These governors obviously had it in their rewards packages to have places named after them. Strahan was a port for timber and coal, now tourism. The Mount Lyell mine developed a railway to bring the ore down. Closed in 1963, today we went on one leg of the reopened tourist route.
As we passed through dense rainforest, you had to admire the 500 workers employed to cut and lay the route through inhospitable terrain. They were paid 6/- per week for their labour out of which they had to pay for food, tools and accommodation. Plus ca change.
The route follows the still recovering King River for much of the way, crossing it in places. The only original bridge (iron) in use weighs 100 tons and was imported in bits from London. The only crane they had had a 20 ton limit: engineering ingenuity was used to get the reassembled bridge into place. The early days were dominated by floods: the record one had water 8ft higher than the iron bridge. Today the water is calmer thanks to hydrodams. So it’s still working.
The amazing huon pine (not a pine) was a crop, now protected. 3000 years lifespan, reaching sexual maturity at 600 years. And harvested at a stroke of an axe.
The various settlements disappeared with the closure of the railway, quickly reabsorbed by the forest.
Then back to the Macquarrie Bay.
An amazing landscape, shaped by nature and man.
Travelling reflections 