Heritage and culture
Pastoral and Mining Leases
Farming
Sheep and cattle grazing was being carried out on parts of the Freycinet Peninsula as early as the 1850s. In 1859 Francis Cotton reported that a comfortable stone hut and several cultivated paddocks were being occupied by Mr Leggs. The farm at Cooks Beach was later occupied by the Bryan, Gill and Cook families.The old hut, stone fish traps and a boat slip can still be seen there today.
Photograph: Mr Fergusson and his sheep dogs, Schouten Island c. 1920s. Photo courtesy Glamorgan History Room, Swansea.
Farming leases were also taken out on Schouten Island until the 1960s. Huts at Moreys Beach, an old sheep dip and abandoned farming machinery are testament to the island's pastoral history.
The stripping of wattle bark for use in the leather industry and lime-burning were other activities carried out by early settlers on the peninsula. Coles Bay is said to be named after Silas Cole, an early settler who burned shells from the large Aboriginal middens on Richardsons Beach to make lime.
Schouten Island Coal
The sealer Joseph Stacey discovered coal after being washed ashore on Schouten Island in 1809. The deposits were not commercially exploited though until the 1840s when the Garland brothers began mining operations. They constructed a tramway and jetty, but the venture proved unprofitable.
The Government then re-acquired the island and leased it to private concerns. The Australasian Smelting Company, formed in 1848, continued the work started by the Garlands. Edward Crockett was appointed as mine manager and over 60 convicts were hired as labourers. In 1850 it was reported that 120-130 tons of coal were being raised a week from shafts sunk near the shore. Soon after, the mine was sub-let to Crockett who carried on operations for several years.
Shouten Island Coal Mine Jetty, Crocketts Bay (Stoney, A Residence in Tasmania, 1857)
Bernacchi and partners tried unsuccessfully to revive mining operations in the 1880s. The old tramway was extended at this time. Today, a cutting which runs westwards from Crocketts Bay marks the line it once took.
Coal mining has, over the years, also been carried out north of Freycinet at the Denison and Douglas Rivers, Llandaff and Mt Paul. In 1923 construction began on a railway to carry coal from Seymour to a proposed new jetty and loading facilities at Coles Bay. Although never completed, the bed of the line became the basis of the Coles Bay Road.
Tin Mining
Tin was first discovered on the Freycinet Peninsula in the 1870s. A number of parties worked the alluvial (surface) deposits during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with limited success. Work was centred on Saltwater Creek (north of Coles Bay) and Middleton Creek (near Bluestone Bay). It is thought that Chinese tin miners were amongst those who worked on the peninsula and Schouten Island during the 1880s.
In 1906 tin leases were also taken out in the area between Sleepy Bay and Richardsons Beach, but the operations were short-lived.
Granite Quarry
A red granite quarry has operated intermittently at Parsons Cove since 1934. The stone has been used in buildings and monuments. Some of the stone can be seen in the walls of the Commonwealth Bank Head Office, Hobart.
Coles Bay Holiday Resort
Coles Bay and the Freycinet Peninsula have been a popular holiday spot for over 100 years. In 1895 a tourist brochure for the Swansea district referred to Coles Bay as:
The favourite picnic ground of the residents of Swansea, who for many years have enjoyed its numerous advantages with never-tiring delight. Boating, bushwalking, fishing and artistic pursuits were listed as some of the attractions of the area. Early visitors to Coles Bay came by boat or steamer from Swansea.
Harry Parsons retired to Coles Bay in the 1920s and promoted the tourist potential of the area. He established shacks at 'The Fisheries' which were the forerunners of today's holiday homes in the area.
The Chateau holiday units (now Freycinet Lodge) were established in 1934 by Ron Richardson, who leased the site from the Government. The complex was re-built after a fire in the 1950s. In recent years further development work has been undertaken by the new owners.
Field Naturalists' Easter Camp 1910
The scenic grandeur of Freycinet has long been admired. East coast resident Louisa Meredith was enchanted by her trip to Wineglass Bay in 1853:
On either side of the ravine rose the towering summits of the mountain, bare masses of granite heaped up on high like giant altars, or rising abruptly from belts of shrubs and trees, like ancient fortress walls and turrets. But the downward and onward view was like enchantment! Far below my giddy perch...lay, calmly slumbering in the bright sunshine, that blue and beautiful nook of the Pacific named Wineglass Bay.
The Tasmanian Field Naturalists Club, formed in 1904, took an early interest in the flora and fauna of the Freycinet Peninsula. In 1910 their 6th annual Easter camp-out was held at Coles Bay. Ninety seven campers (a record number for the Easter camp-out) left Hobart on the vessel Koonookarra. All the first afternoon and evening were spent in putting up camp at 'The Fisheries'.
There were 11 tents in the ladies' quarters and about 23 in the mens', so that the place had quite the appearance of a little town. (Elliott, 1910)
Photograph: Field Naturalists camp, 1910 (Archives Office of Tasmania)
The next day the more scientific members of the party took part in an ocean dredging experiment which uncovered 60 species of shell hitherto unknown in Tasmania. Others preferred to participate in fishing and bushwalking expeditions. In the evenings large camp socials were held around a huge fire on the beach.
Concerns about the overhunting of native birds and animals had led the Government to proclaim all the Crown Land on the peninsula and Schouten Island as a game reserve in 1906. The Field Naturalists were strong advocates of protecting the area further through the creation of a national park.
Freycinet National Park was declared in August 1916. Schouten Island, which had been administered as a scenic reserve from 1916'1941, and then again from 1967, was added to the park in 1977. In 1992 a coastal area including the Friendly Beaches was also included within the park's boundaries.
Reference:
Parks and Wildlife Service Publication: Freycinet National Park: The European History of Tasmania's First National Park
