PHOTO: Queenstown, Tasmania, in all its beauty. Photo: Rodney Triffit
Queenstown in Tasmania is a popular escape destination and not just for those who like the peace and quiet.
The people there love the cool climate – the median temperature only rises above 20 degrees in January and February and the annual rainfall is just a tick over 2400 millimetres.
“Queenie” is home to a close-knit community where most locals enjoy getting among the beauty of nature.
With its surrounding hills and mountains, the town has an abundance of hiking paths, national parks, mountain bike tracks and four-wheel driving trails. It’s known as the gateway to Tassie’s west coast, celebrated for its isolation and rugged terrain.
Queenstown was originally home to the Peerapper and Tommeginne Aboriginals. Macquarie Harbour to the south was a fruitful hunting area for Indigenous tribes with plentiful shellfish and seals, as well as the game they hunted inland using grassland fires to clear the bush.
Evidence of Aboriginal culture still exists along the west coast including shelter sites and middens.
Ever since gold was first discovered in 1881, Queenstown has been known as a mining town. However a tragedy involving the deaths of three local miners at the Mount Lyell copper mine in 2014 came as a huge blow to the community.
