Day 28: Zeehan to Wynyard

We spent the morning and early afternoon at the West Coast Heritage Centre in Zeehan: there was way too much to see, but it was good to get a glimpse of the history of the west coast of Tasmania: (hint) much of it revolves around mining in very inaccessible terrain and also the lives of early pioneers in this part of the world (we saw some nasty looking medical equipment). People from other, older countries may not understand, but for Australians the 1800s was still pioneering times (for non natives) in much of this country.

Penny Farthing, that just looks improbable,
behind it is a rail car.

The centre boasts that it encompassed seven hectares! And indeed the museum sprawls across several buildings and into an area out the back of the buildings. Ranging from information about mining and minerals to machinery, pictorial history, various regional displays, as well as two buildings that are historical in their own right: the Police Station/Court House and the Gaiety Theatre Grand Hotel. The latter was stunning and you could just imagine how it was a centre for many social events in the past.

There was considerable space given to
minerals, many that I'd never heard of including the
Tasmanian state emblem: crocoite.

After we were worn out with an overwhelming amount of information, we drove north to Wynyard, to a caravan park right on the beach on the north coast. You start to get a grasp of how small this island is compared to the rest of Australia, which takes many days to get from the centre to the western then northern coasts! And after several days in the remote centre and west coast, northern Tasmania was like a breath of fresh air. Many more people, roads, and shops, though still not cities, just larger towns. The roads were less up and down and windy too!

With almost all our clothes very much needing to be washed, we were very happy to find an excellent laundry. It was a lovely quiet night right next to the ocean.  

Land transport was largely dependent on railway for many
years on the west coast of Tasmania. This is a working model of
a locomotive that was build in Germany in the1890s and arrived in
Zeehan in 1900.

I'm not sure if you're going to be able to read this fascinating
story of a man who used a skill he'd learned earlier in life
to contribute to the mining efforts in the region. He was a
mattress maker (and repairer). The following photo is of a machine
he recreated from memory of his apprenticeship days, a machine that
wove metal into shape for use in mattresses. The story is strikes
a cord for someone who isn't a "frontline" worker in Japan, but
supports those who are. Mattress-making might not seem like a
great skill in a mining town, but everyone needs to sleep and I'm sure
that his contribution was valued (at least by some).

Miniature bed with an example of the woven wire on it.

Gaiety Theatre, which apparently could fit over 1,000 people in it.
Houdini performed here!

Pipe organ...I forget the story of this, but it was in the theatre.

No roads, so this rail ambulance had to do. I'm sure that
many medical emergencies just couldn't be dealt with in time!

A wooden pipe!