The Wild West Of Tasmania

Excerpt from The Wild West of Tasmania: Being a Description of the Silver Fields, of Zee and Dundas It is only due to those whose pluck, energy, and endurance has been the cause of opening up what promises to be one of the greatest mining fields of the world, that some record should be made of their labours. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Tasmania's wild West Coast contained some of the most fascinating railways and tramways ever constructed in Australia. Built to tap the fabulous mineral wealth of mines such as Mount Bischoff and Mount Lyell, the remarkable engineering feats of these iron roads in the wilderness became the stuff of legend. Through the intriguing memories of locomotive enginemen, track gangers, 'railway children' and adventurous travellers - complimented by a wonderful collection of photographic images - Railways of Tasmania's Wild West tells the story of life in one of Australia's most enchanting regions.

When Tim Bowden went back to Tasmania to explore his state of origin for the first time in many years, he was reminded of his adolescent assertion that "Tasmania is the testicle of Australia, suffusing the mainland with strength and vigor. What a pity there is only one of them." In this cheeky and warm rediscovery of Tasmania and its at-times dark history, Tim and his wife Ros explore some of the quirkier outposts of island civilization (stopping at a winery or three along the way) and travel through landscapes of incomparable beauty and devastating desolation. With a cast of characters as memorable as they are eccentric, this is a generous portrait of the island and its fiercely proud people. A fascinating and humorous account of a rapidly changing Tasmania, told by one of Australia's most infectious raconteurs and highly regarded broadcasters, The Devil in Tim belongs in the suitcase or backpack of every visitor to Tasmania, first timers and regulars alike.

"This material is taken from authorised family records of the Reverend Frederick George Copeland, a Church of England pastor on the west coast of Tasmania, 1894-1901. His arrival coincided with the mining boom and he travelled many unmade tracks by foot to reach the miners and their families. This book evokes the mining spirit of the early Australian gold rushes around the leases of Tasmania. The men lived hard lives; there were wild and raucous times when they were not working. Throughout these recollections, a sense of what living on the west coast was like. Other historical events and places are also background to this setting. It was still a time of convict stories, wild rivers and tall gorges, bushfires and lost explorers."--Introd.