Beauty Point is a town by the

Tamar River The Tamar River, officially kanamaluka / River Tamar, is a estuary located in northern Tasmania, Australia. Despite being named a river, the waterway is a brackish and tidal estuary over its entire length. Etymology The Tamar River was named ...

, in the north-east 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 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It lies 45 km north of Launceston, on the West Tamar Highway and at the 2016 census, had a population of 1,222. It is part of the Municipality of

West Tamar Council West Tamar Council is a local government body in Tasmania, situated along the western side of the Tamar River in the north of the state. West Tamar is classified as an urban local government area and has a population of 23,769, it extends fro ...

History

Beauty Point is a tiny township originally established as the first deep water port on the

. The town was first established as a port to service the nearby gold mine town of

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 ...

. After the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

ended, it became a centre for the export of apples. During the 1870s, the north-western part of modern-day Beauty Point, near the base of Redbill Point, was known as 'Port Lempriere' and was the site of the blast furnace of the British and Tasmanian Charcoal Iron Company and its two wharves - a 310-foot-long wharf near the blast furnace site and a separate 600 foot-long wharf at the end of Redbill Point. A railway connected the wharves and blast furnace site to the company's iron ore mine - 'Mt Vulcan' - on Anderson's Creek. The southern part of modern-day Beauty Point—known previously as Ilfracombe—was the site of the jetty of the Ilfracombe Iron Company (Longden's Jetty) and the terminus of its tramway, during the 1870s. Ilfracombe was only ever a port for this venture, and both the company's iron ore mine and blast furnace were located well inland. The Ilfracombe Post Office opened on 1 October 1903, was renamed ''Beauty Point'' in 1904 and ultimately closed in 1991. Ilfraville Post Office nearby opened on 1 December 1941 and was renamed ''Beauty Point'' in 1991 when the earlier office of the same name closed.

Economy

Situated on Port Dalrymple (the mouth of the Tamar River) opposite from George Town, Beauty Point lies in the heart of a rich sheep, cattle and vine-growing district. Even so, the town's port facilities form the heart of the present-day economic life. Beauty Point is also a major fishing town. The

Australian Maritime College The Australian Maritime College (AMC) is a tertiary education institution based in Launceston, Tasmania, established by the ''Maritime College Act 1978'' (Cth). Tertiary education is provided and organised by the University of Tasmania (UTAS) a ...

has a campus here, for courses in fisheries and seamanship. More recently, the town has become the home of Seahorse World, a working

seahorse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine Osteichthyes, bony fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. The genus name comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meanin ...

farm and educational centre open to the public. A second tourist attraction, Platypus House, allows visitors to get up close with Tasmanian

platypus The platypus (''Ornithorhynchus anatinus''), sometimes referred to as the duck-billed platypus, is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. The platypus is the sole living representative or monotypi ...

and

echidna Echidnas (), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the Family (biology), family Tachyglossidae , living in Australia and New Guinea. The four Extant taxon, extant species of echidnas ...

. The Beauty Point Slipway provides boat repairs of outstanding quality. The original Beauty Point wharf, where the first deep water vessels arrived, has been demolished and replaced by the

, which houses over 100 residential students. The college owns two training vessels. The town's first wharf was established in response to the growing importance of Beaconsfield which, as a result of the gold boom, was once the third largest town in Tasmania.

Yachting

Beauty Point forms the starting point of the Australian Three Peaks Race, a yachting and running event around the east of the state. It is also the starting point for the Launceston to Hobart Yacht Race, an event also down the east coast.

References

External links

Seahorse World websitePlatypus House website
{{authority control Towns in Tasmania Fishing communities in Australia Localities of West Tamar Council