Snug is a small coastal town on the
Channel Highway
The Channel Highway is a regional highway that travels south from Hobart To Huonville, Tasmania, Australia. The Channel Highway starts from the end of Sandy Bay Road and travels south toward Huonville via Taroona, Kingston, Huntingfield, M ...
located south of
Hobart
Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...
in
Tasmania,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. At the , Snug had a population of 1440.
Snug is a part of the
Municipality of Kingborough, but with about 7% in the
Huon Valley Council LGA. Snug is also part of the Greater Hobart statistical area.
[ ]
Location and features
Snug is residential location for individuals working in Kingborough, and has a small tourism industry. It features two churches, the Snug Primary School, General Store, butcher,
pub, a community hall, oval and soccer clubrooms, the 1967 Tasmanian Bushfire Memorial, caravan park, nursery and the Snug Village retirement home. A monthly market has been held in the town for the last 9 years.
History
The area around Snug was first encountered by
Europeans when
Rear Admiral Bruni D'Entrecasteaux sailed up the nearby
channel. Following the establishment of a colony at
Hobart
Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...
Town, the
Snug River was found and named reflecting the "snug and agreeable seclusion" of the inlet. By the 1820s a port and sawmilling facilities had become established at nearby
North-West Bay
North-West Bay refers to a body of water in south eastern Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in Australia ...
. Subsequently, around the 1840s and 1850s, a small settlement was established at Snug itself.
Snug River Post Office opened on 1 October 1870 and was renamed Snug in 1908.
Around 1908,
James Gillies began negotiations with the State government to permit the construction of a
hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
power scheme at Tasmania's
Great Lake, for the purpose of providing power for his newly patented
zinc smelting process and a "carbide" factory. Construction of the "carbide" factory commenced in the vicinity of Snug in 1917, and shortly after the end of World War One the Electrona Carbide Works began production of "carbide" (
calcium carbide) using
lime (from
limestone),
coke and
electric arc furnaces. The carbide was used in the manufacture of
acetylene
Acetylene (systematic name: ethyne) is the chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in its pure ...
gas. Gillies was unable to obtain sufficient liquidity to finish all of his planned electrification projects, and on the verge of
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
he lost control of the hydroelectric scheme to a State Government department formed for the purpose of rescuing his scheme: the Hydro Electric Department, which later became the Hydro Electric Commission, and now
Hydro Tasmania.
(The zinc smelter project was abandoned but later taken up again by another company and is currently operated by
Zinifex at
Lutana.) In 1924 Gillies went into receivership and the Carbide Works was taken over by "the Hydro", and later by Electrona Carbide Industries, who continued to operate it as such into the 1980s.

With falling demand for carbide, and suffering multimillion-dollar losses from plant failure in 1979,
the carbide smelter was sold to Pioneer Silicon Industries. This company converted it to a
silicon smelter with a theoretical capacity of 10,000 tonnes/yr,
and produced metallurgical grade silicon "metal" from 1988. However, it was never able to make a profit
and in August 1991, the plant was finally closed.
The town had a football team that played in the Kingsborough Football Association. It won premierships in 1954, 1956 and 1957. During the
1967 Tasmanian bushfires
The 1967 Tasmanian fires were an Australian natural disaster which occurred on 7 February 1967, an event which came to be known as the Black Tuesday bushfires. They were the most deadly Bushfires in Australia, bushfires that Tasmania has ever ex ...
the town of Snug was devastated, two-thirds of the town's houses were destroyed, along with two churches and half the school. Eleven people lost their lives.
[ The local football team was forced to merge with other local clubs to become the Channel Football Club.
]
See also
* List of localities in Tasmania
References
{{authority control
Towns in Tasmania
Southern Tasmania
Localities of Kingborough Council
Localities of Huon Valley Council
Suburbs of Hobart
Localities of City of Hobart