Beaconsfield

Beaconsfield is not far from York Town, and 46km from Launceston. Beaconsfield is where one can pick up groceries, or visit one of the few cafes. We know Beaconsfield from the mining disaster in April 2006. We didn’t know that it was a gold mining town. We went first to the Beaconsfield Mine and Heritage Centre and did a walk around the town. The length of the ‘Walk of Gold is less than 2 kms, and there are 15 signs along the way that tell the story of the town. European settlers came to the area around 1805 after the establishment of York Town by William Patterson. Limestone was quarried and in 1847 gold was first discovered in the area. The area was known as Brandy Creek due to the brownish colour of the creek where the gold was found. It was not until 1877 when a reef of payable gold was discovered on the slopes of Cabbage Tree Hill that mining began in earnest. This reef became known as the Tasmania Reef. In 1879 the name was changed from Brandy Creek to Beaconsfield after Benjamin Disraeli, the then Prime Minister of England - Lord Beaconsfield.

The Mine and Heritage Centre is a good place to start the walk. Now mostly in ruins, the remains of the Grubb Shaft show visitors the workings of the engine house.

 

From here one can walk to the mine managers office, which today is the Council Chambers. In the park across the road is replica of a miners cottage,

along with a display of what the rooms may have been like

an old general store and a school house.

 From here we walked down to the main street and walked down one side of the street and back up the other side.

Alicia Hall, established in 1899 as a hall that hosted agricultural shows, meetings, dances and cinema, it was built by Thomas Henry Walduck and was named in honour of his eldest daughter. In1933 a fire in an adjoining building damaged the building and sections were rebuilt.

One of the original buildings, much used during the height of the gold mining - Bank of Tasmania.

An interesting story involving the Bank of Tasmania. In 1884 an outlaw robbed a large sum of money, equivalent to $2,000,000 in today's money, from this bank. After a comedy of errors spanning 14 months, no one was arrested, although much of the money was recovered.

An interesting town with a donation camp at the recreation ground. We stayed at York Town and explored from there.