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History of the Central Highlands of Tasmania

Red Tag fly by Käyttäjä:Kompak under CC3

The Red Tag fly was easily our favourite fly too. It’s covered in black feathers with just a small dot of red to catch the fish’s eye. It was generally the first one we tried every time we went fishing. My brother also started tying his own flies. That was so much fun. You put a tiny hook, in a tiny vice, then wrap around feathers and cotton to create your own little wonders, that you then use to catch big Trout!

Catching those big Trout via fly fishing is not easy, because the Flies are very lightweight, which makes them very difficult to cast out onto the water. You, therefore, use a much heavier line and have to use a very specific casting technique, swinging your rod back and forth and back and forth, slowly feeding more line out, so you can get the fly out on the water. Learning this casting technique was not easy, not even slightly. But it felt so good to master it. Then once you mastered it, it was so much fun doing it.

A great spot to fly fish at Bronte Lagoon by Michael Munich under CC3

With a dry fly that sat on top of the water like the Red Tag, you would need to sneak up to the water very carefully and quietly so you didn’t scare the fish. Then you would stand quietly and watch how the fish were feeding on the real fly’s, or how they were rising. Every time they rose, there would be a little splash as they ate the fly. Typically the fish would follow a pattern, rising in the same spot every time. The challenge was then to place your own fly in exactly the same spot, so it would rise and take your fly. That took a lot of practice and patience, but it felt so good to get it right.

London Lakes

Jason Garrett is another person I can thank for helping the Tasmanian Trout fisheries thrive by developing London Lakes, which is just over the hill from Bradys Lake. He purchased London Lakes in 1973 while working in Papua New Guinea surveying, prospecting, and fossicking. He then returned to Tasmania in 1978 to develop London Lakes. It is the only privately owned fishing lake in Tasmania and hosted the 8th World Fly Fishing championship in 1988, which was the first time it was held in Australia. Jason also represented Australia at the World Fly Fishing titles in the Czech Republic, US, Poland and Spain. His team won the Commonwealth Championship in Wales in 1990.

We never did fish at London Lakes, because there’s so many other lakes you can fish for free. However, Jason sold London Lakes in 2003 to a group of families from Sydney, who then refurbished the lodge. We did go and check it out then and geez they did a good job. It’s only a small Lodge but they’ve finished it off beautifully with stone and wood. They also run fishing tours and lessons.

Hydro Electric Commission

Tasmania’s 900 million ton annual rainfall provides a wonderful opportunity for hydroelectric power. Waterpower has been used throughout much of human history, initially as water wheels to grind grain, break ore, and papermaking. Then in 1827 French engineer Benoit Fourneyron developed a turbine that could generate six horsepower. British, American, and Austrian Engineers followed and the first hydro-powered project was developed in Northumberland England in 1878 to power a single lamp.

Benoit Fourneyron wikimedia

The first hydroelectric power station in Tasmania followed close behind, with the Duck Reach Hydroelectric power station being built by the Launceston municipal council in 1895. It was the first publicly owned Hydroelectric power station in the Southern Hemisphere, operating continuously until 1955.

It was then James Gillies who really kickstarted hydroelectricity in Tasmania. He qualified as a Metallurgist in Sydney in the mid 1890s. He then invented an electrolytic process capable of producing metallic zinc from mine tailings. The process was unsuccessfully trialed at Gillies Sulphide Concentrating Machine Ltd in Broken Hill, where he was working as a Manager. Then in 1907, he moved to Melbourne, where he patented his process and established a successful experimental facility. This gave him the confidence to propose full-scale works in Tasmania powered by Hydroelectricity, because the process was energy-intensive, and hydroelectricity would provide cheap electricity.

James then started working with the University of Tasmania’s Professor of Mathematics and Physics, Alexander McAulay, who recommended using a hydroelectric system at the Great Lake, which Alexander had designed in 1905. The Tasmanian Government then gave James permission to do so in 1908 and he started the Tasmanian Hydro-Electric Power and Metallurgical Co. James and Alexander then worked closely together and construction began in 1910, with them building a small dam at Miena and the Waddamana Hydroelectric station in the Valley of the Ouse river.

Unfortunately, design changes, adverse weather, company unrest, and a lack of capital, resulted in the company going broke in 1914. The Tasmanian government then bought the power company, opening the Hydro-Electric Department, which was Australia’s first public, statewide energy-generating enterprise. It was backed by a thirty-year bulk power supply contract with Ballarat-based Amalgamated Zinc, which had established a Zinc Works at Risdon on the Derwent river. The Waddamana Power Station was then opened at the Great Lake in 1916.

I worked just down the Derwent River from the Zinc Works early in my career and I would stare in wonder across the river at how the plant operated. In these times, it’s located in the Hobart suburb of Lutana. How many capital cities have Zinc Works in the middle of suburbia!

Zinc Works on the Derwent River by Steven Penton under CC2

James did establish a Carbide Works in 1917 at Electrona, which is south of Hobart in North West Bay. Here the limestone was reduced to lime, then roasted by coke to produce carbides, ferro alloys, and carbon black products. Unfortunately, the government foreclosed on the Carbide Works in 1923. James then moved to Sydney where he continued innovating, producing patents for improved car lighting, soundproofing with diatomaceous earth, and for a new type of refrigeration using dry ice. The Tasmanian government awarded him a state pension in 1935 for everything he did for Tasmania.

Dane McCormack
Dane McCormackhttps://danemccormackauthor.wordpress.com/home/
Dane McCormack was born and raised in Tasmania. He escaped to the mainland to pursue his career and has worked as a Business Transformation specialist for several of the world’s biggest companies including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and KPMG. His love of writing was reawakened as he explored how he survived and thrived through a recent cancer journey. After being given 24hours to live several times and losing his long-term memories, he set out on a mighty quest to find them and wrote his autobiography. It emphasised just how important history is because it made him who he was, which helped him survive and thrive. It left him determined to leave a legacy for his family. He’s now sharing his stories, to help others dealing with tough times and develop their careers. He is also exploring his family and friends’ history in more detail.

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