Mount Lyell | |
---|---|
Location in Tasmania | |
Highest point | |
Elevation | 917 m (3,009 ft) |
Coordinates | 42°03′00″S145°36′36″E / 42.05000°S 145.61000°E Coordinates: 42°03′00″S145°36′36″E / 42.05000°S 145.61000°E [1] |
Geography | |
Location | Western Tasmania, Australia |
Parent range | West Coast |
Climbing | |
Easiest route | Scramble but not from west (mining area) |
Mount Lyell is a mountain in the West Coast Range of Western Tasmania, Australia.
Mount Lyell has an elevation of 917 metres (3,009 ft) above sea level.[ citation needed ] The adjacent mountains are Mount Sedgwick to the north and Mount Owen to the south.
The mountain was named by Charles Gould in 1863 after geologist Charles Lyell, a supporter of Charles Darwin. [2]
Mount Lyell was also the common short name of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company.
The Mount Lyell company operations centred mainly on the shoulder between Mount Owen and Mount Lyell, and to the western side of the mountain. On the eastern side of the shoulder were the old North Mount Lyell workings, where the 1912 North Mount Lyell Disaster occurred.
There was a small operation in the early days of the mining operation that was on the northern side of Mount Lyell, known as the Comstock mine. In the late twentieth century, just west of the Comstock workings was a section of the mine known as Cape Horn. The western end of the mountain has been named Cape Horn Spur, as the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company had a mine called Cape Horn in the 1970s at the west end of this spur.
A railway line was planned to travel from Linda in the Linda Valley, around the southern, eastern and northern sides of Mount Lyell. The formation was built but the line was never utilised.
The sides of the mountain have been subjected to bush fires, smelter fumes and high rainfall, consequently the resultant vegetation and the legacy of tree stumps give the southern sides of the mountain a unique appearance.
Queenstown is a town in the West Coast region of the island of Tasmania, Australia. It is in a valley on the western slopes of Mount Owen on the West Coast Range.
The King River is a major perennial river in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia.
The West Coast Range is a mountain range located in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia.
Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company was a Tasmanian mining company formed on 29 March 1893, most commonly referred to as Mount Lyell. Mount Lyell was the dominant copper mining company of the West Coast from 1893 to 1994, and was based in Queenstown, Tasmania.
Gormanston is a town in Tasmania on the slopes of Mount Owen, above the town of Queenstown in Tasmania's West Coast. At the 2016 Gormanston had a population of 17.
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.
Mount Jukes is a mountain located on the Jukes Range, a spur off the West Coast Range, in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia.
Pillinger is an abandoned port and townsite in Kelly Basin, on the south eastern side of Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast of Tasmania.
Linda Valley is a valley in the West Coast Range of Tasmania. It was earlier known as the Vale of Chamouni. It is located between Mount Owen and Mount Lyell.
Mount Sedgwick is a mountain located within the West Coast Range, in the West Coast region of Tasmania, Australia.
The mines of the West Coast of Tasmania have a rich historical heritage as well as an important mineralogical value in containing or having had found, specimens of rare and unusual minerals. Also, the various mining fields have important roles in the understanding of the mineralization of the Mount Read Volcanics, and the occurrence of economic minerals.
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.
Linda is the site of an old ghost town in the Linda Valley in the West Coast Range of Tasmania, Australia. It has also been known as Linda Valley.
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.
Iron Blow was the site of the earliest major mining venture at Mount Lyell on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia in 1883.
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.