Place:Zeehan, Tasmania, Australia

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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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 Dundas, Rosebery and Queenstown.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The greater Zeehan area was inhabited by the indigenous Peerapper and Tommeginne clans of the North West group for over 10,000 years prior to the British colonisation of Tasmania. They were greatly coastal peoples, residing in small numbers on a diet consisting of muttonbirds, seals, swan eggs and cider gum, and constructed bark huts when strong westerly winds brought about rain and icy temperatures.

European naming

On 24 November 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European explorer to sight and document the Heemskirk and West Coast Ranges. Tasman sailed his ships close to the coastal area which today encompasses the Southwest Conservation Area, south of Macquarie Harbour, but was unable to send a landing party ashore due to poor weather and did not make contact with any South West Tasmanian groups. In their circumnavigation of Tasmania between 1798–99, George Bass and Matthew Flinders named the Heemskirk Ranges mountains Mount Heemskirk and Mount Zeehan after Tasman’s ships, the warship Heemskerck (Old Dutch for "Home Church") and the 200 tone fluyt Zeehaen (Old Dutch for "Sea Rooster") in honour of Tasman's voyage of exploration. Although Dutch in origin, Bass and Flinder's Anglicised naming of Mount Heemskirk and Mount Zeehan created some of the oldest British place names in Tasmania. Only a few Dutch place names in Tasmania originate from Tasman's 1642 voyage. Most place names were not assigned in Van Diemen's Land until after the settlement of Hobart Town at Risdon Cove in 1803, although some place names originate from Bruni d'Entrecasteaux's French expedition in 1792. It was not until after the 1815 discovery of Macquarie Harbour by explorer and mariner James Kelly that many place names on the West Coast were assigned.

Mining boom

Tin was discovered nearby at Mount Bischoff in 1871 and at Mount Heemskirk in 1879. Deposits of silver and lead were discovered in the area by Frank Long in 1882 and Mount Zeehan Post Office opened on 1 August 1888. The township was named Zeehan in 1890 and over the following decades, quickly expanded due to its proximity to the Zeehan mineral field. The peak period for mining was up to the First World War, when 159 companies operated at the town’s peak and the town stock exchange had 60 members.^[1] With a main street over two miles long (3.2 km); it claimed over 20 hotels, several pubs, a hospital,^[1] and two theatres, the Gaiety Theatre and Theatre Royal. It developed a friendly rivalry with Queenstown, and while the silver boom lasted it was known as the Silver City. In the first decade of the twentieth century it was the third largest town in Tasmania, after Hobart and Launceston. A port was established at Trial Harbour for Zeehan, however its exposure to the Roaring Forties made the site a vulnerable anchorage. After the construction of the Strahan–Zeehan Railway, Strahan became Zeehan's favourable port. The mines earned some two hundred thousand dollars per year for two decades, before progressively declining till the 1960s, when the last mines, Montana and Oceana were closed.

Decline

The population of Zeehan-Dundas peaked at 10,000 in about 1910, over ten times the current population. In the 1970s it saw increased activity due to operations at the nearby Renison Bell tin mine, and again in the 1990s. It had its own council until the early 1900s, and has since merged with surrounding councils to form the Municipality of West Coast. At the , Zeehan had a population of 728. The town was subject to several acts of arson in the 2010s, one of which saw damage to historic buildings dating back to the 1890s. The township has been further polarised through various acts of manslaughter, assault and aggravated burglary. In the 2020s the town continues to struggle with unemployment and overall decline. During the COVID-19 pandemic, ten parcels of land, some as cheap as $8000, were sold by the West Coast Council as a means to attract new residents. It is hoped tourism will continue to bolster the local economy.

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