest-yield gold mines, second only to

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, northwest of central London and southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe. The ...

. At its peak in the late 1890s, the town sustained a population of over 5,000, including a large number of Chinese miners, making it the third largest town in Tasmania at the time.

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

-based mining company Riltec made a failed attempt to re-establish the Golden Gate mine in 1994, although recent gold mining efforts have been more successful, with a production target of 70,000

ounce The ounce () is any of several different units of mass, weight, or volume and is derived almost unchanged from the , an Ancient Roman unit of measurement. The avoirdupois ounce (exactly ) is avoirdupois pound; this is the United States ...

s made for the Mathinna mine in 2006. Blackboy Post Office opened on 30 June 1870, was renamed Reedy Marsh, Blackboy in 1871 and Mathinna in 1882. Former Premier of Tasmania Eric Reece, was born in the town in 1909.

Geography

The Scamander River forms part of the northern and most of the north-eastern boundaries.

Road infrastructure

Route B43 (Mathinna Road) enters from the south and runs north-west and west to the village. From there, the road continues west as C401 (Upper Esk Road).

References

Towns in Tasmania Mining towns in Tasmania Localities of Break O'Day Council {{BreakODay-geo-stub