Everything about Beaconsfield Tasmania totally explained
Beaconsfield is a town near the
Tamar River, in the north-east of
Tasmania,
Australia. It lies 40 kilometres north of
Launceston on the
West Tamar Highway, and has a population of 1,007
(
2001 census.) It is part of the Municipality of
West Tamar.
History
The area around Beaconsfield was first explored by Europeans in
1804 when
William Paterson led an expedition to
Port Dalrymple and established a settlement at
York Town. Settlement of Beaconsfield itself, then known as
Cabbage Tree Hill, didn't occur until the
1850s.
Limestone mining led to the discovery of
gold in
1869. Gold mining began in
1877 and the area's population boomed. The town was named Beaconsfield in
1879 in honour of
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, who was the
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the time. The town was formerly known as 'Brandy Creek'. In 1881, the Beaconsfield newspaper was called the
Beaconsfield Tickler.
In
1953, Beaconsfield was the first town in Australia to
fluoridate the water supply.
Gold mining at Beaconsfield
Underground mining began in 1879 with the sinking and development of three main shafts to access the reef: the
Hart Shaft, the
Main Shaft and the
Grubb Shaft.
Beaconsfield became the richest gold town in Tasmania. In 1881 there were 53 companies working the field. These were all absorbed by the owners of the
Tasmania mine.
During the 1970s exploration drilling confirmed that the reef continued at least another 200 metres below the old workings. By 1991 the old Hart Shaft collar had been re-established and water pumped out to 160 metres deep. The project was suspended until 1992 when the mine's owners changed. Deep drilling resumed in 1993 to review the resource estimates and, from 1994, the
Beaconsfield Mine Joint Venture has carried out drilling of the depth extension of the Tasmania Reef. A permanent stage pumping station 181 m below ground has been lowering the water in the shaft since August 1995. The permanent winder and head frame were completed in January 1996 and the shaft finished in late 1996. An ore treatment plant was built during the 1999/2000
financial year.
In the financial year 2004/05, 240 685 tonnes of ore was produced from which 3890 kilograms of gold was extracted.
April 2006 Mine Collapse
On Tuesday
25 April 2006, a small earthquake caused a rock fall in the Beaconsfield gold mine. Fourteen miners escaped safely, one miner, Larry Knight, was killed, and the remaining two, Todd Russell and Brant Webb, were trapped in a shaft approximately one kilometre underground. The two trapped miners were found alive five days later on Sunday
30 April. Rescue operations continued for nearly two weeks until the two miners were freed on Tuesday
9 May.
In September 2007, the
Foo Fighters released a tribute ("
Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners") to the miners on their album
Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Beaconsfield Tasmania'.
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