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

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

(3%) in the

North-east The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

LGA region of

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

. 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 and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through t ...

and his wife,

Lady Jane Franklin Jane, Lady Franklin (née Griffin; 4 December 1791 – 18 July 1875) was the second wife of the English explorer Sir John Franklin. During her husband's period as Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land, she became known for her philanthropic ...

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 parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, west-northwest of central London and south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High W ...

. 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/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

-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 units of measurement, Ancient Roman unit of measurement. The #International avoirdupois ounce, avoirdupois ounce ...

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 Eric Elliott Reece, AC (6 July 190923 October 1999) was Premier of Tasmania on two occasions: from 26 August 1958 to 26 May 1969, and from 3 May 1972 to 31 March 1975. His 13 years as premier remains the second longest in Tasmania's history, On ...

, 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