Arthur River is the name of a small

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

on the northern part of the West Coast of

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

, Australia. At the , Arthur River and the surrounding area had a population of 32. It is south of the town of

Marrawah Marrawah is a small town in the north of the West Coast of Tasmania, Australia. Marrawah is located in the former shire of Wellington, now part of the Circular Head Council area. At the 2006 census, Marrawah had a population of 407. Marrawah ...

. Named after Sir

George Arthur Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet (21 June 1784 – 19 September 1854) was Lieutenant Governor of British Honduras from 1814 to 1822 and of Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania) from 1823 to 1836. The campaign against Aboriginal Tasmani ...

, Lieutenant Governor of

Van Diemens Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...

(1824–36), the town draws its name from the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

. The river is fed by several tributaries including the Frankland River, which was named after its discoverer, George Frankland, then the colony's surveyor-general. The region has been exploited commercially for timber and fisheries, but today is mostly a centre for tourism. Bushwalking, fishing and four-wheel-driving are the most common activities undertaken by travellers in the region to get a glimpse of the unspoiled wilderness. The population in the area peaks during the summer months when shack users come here to enjoy the weather. On the coast near the mouth of the Arthur River is a plaque titled ''The Edge of the World. North West Coast Tasmania'', and a poem by tourism pioneer Brian Inder, who coined the term, referring to the coastline at Arthur River which is regularly lashed by the gales of the

Roaring Forties The Roaring Forties are strong westerly winds found in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40°S and 50°S. The strong west-to-east air currents are caused by the combination of air being displaced from the Equator ...

.
Cradle Coast Newsletter
'', December 2005. Accessed 8 October 2008

References

Further reading