In the trees
Jul. 27th, 2010 09:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xenithAny guesses on what this? :)
Been meaning to post these for ages but I keep putting it off. Nothing exciting here, so feel free to skip unless you're really curious what the above it, don't want to go to Branxholm or are interested in Chinese miners.
This is Branxholm, former tin-mining town, which I intended to walk down to and take photos of so I could cross it off my list. But I got sidetracked, literally.
Just before this bridge there is a track that runs up the side of the river.
And I went up there instead.
There's an accommodation/B&B place up there, and the owners have developed this hut as a Chinese mining heritage exhibition.
Inside, there are info panels, photos, maps and other related material, which of course, I'm not showing.
I will copy a bit from the University's Companion to Tasmanian History:
By the time of the 1881 census, there were 874 Chinese living in Tasmania, nearly all tin miners. During the next ten years the number fluctuated around 1000, though some moved out of mining; by the time of the 1891 census, 12 percent were market gardeners. For two decades the Chinese outnumbered the Germans as the largest group of migrants in Tasmania with a non-English speaking background.
In Tasmania Chinese miners were generally better treated than on the mainland diggings. They were respected as law-abiding citizens and for their ability to work hard. They also took their share of community responsibility, actively raising funds for local schools and hospitals. Many Europeans in the remote mining towns joined in Chinese New Year celebrations, attended funeral ceremonies and formed close friendships with the 'Celestials', as the Chinese were known.
Chinese Community, by Jai Paterson
Then outside the hut is a short walk, about 20 minutes, through the surrounding bush.
The walk starts here. You can tell this because the sign says "Walk Starts Here".
The photo at the top of the page fits in here. It's the water race which forms the first part of the walk.
Unfortunately, being a forest and very late in the afternoon the light is poor, and I was a bit short on time, so the photos aren't particularly good.
See :( There's a couple of these bronzes along the trail, but the others came up too blurry.
I'm rather rusty on my forest types, but I'm guessing this is wet sclerophyll/mixed forest. Like rainforest with similar plants in the understorey, but with eucalypts still dominating. Mixed because the canopy has been disturbed, letting in light which allows a bigger range of plants to grow in the lower levels.
Also nothing any age in there, so I'm also guessing it was cleared by miners or timber cutters, and this is regrowth.
"Exploration Hole"
Exploration Hole.
More into the rainforest species there, but I'm not going to try and identify anything from a poor quality photo.
So, that was it. A nice walk, and a good way to fill in an hour.
Been meaning to post these for ages but I keep putting it off. Nothing exciting here, so feel free to skip unless you're really curious what the above it, don't want to go to Branxholm or are interested in Chinese miners.
This is Branxholm, former tin-mining town, which I intended to walk down to and take photos of so I could cross it off my list. But I got sidetracked, literally.
Just before this bridge there is a track that runs up the side of the river.
And I went up there instead.
There's an accommodation/B&B place up there, and the owners have developed this hut as a Chinese mining heritage exhibition.
Inside, there are info panels, photos, maps and other related material, which of course, I'm not showing.
I will copy a bit from the University's Companion to Tasmanian History:
By the time of the 1881 census, there were 874 Chinese living in Tasmania, nearly all tin miners. During the next ten years the number fluctuated around 1000, though some moved out of mining; by the time of the 1891 census, 12 percent were market gardeners. For two decades the Chinese outnumbered the Germans as the largest group of migrants in Tasmania with a non-English speaking background.
In Tasmania Chinese miners were generally better treated than on the mainland diggings. They were respected as law-abiding citizens and for their ability to work hard. They also took their share of community responsibility, actively raising funds for local schools and hospitals. Many Europeans in the remote mining towns joined in Chinese New Year celebrations, attended funeral ceremonies and formed close friendships with the 'Celestials', as the Chinese were known.
Chinese Community, by Jai Paterson
Then outside the hut is a short walk, about 20 minutes, through the surrounding bush.
The walk starts here. You can tell this because the sign says "Walk Starts Here".
The photo at the top of the page fits in here. It's the water race which forms the first part of the walk.
Unfortunately, being a forest and very late in the afternoon the light is poor, and I was a bit short on time, so the photos aren't particularly good.
See :( There's a couple of these bronzes along the trail, but the others came up too blurry.
I'm rather rusty on my forest types, but I'm guessing this is wet sclerophyll/mixed forest. Like rainforest with similar plants in the understorey, but with eucalypts still dominating. Mixed because the canopy has been disturbed, letting in light which allows a bigger range of plants to grow in the lower levels.
Also nothing any age in there, so I'm also guessing it was cleared by miners or timber cutters, and this is regrowth.
"Exploration Hole"
Exploration Hole.
More into the rainforest species there, but I'm not going to try and identify anything from a poor quality photo.
So, that was it. A nice walk, and a good way to fill in an hour.
