Rosebery, Tasmania
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Rosebery is a town 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 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 is at the northern end of the
West Coast Range The West Coast Range is a mountain range located in the West Coast, Tasmania, West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. The range lies to the west and north of the main parts of the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. The range has h ...
, in the shadow of Mount Black and adjacent to the Pieman River, now
Lake Pieman Lake Pieman is a man-made reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a waterc ...
. It lies on the
Murchison Highway The Murchison Highway is a highway located in the West Coast, Tasmania, West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. The highway runs generally north–south, with Somerset, Tasmania, Somerset, near Burnie, as its northern terminus and Zeehan ...
, 25 kilometres north-east of
Zeehan Zeehan is a town on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia south-west of Burnie. It is part of the West Coast Council, along with the seaport Strahan and neighbouring mining towns of Rosebery and Queenstown. History The greater Zeehan a ...
and is part of the Municipality of
West Coast Council West Coast Council is a Local government in Australia, local government body in Tasmania, covering much of the western region of the state. West Coast is classified as a rural local government area and has a population of 4,167. The major town ...
. At the , Rosebery had a population of 752. The population of Rosebery declined by 22% in the years between 1996-2001. Its newer western area on the shore of Lake Pieman is known as Primrose.


History

Like most of the other settlements on the west coast of Tasmania, Rosebery is a
mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
town. In 1893, prospector Tom McDonald discovered gold in alluvial wash, along with boulders of zinc-lead sulphide in dense rainforest on the slopes of Mount Black. McDonald pegged several claims in the name of the Rosebery Prospecting Association (named after Lord Rosebery), which later became the Rosebery Gold Mining Company. The South Rosebery Mining Company was formed soon after to mine the southern continuation of the orebody. In 1896, the Rosebery Gold Mining Company was reconstructed as the Tasmanian Copper Company, and the South Rosebery Mining Company became the Primrose Mining Company. Rosebery Post Office opened on 1 November 1897. The main mineral found in the orebody was sphalerite, but due to the lack of a technique to successfully extract the zinc from the ore, little could be done to exploit the orebody. One company formed to experiment in the processing of zinc ores was the Tasmanian Metals Extraction Company (TME) who built a large plant next to the track to Williamsford, completed in 1912. The experiment was unsuccessful and the plant closed in 1914. The Rosebery mines passed into the hands of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway company in 1916, and the mines were eventually merged with the Electrolytic Zinc Company of Australasia (EZ), who had discovered an effective method for the extraction of zinc. In 1926, construction of a processing mill at Rosebery began, and in 1931, an aerial ropeway to transport ore from the Hercules Mine near Williamsford was completed. Due to the Great Depression, the Rosebery Mill was not completed until 1936. The Rosebery Mine has operated continuously since then, with 75 year celebrations held during February, 2011. The mine is currently operated by
Minerals and Metals Group MMG Limited is a mid-tier global resources company that mines, explores and develops base metal projects around the world. MMG's largest shareholder is China Minmetals with 68%.zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...
,
lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...
,
copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
,
silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
and
gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
. Previous mine owners included
Pasminco Pasminco was an Australian mining company founded in 1988. It was placed in voluntary administration in September 2001 with its assets sold in stages until 2004 when the remaining assets were spun-off to Zinifex. History Pasminco was establi ...
and
Zinifex Zinifex was an Australian company that operated lead and zinc mines, refineries and a lead smelter. It was established in April 2004, when the assets of Pasminco were spun-off. In 2008 it merged with Oxiana to form OZ Minerals. History In S ...
. Prior to the completion of the
Murchison Highway The Murchison Highway is a highway located in the West Coast, Tasmania, West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. The highway runs generally north–south, with Somerset, Tasmania, Somerset, near Burnie, as its northern terminus and Zeehan ...
in 1963, the town was connected with
Burnie Burnie ( ; Aboriginal Tasmanians#North, pirinilaplu/palawa kani: ''Pataway'') is a port city located on the North West Tasmania, north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is the fourth largest city on the island, located approximately north ...
and North West Tasmania via the
Emu Bay Railway The Emu Bay Railway was a Tasmania, Australian railway company. The railway was significant during full operation, in that it linked the Tasmanian Government Railways system at Burnie with that at Zeehan that further linked to the Mount Lye ...
.


Climate

Rosebery has a damp
oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...
(''Cfb'') with cool to mild, damp, unstable summers and cool to cold, very wet winters. Sunshine is low; the city only receives 16.5 clear days annually, and as much as 168.1 cloudy days per annum. February is the driest month and September the wettest, as the westerly wind belt (i.e. ''
Roaring Forties The Roaring Forties are strong westerlies, westerly winds that occur in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40th parallel south, 40° and 50th parallel south, 50° south. The strong eastward air currents are caused by ...
'') prevails in the region. Snow falls on an average of 2.8 days a year.


Notable residents

*
Richard Flanagan Richard Miller Flanagan (born 1961) is an Australian writer, who won the 2014 Man Booker Prize for his novel ''The Narrow Road to the Deep North (novel), The Narrow Road to the Deep North'' and the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize for ''Question 7'', ...
– author, historian and film director


Gallery

File:Mine Buildings Rosebery Tasmania.JPG, File:Rosebery Station Melba Line.JPG, File:Rosebery Bridge Melba Line.JPG, File:Disused Bucketway Murchison Highway Rosebery.JPG, File:Rosebery Stitt Falls.ogv,


See also

*
West Coast Tasmania Mines The mines of the West Coast, Tasmania, West Coast of Tasmania have a rich historical heritage as well as an important mineralogy, mineralogical value in containing or having had found, specimens of rare and unusual minerals. Also, the various m ...
* West Coast Tasmania Railways


References


Further reading

* * *


External links


Crib & Cradle - Stay in Authentic Miners Accommodation in the heart of Rosebery.Mineral Resources Tasmania - Zinifex Rosebery mine Minerals and Metals Group 'MMG Rosebery provides feedback on workforce testing' April 2010
*http://www.lead.org.au/ *http://www.lead.org.au/lg%20las%20mr.html
Toxic heavy metals in Tasmania
at
SourceWatch The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a progressive nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. CMD publishes ExposedbyCMD.org, SourceWatch.org, and ALECexposed.org. History CMD was founded in 1993 by prog ...
{{authority control Localities of West Coast Council Towns in Tasmania Mining towns in Tasmania Articles containing video clips Pieman River Power Development