Surrey Hills come alive

New book sheds light on little- known area of North- West

NOT many Tasmanians would know where Surrey Hills is let alone that it was home to the state’s most isolated town and the world’s longest wooden tramway.

But a new book is s about to change that.

Retired professional forester Robert Onfray’s new book, Fires, Farms s and Forests: a human his- tory of Surrey Hills, northwest Tasmania, will be launched at Burnie’s Arts and Function Centre on Friday.

Some of the facts highlighted included that the wooden tramway built in the late 1870s to service the Mt Bischoff tin mine at Waratah was the world longest and that the Hampshire Hills silver mine — which began operating in 1875 — is likely Australia’s oldest remaining silver workings

Surrey Hills also contains an example of a skin- drying shed built in the early 20th Century by Tasmanians hunters who provided fur from possums and wallabies to the international market

Surrey and Hampshire Hills were first named by the VDL Co’s Henry Hellyer in 1827 when he discovered native grasslands in a sea of rainforest.

He was on a mission to find suitable land to run merino sheep to produce fine wool for the English market.

Hellyer had to fight his way through dense rainforests and horizontal scrub but was rewarded with the sight of a broad plateau supporting large patches of open country.

He described the grasslands he saw as those resembling “a neglected old park in England’ with tall, straight trees ‘ a hundred yards apart.”

Onfray worked at Surrey Hills for more than 14 years as a professional forester and discovered the landscape Hellyer had found was, in fact, a cultural artefact — created by Aborigines through the use of fire.

Another chapter deals with Guildford Junction, the only enduring settlement on Surrey Hills.

Guildford started as a railway camp in 1897 when the line was extended to the West Coast. Despite a short history of 87 years, the town supported some industrious and capable people who had to forge a life in a settlement so remote, that for most of its life, was only accessible by train.

Fettlers, itinerant farmers and hunters, as well as timber workers, all with families, lived at Guildford. It is now a forgotten ghost town.