Cable car plan may go West
High hopes for Mt Owen
WHILE debate on the future of a cable car on Mt Wellington continues, another cableway proposal is on the table for Tasmania’s West Coast.
Mt Owen, near Queenstown, already boasts a mountain bike experience and it may soon have a visitor centre near the top, accessed by cable car.
The proposal, put forward by Queenstown businessman Brett Schulze, would involve a 2.6km cable car ride from a terminal near the Lyell Highway at Karlsons Gap.
Mr Schulze said the proposal, which he says could inject $15m a year into the region’s economy, had already attracted interest from prominent investors.
The cable car would provide better access to Mt Owen’s summit for more extreme pursuits such as mountain bike riding and hang gliding. It would also open it up for walking and scenic tours.
Mr Schulze said he had held a vision for the development for more than a decade. However, he will need to get local mining companies on board.
“For the cable car element to proceed we need a concession to be granted over less than 10ha of land on the corner of the 25sq km mining lease currently held by Vedanta,” he said.
“It has been complicated further by New Century Resources entering an option agreement to purchase the Mt Lyell mine.
“It is unlikely that the land will ever be mined because of its proximity to the Lyell Highway, Queenstown itself and
the Horsetail Falls boardwalk.
“We have had many conversations with the mining lease’s different owners over the years, and have engaged with federal and state politicians at the same time.”
About 760m of the proposed cable car route passes over the mining lease. The balance is on crown land outside the lease.
Mr Schulze said since Mt Lyell closed in 2014 there had been many discussions about the need for the West Coast economy to diversify away from traditional mining.
“Our proposed development will assist this further,” he said.
“Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic we commissioned a latent demand study as part of pre-feasibility. This revealed that 325,000 people travel through Queenstown, and prepandemic a considerable number of those identified by Tasmanian Visitor Survey stopped at Karlsons Gap.”
Mr Schulze said the study also showed the proposal would bring new overnight visitors to the region and create more than 30 direct and 80 indirect jobs.