A study in desuetude - my first glimpse of Rossarden, reputedly the 'crime capital' of Tasmania Royal George was the first of several former mining towns I was to pass that day – Avoca, Fingal, Mangana – site of Tasmania’s first gold rush in 1852, and many others which have faded away. Not only gold but tungsten, coal and tin were mined in the region which displays evidence of former wealth in substantial churches, old hotels and elaborate shops, despite many of them being closed. The valley communities fortunate enough to have fertile soils and water, or at least passing tourists on their way to the East Coast, have continued to survive if not exactly thrive, while those set back in the hills have disappeared or become ghost towns or mere shadows of their former selves. Rossarden was one of the latter. I was somewhat intrigued by Rossarden, home to Tasmania’s biggest tin mine between 1930 and 1950, since it has the somewhat dubious distinction of being hailed ...
Practising Geographer - nature culture places people