Charles Whitham was an Australian writer. He wrote the oft-reprinted Western Tasmania: A land of Riches and Beauty, which was a comprehensive study of the geographical features of West Coast, Tasmania and the conditions of the region in the 1920s.
Charles Whitham was born in India in 1873. He and his parents travelled to Tasmania in 1886.
His first book was published in 1917. [1]
The book was originally published in 1924 [2] and reprinted in 1949 [3] and in 1984. [4] Extracts from the book were reproduced in The Mercury in the 1930s. [5] The book is a mix of geographical and historical information about the west coast, and includes sections on Macquarie Harbour and the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company.
Whitham had personally travelled to many of the locations and features that he described as well as to most of the peaks of the West Coast Range. His photographs in the State Library of Tasmania attest to some of the places that he had visited.
It was not until the writing of Geoffrey Blainey's The Peaks of Lyell in the 1950s that the history and geography of the west coast of Tasmania was thoroughly reviewed and showed the important contribution of Whitham's earlier work.
A collection of articles by Whitham was collected by Kleinig in the 2000s. [6] [7]
Whitham moved to Sydney in the 1920s, and died there in December 1940. [8] [9] [10]
The Lyell Highway is a highway in Tasmania, running from Hobart to Queenstown. It is the one of two transport routes that passes through the West Coast Range, the other being the B28 Anthony Road.
Mount Lyell is a mountain in the West Coast Range of Western Tasmania, Australia.
The West Coast of Tasmania has a significant convict heritage. The use of the west coast as an outpost to house convicts in isolated penal settlements occurred in the eras 1822–33, and 1846–47.
Trial Harbour is a rural locality in the local government area (LGA) of West Coast in the North-west and west LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south-west of the town of Zeehan. The 2016 census has a population of 24 for the state suburb of Trial Harbour.
The North Mount Lyell Railway was built to operate between the North Mount Lyell mine in West Coast Tasmania and Pillinger in the Kelly Basin of Macquarie Harbour.
Mount Owen is a mountain directly east of the town of Queenstown on the West Coast Range in Western Tasmania, Australia.
The Mount Jukes mine sites were a series of short-lived, small mine workings high on the upper regions of Mount Jukes in the West Coast Range on the West Coast of Tasmania.
Lake Burbury is a man-made water reservoir created by the Crotty Dam inundating the upper King River valley that lies east of the West Coast Range. Discharge from the reservoir feeds the John Butters Hydroelectric Power Station, owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.
Pillinger is an abandoned port and townsite in Kelly Basin, on the south eastern side of Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast of Tasmania.
The history of the railways on the West Coast of Tasmania has fascinated enthusiasts from around the world, because of the combination of the harsh terrain in which the railways were created, and the unique nature of most of the lines.
Thomas Bather Moore was a pioneer explorer of Western and South West, Tasmania, Australia.
Mount Dundas is a mountain located in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. The mountain is situated at the north west edge of the West Coast Range.
Mount Geikie is a mountain in the West Coast Range of Western Tasmania, Australia.
The Sticht Range is a mountain range located in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia. The range runs between two tributaries of the Eldon River and is located within the eastern part of the West Coast Range and has an unnamed peak with an elevation of 1,080 metres (3,540 ft) above sea level.
The Mount Dundas – Zeehan Railway was a railway line running 7 miles (11 km) from Dundas to Zeehan on the West Coast of Tasmania. It operated from 1892 until 1932, and the rails were removed in 1940.
Iron Blow was the site of the earliest major mining venture at Mount Lyell on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia in 1883.
Zeehan railway station in Tasmania, was a major junction and railway yard for numerous different railway and tramway systems in western Tasmania in the town of Zeehan.
Williamsford, Tasmania is the location of a former mining community, south of Rosebery, Tasmania and on the western lower reaches of Mount Read.
The West Coast Wilderness Railway is a reconstruction of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company Mount Lyell railway in Western Tasmania between Queenstown and Regatta Point, Strahan. The railway is significant because of its Abt rack system to conquer the mountainous terrain through rainforest, with original locomotives still operating on the railway today. Now operating as a tourist experience with a focus on sharing the history of Tasmania's West Coast, the original railway began operations in 1897 as the only link between Queenstown and the port of Strahan.
The Hercules Haulage, also known as the Mount Read Haulage, the Hercules Tram and the Williamsford Haulage Line, was a self-acting 2 ft narrow gauge tramway on the side of Mount Read in Western Tasmania, that connected the Hercules Mine with Williamsford and then to the North East Dundas Tramway.