Batman Bridge.
This is where we camped. A lovely grassy spot on the Tamar River.
Beaconsfield Mine
& Heritage Centre
We arrived at the Heritage Centre just as an unscheduled tour was commencing, so we tagged along.
The tour was very informative and the displays were interesting and interactive.
The buildings in the picture above are, from the left, the 1905 Grubb Shaft, the Boiler Room and the working, 1904 Hart Shaft. This is a must on your Tassie tour.
The lift structure over the Hart Shaft. The red board to the left of the shaft is the tag board which lets the foremen know who is still down in the mine.
A Manchester delivery truck.
An interactive water wheel.
A push button opens a water gate and turns the wheel which drives a battery stamp used for crushing gold ore.
Unused tap.
A working model water wheel and smelter.
The blacksmith shop.
The wood workers shop.
Portable steam engine.
Rockfall
26th April 2006 a seismic event caused a rockfall in the Hart Shaft killing one miner and trapping two, Todd Russell and Bryant Webb in a small cage.
This is a display created to give the viewer an idea how claustrophobic the area that entrapped Todd and Bryant.
You are invited to crawl into a pipe and stick your head into the void. It is so small and quite unbelievable to think these two men survived for two weeks in there.
" For two weeks Todd and Brant were trapped in a space that if you chained a dog in, it would have been deemed cruel." "Todd's eyes rolled back in his head and he struggled for breath under the crushing rock. Brant clawed at the sharp rocks and dug Todd free."
Chris reading the headline display.
You may remember Richard Carleton of 60 Minutes. This is a memorial placed where he suffered
his fatal heart attack 7th May 2006.
Bradys Lookout on the road to Launceston.
