Accommodation around Miena includes lakeside hotels, self-contained lodges and numerous shacks. Miena is well known for lake fishing and its hydro-electric dam.
History
Miena, Liawenee and Waddamana are place names indicating a strong Aboriginal presence over thousands of years, including the Luggermairrenerpairer clan. Miena, pronounced "my-enna", translates to "lagoon-like". These names were applied to the area by Hydro Tasmania.
The settler and first sheriff of Tasmania, John Beaumont, explored the Central Highlands plateau during December 1817. The Beaumont Memorial and grave is a short walk from the Dam.
In 1831 George Augustus Robinson was searching the Central Highlands for Aboriginal people in his role as "conciliator". He camped at the site of the future dam at Miena, where he reported "large numbers of swan, a number of light-coloured kangaroo and signs of platypus".[3]
Murderers Hill, elevation 1055 meters, opposite the Great Lake Hotel, takes its name from the murder there of a shepherd and convict hut keeper by bushrangers in 1840.[4]
In the period of the gold rush and the Tasmanian depression of the 1860s, Tasmania's high country was occupied only by Aborigines, shepherds and the occasional bushranger. Early colonists used the alpine Central Highlands as summer pastures employing shepherds and hut keepers. Hunters were attracted to the Central Plateau, and from the 1890s to the 1960s trapping for pelts was a significant activity.
The introduction of trout to Tasmanian lakes brought hundreds of visitors to the highlands in the 1890s. Great Lake Post Office opened on 1 August 1897. It was later renamed Miena in 1920 and closed in 1942.[5] It re-opened in 1957 as a telephone office which was closed once more in 1969. The community postal agency is now located in the Central Highland Lodge. An amateur radio repeater is installed on Barren Tier nearby.
Miena Dam has three dam walls, although two are often submerged. The Tasmanian Hydro Electric Power and Metallurgical Co. built a small dam at the outlet from the Great Lake in 1911. Construction of canals and pipelines conveyed the water to Waddamana where it was intended to generate power for the treatment of complex ores. In 1914 the Government acquired the company, and by May 1916 two turbo-alternators had been installed at Waddamana Power Station. In 1919-1922 a multi-arch dam was constructed at Miena to increase the Great Lake storage and the power station was expanded to supply more power. In 1967 a sloping core rock-fill dam was built downstream; this was raised again in 1982.
Waddamana Power Station is now a museum and heritage site, with restored machinery and displays about the pioneering days of power development in the highlands.
Many of the local lakes and lagoons, including Penstock lagoon and the Great Lake, were part of the World Fly Fishing Championships of 1988 and 2012. Little Pine Lagoon has been described as Tasmania's premier fly fishing water location. The 2019 WFFC was again conducted in the area. The geographic centre of Tasmania is located on the western shore of the lagoon.
The section of the Highland Lakes Road to nearby Liawenee was sealed during 2015. The upper section to the Breona locality was completed in April 2019.
The area is subject to summer bushfires. The Miena shack community was evacuated in January 2019,[6] as fires crossed Barren Tier and the Great Pine Tier. One house near Miena was destroyed. Warnings were issued for nearby Tods Corner, Penstock Lagoon, Liawenee and Shannon.
Climate
Miena is one of the coldest non-alpine locations in Australia with its cool summers and cold damp winters. Miena has an altitude-influenced subpolar oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfc)—a classification quite unusual for an Australian town, being climatically very close to other towns with subpolar oceanic climates; such as Punta Arenas in Chile and, to some degree, Reykjavík in Iceland.
Snowfall is frequent and heavy; receiving 51.5 snowy days annually, of which can fall in any month.[7] This can cause occasional road closures in the area, even in summer.
Climate data for Miena Dam (1915–1943, rainfall 1889–2022); 1,052 m AMSL; 41.98° S, 146.72° E
Central Highlands Council is a local government body in Tasmania, encompassing the Central Highlands region of the state. Central Highlands is classified as a rural local government area and has a population of 2,144, the two largest towns are Bothwell and Hamilton.
Hydro Tasmania, known for most of its history as the Hydro-Electric Commission (HEC) or The Hydro, is the trading name of the Hydro-Electric Corporation, a Tasmanian Government business enterprise which is the predominant electricity generator in the state of Tasmania, Australia. The Hydro was originally oriented towards hydro-electricity, due to Tasmania's dramatic topography and relatively high rainfall in the central and western parts of the state. Today Hydro Tasmania operates thirty hydro-electric and one gas power station, and is a joint owner in three wind farms.
The Great Lake, officially yingina / Great Lake, is a natural lake and man-made reservoir that is located in the central northern region of Tasmania, Australia.
Waddamana is a rural locality in the local government area (LGA) of Central Highlands in the Central LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about 64 kilometres (40 mi) north of the town of Hamilton. The 2016 census has a population of 4 for the state suburb of Waddamana. It is a former 'hydro-town', at the foot of the southern side of the Central Plateau of Tasmania.
Waddamana Hydro-Electric power station was the first hydro-electric power plant ever operated by the Tasmanian Hydro-Electric Department, opened in 1916.
Central Plateau Conservation Area is an animal and plant conservation area in Tasmania, Australia. It is adjacent to the Walls of Jerusalem National Park.
The Central Highlands is a region in Tasmania, Australia where geographical and administrative boundaries closely coincide. It is also known as The Lake Country of Tasmania.
The Butlers Gorge Power Station is a conventional hydroelectric power station located in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia.
The Catagunya Power Station is a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power station located in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia. The power station is situated on the Lower River Derwent catchment and is owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.
The Wayatinah Power Station is a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power station located in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia. The power station is situated on the Lower River Derwent catchment and is owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.
The Repulse Power Station is a conventional hydroelectric power station located in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia. The power station is situated on the Lower River Derwent catchment and is owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.
The Meadowbank Power Station is a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power station located in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia. The power station is situated on the Lower River Derwent catchment and is owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.
The Tungatinah Power Station is a conventional hydroelectric power station located in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia. The power station is situated on the Upper River Derwent catchment and is owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.
The Lake Echo Power Station is a conventional hydroelectric power station located in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia. The power station is situated on the Upper River Derwent catchment and is owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.
The Poatina Power Station is a conventional hydroelectric power station located in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia. The power station is situated on the Great Lake and South Esk and is owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.
Tarraleah is a rural locality in the local government area (LGA) of Central Highlands in the Central LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about 53 kilometres (33 mi) north-west of the town of Hamilton. The 2016 census has a population of nil for the state suburb of Tarraleah.
Liawenee is a small town in Tasmania, Australia built near Great Lake and the River Ouse, and was established on 11 June 1920. The town is an ex-Hydro village and now a residence for Inland Fisheries Services (IFS) and a Tasmania Police station. It is known for its exceptional fishing at nearby Great Lake and hosts several trout fishing events.
The Arthurs Lake is a man-made reservoir located in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia. The lake was created in the 1920s by the Hydro-Electric Commission of Tasmania damming the Upper Lake River, Blue Lake and Sand Lake as well as the Morass Marsh. The principal purpose of the lake is to support the generation of hydroelectricity.
The Tods Corner Power Station is a pumped-storage hydroelectric power station located in the Central Highlands region of Tasmania, Australia. The power station is situated on the Great Lake and South Esk catchment and is owned and operated by Hydro Tasmania.
Lake Mackenzie is a lake in the Central Highlands area of Tasmania, Australia. The lake is formed by a dam and is part of Tasmania's hydro electric scheme operated by Hydro Tasmania.
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