![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xenithZeehan, the silver city. This is somewhere I'd like to go back to one day to get some better photos.
In the 1880s, silver and lead deposits were discovered and the town grew, quickly. One book I have tells me the population in 1908 was 10,000. Other sources give similar figures. Do I sound surprised? Those other sources tell me that in 1900, Launceston's population was 18,000 and Hobart's was 25,000. That was one big town out on the far west coast, a city indeed.
From the Examiner's now non-existent Making A Nation website, at the turn of the last century, Zeehan had "17 hotels, three banks, halls include the 1000-seat capacity Gaiety Theatre, Academy of Music, Bijou and Masonic; two post and telegraph stations with savings banks, two State schools, convent and several private schools; sub-inspector of police and four constables, seven churches, cottage hospital, amateur orchestral society, philharmonic society, parliamentary".
Current population? 845, at the last census, in 2006. Although there's apparently been an upsurge in fortunes recently (read: new mines opening).
First, some photos from the state archives.
This photo is dated 1890. It looks like typical small mining town -- a handful of cottages, some small shops (with the awning-type verandahs and boards(?) over the front gables), unmade roads (see the boards over the ditches).
This one is a more substantial town -- larger shops, a made road with a kerb. It's also dated 1890, but if you compare it to this one, which is dated 1900, it would appear to be later (note the poles on the right side of the road, the buildings on the hill and what appears to be the theatre (built 1899) at far end of the street. (There was a bit of discussion on #Lobby about these, the poles on the right are probably electricity, the ones on the left (Pat tells me) are more like telephone wires than telegraph, but I'm doubtful there was a phone service to the west coast this early.)
Oh, and there is this one, which is a touch earlier than the above two. Unmade road, with what looks to be the same buildings on the right, but the verandah on the two-story place on the left is still under construction.
I find these photos particularly interesting. Odd little buildings like the first bank and this miner's cottage. Or this one which is telling a story about some incident obviously of much importance at the time. But that's enough links to photos, so I'll skip the tobacconist shop and the series of photos of the hospital (internal shots too).
Except for this one, also dated 1900. If you haven't looked at any others, look at this one.
See, there's the Gaiety Theatre that's in that link
And the post office is there too.
The main street. It amused me to see these substantial buildings, a sign of a large town, and after them
the town ended. Interesting also, that this section of road must be the part that's in most of the old photos.
Next door to the Post Office building is the old School of Mines and Metallurgy, which now houses the West Coast Pioneer's Memorial Museum. From the first page of their booklet: "The School of Mines had been established in 1894 at the peak of the West Coast mining boom and regular training courses in metallurgy, chemistry, assaying etc. began in 1896. The foundation stone of the present building was laid in 1902 when more than twenty companies and syndicates were mining the silver-lead deposits of the Zeehan field. It was affiliated with the University of Tasmania and certificates and diplomas were issued by the University."
The pioneer museum also has locomotives.
A church, taken from the car. (Notes the fence.)
Central Hotel, in the main street.
In the 1880s, silver and lead deposits were discovered and the town grew, quickly. One book I have tells me the population in 1908 was 10,000. Other sources give similar figures. Do I sound surprised? Those other sources tell me that in 1900, Launceston's population was 18,000 and Hobart's was 25,000. That was one big town out on the far west coast, a city indeed.
From the Examiner's now non-existent Making A Nation website, at the turn of the last century, Zeehan had "17 hotels, three banks, halls include the 1000-seat capacity Gaiety Theatre, Academy of Music, Bijou and Masonic; two post and telegraph stations with savings banks, two State schools, convent and several private schools; sub-inspector of police and four constables, seven churches, cottage hospital, amateur orchestral society, philharmonic society, parliamentary".
Current population? 845, at the last census, in 2006. Although there's apparently been an upsurge in fortunes recently (read: new mines opening).
First, some photos from the state archives.
This photo is dated 1890. It looks like typical small mining town -- a handful of cottages, some small shops (with the awning-type verandahs and boards(?) over the front gables), unmade roads (see the boards over the ditches).
This one is a more substantial town -- larger shops, a made road with a kerb. It's also dated 1890, but if you compare it to this one, which is dated 1900, it would appear to be later (note the poles on the right side of the road, the buildings on the hill and what appears to be the theatre (built 1899) at far end of the street. (There was a bit of discussion on #Lobby about these, the poles on the right are probably electricity, the ones on the left (Pat tells me) are more like telephone wires than telegraph, but I'm doubtful there was a phone service to the west coast this early.)
Oh, and there is this one, which is a touch earlier than the above two. Unmade road, with what looks to be the same buildings on the right, but the verandah on the two-story place on the left is still under construction.
I find these photos particularly interesting. Odd little buildings like the first bank and this miner's cottage. Or this one which is telling a story about some incident obviously of much importance at the time. But that's enough links to photos, so I'll skip the tobacconist shop and the series of photos of the hospital (internal shots too).
Except for this one, also dated 1900. If you haven't looked at any others, look at this one.
See, there's the Gaiety Theatre that's in that link
And the post office is there too.
The main street. It amused me to see these substantial buildings, a sign of a large town, and after them
the town ended. Interesting also, that this section of road must be the part that's in most of the old photos.
Next door to the Post Office building is the old School of Mines and Metallurgy, which now houses the West Coast Pioneer's Memorial Museum. From the first page of their booklet: "The School of Mines had been established in 1894 at the peak of the West Coast mining boom and regular training courses in metallurgy, chemistry, assaying etc. began in 1896. The foundation stone of the present building was laid in 1902 when more than twenty companies and syndicates were mining the silver-lead deposits of the Zeehan field. It was affiliated with the University of Tasmania and certificates and diplomas were issued by the University."
The pioneer museum also has locomotives.
A church, taken from the car. (Notes the fence.)
Central Hotel, in the main street.
