Hells Gates is the name of the mouth of
Macquarie Harbour
Macquarie Harbour is a shallow fjord in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. It is approximately , and has an average depth of , with deeper places up to . It is navigable by shallow-draft vessels. The main channel is kept clear by th ...
on the
West Coast 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.
It is a notoriously shallow and dangerous channel entrance to the harbour. The actual channel is between Macquarie Heads on the west and
Entrance Island on the east (the main length of the harbour runs southeast of Hells Gates). There is a wider area of water between Entrance Island and the eastern shore, but it is too shallow to get a boat over.
Braddon Point is the name of the feature on the eastern shore, while the shallow water south of the point is named Fraser Flats, and the channel adjacent to the breakwater is known as Kelly Channel.
Name origins
The name of the channel relates to the original convicts' claim that it was their point of "entrance to
Hell
In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...
", their Hell being the
Macquarie Harbour Penal Station
The Macquarie Harbour Penal Station, a former British Empire#Exploration of the Pacific, British Penal colony, colonial penal settlement, established on Sarah Island (Tasmania), Sarah Island, Macquarie Harbour, in the former Penal colony of Va ...
on
Sarah Island and the outlying surrounds of the harbour.
Breakwater and channel
Between 1900 and 1902 the Macquarie Harbour Entrance Works involved the building of a breakwater and the channel was dredged. Parts of the breakwater can still be seen despite the passage of time. The
Strahan Marine Board was involved with the monitoring of the mouth until 19 May 1970, when the Hobart Marine Board took over.
Lighthouses
Both Entrance and
Bonnet Island
Bonnet Island is a low island with an area of 2.21 ha. It lies at the entrance to Macquarie Harbour in Western Tasmania, Australia, in the vicinity of Hells Gates.Brothers, Nigel; Pemberton, David; Pryor, Helen; & Halley, Vanessa. (2001). ''T ...
s have lights, and they were built before the
Cape Sorell Lighthouse
The Cape Sorell Lighthouse is a heritage-listed lighthouse that is located on Cape Sorell in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. The lighthouse is situated approximately southwest of .
Constructed and first lit in 1899, the ligh ...
.
Charts and maps
Due to the precarious entrance, and the changes in the hydrology of the area, charts and maps were updated regularly while Strahan was a port of importance – some of these maps are now available online.
[http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=MAIN&reset_config=true&docId=SLV_VOYAGER1298992 ]
See also
*
Cape Sorell, Tasmania
Cape Sorell is a headland located in the Southern Ocean outside Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast of Tasmania, Australia. The cape and the Cape Sorell Lighthouse, located above the headland, are important orientation points for all vessels e ...
*
Convicts on the West Coast of Tasmania
The West Coast, Tasmania, West Coast of Tasmania has a significant convict heritage. The use of the west coast as an outpost to house convicts in isolated penal settlements occurred in the eras 1822–33, and 1846–47.
The main locations were ...
Notes
References
*
* Kok, Arjan. ''A Pictorial History of Strahan''. Hobart, No Date. No ISBN.
* Loney, J. K. (1982) ''Wrecks at Hell's Gates'' Portarlington, Vic. Marine History Publications,
*
External links
*
*
{{Western Tasmania
Macquarie Harbour
Channels of Australia