Wynyard, Tasmania
Encyclopedia
Wynyard is a rural town on the north-west coast of Tasmania
, Australia
. It lies 16 kilometres (10 mi) west of Burnie
on the Bass Highway at the mouth of the Inglis River
.
At the 2006 census
Wynyard had a population of 4,812. It is part of the Waratah-Wynyard Council local government area
and a major regional hub, servicing many of the surrounding rural districts. The largest employer in the town is the cheese factory, owned by the New Zealand dairy company Fonterra.
is the local community radio station on the North-West coast of Tasmania and broadcasts from Wynyard. Many locals volunteer their time at the station.
The town has an annual Christmas parade held on Christmas Eve, a colourful summer fair, and regular markets, on the foreshore, at a site near the airport and a farmers' market at the showground, which backs onto the river.
Wynyard is a good place to start exploration of the north west of Tasmania. There are motels and bed-and-breakfast accommodation, including the very popular Alexandria Bed and Breakfast, which is a beautiful and elegant federation home built in 1905 on the banks of the Inglis River. For those who wish to explore the immediate area, there are Table Cape, the tulip fields in spring, the lighthouse at Table Cape, and from the Tollymore Road from Table Cape to the Bass Highway, views can be enjoyed to the west along the coast as far as The Nut at Stanley, taking in the sweep of coast past Boat Harbour beach and Rocky Cape. From Table Cape itself, views east can on a fine day extend beyond the Dial Range to Low Head and the Asbestos Range. Inland, it is possible to see St Valentines Peak, Black Bluff and on a good day Mount Roland.
The new Tourist Information Centre behind the main shopping area has a complete range of tourist information, its own parking area, and an attractive display. Tourists can book many trips inland from there.
operates scheduled passenger flights to Melbourne at least 4 times a day using small 33 or 34 seat Saab 340
turboprop aircraft. The airport has two runways and is unusual with the secondary runway and a defunct railway line that intersect each other; the line is now in a state of disrepair. Passenger train services run by Tasman Limited from Hobart to Wynyard ceased on 21 July 1978. The service ran daily to and from Hobart with a connection at Western Junction to/from Launceston
. It was a narrow-gauge (3'6" - 1067mm) mostly single-track service.
The first white settlers west of the Inglis River was the King family, that took up land in the early 1840s.
the creator of the Alexander technique
was born on the northern bank of the Inglis River at a settlement called Alexandria, situated about three km upstream from the river mouth. He later moved to Waratah
, Melbourne, London and New York to pursue acting and teaching.
Festival, renamed 'Bloomin' Tulips' in 2004 by the festival committee, is a popular event each year. The festival is one of the town's greatest attractions to tourists, whether from Tasmania itself or from the mainland. The tulip fields are well worth a visit. Most of these are on Table Cape, but others can be seen near the Bass Highway. The area is also famous for its lily fields.
, run by the Burnie Port Authority. This well-used little airport serves the nearby city of Burnie, about 15 minutes' drive east and offers air access to Melbourne, King Island and Devonport. Buses and car-hire facilities are available as well as adequate car parking. The cafeteria and gift shop are close to the waiting area.
By car, Wynyard is approximately two hours' drive west of Launceston
, along the Bass Highway.
Devonport
, the southern terminus of the Spirit of Tasmania
ferry to the mainland, is 40 minutes east by car.
There are bus services to Wynyard from Hobart, Launceston and Devonport.
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It lies 16 kilometres (10 mi) west of Burnie
Burnie, Tasmania
- Sport :Australian rules football is popular in Burnie. The city's team is the Burnie Dockers Football Club in the Tasmanian State League.Rugby union is also played in Burnie. The local club is the Burnie Rugby Union Club. They are the current Tasmanian Rugby Union Statewide Division Two Premiers...
on the Bass Highway at the mouth of the Inglis River
Inglis River
Inglis RiverA river in the north-west region of Tasmania with the mouth opening to the Bass Strait at Wynyard, Tasmania.The town of Wynyard is located on the south bank of the river, with the north shore and headland dominated by the Wynyard golf course....
.
At the 2006 census
Census in Australia
The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...
Wynyard had a population of 4,812. It is part of the Waratah-Wynyard Council local government area
Local Government Areas of Tasmania
- Local Government Areas of Tasmania, Australia :This article also includes lists of towns, suburbs and localities of Tasmania.-Brighton Council:*Hobart suburbs:**Bridgewater - Gagebrook - Old Beach*Brighton*Pontville*Tea Tree-City of Clarence:...
and a major regional hub, servicing many of the surrounding rural districts. The largest employer in the town is the cheese factory, owned by the New Zealand dairy company Fonterra.
Town centre
Free car parking and level walking, along with a wide range of facilities, make Wynyard attractive for weekly shopping. It is an increasingly popular retirement town for the same reason, with a number of new housing developments. The town boasts two fine old churches, including the Alexander North Heritage-listed Anglican church of St Stephen in Dodgin Street. Its clean beaches are particularly good for walking, thanks to firm quartz sand. There are sheltered spots for swimming at 'The Old Port', changing facilities and showers for bathers on the main beach, and good provision for children, including barbecue and picnic areas, playgrounds and a supervised swimming pool, open in the summer school vacations.Coast FM
Coast FMCoast FM Tasmania
Coast FM is a Tasmanian community radio station broadcasting all across the North-West coast from the studio in Wynyard. The station's hosts are predominately volunteers...
is the local community radio station on the North-West coast of Tasmania and broadcasts from Wynyard. Many locals volunteer their time at the station.
Tourism
Wynyard is an increasingly popular tourist centre. Visitors flock to see the local scenic attraction of Table Cape, an extinct volcano with views inland along the north coast and out to Bass Strait. Tours of the Table Cape lighthouse http://www.warwyn.tas.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/DA_9-2010-3.pdf can now be booked. The Lighthouse was commissioned in 1888 and was manned by three keepers until 1920 when it was automated. It has rarely been open to the public, until 2010, after decades of lobbying by the local council and tourism authorities. Federal maritime safety authorities AMSA (Australian Maritime Safety Authority) had been reluctant to open it up to the public but participated in a handover ceremony to allow third-party tourism access in September, 2010. Another remarkable sight nearby is Fossil Bluff, a natural headland fronting onto Bass Strait, where many fossils including Wynyardii bassiana have been found. This was named, but not discovered, by Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer, a controversial scientist who served for many years as president of the Victorian Football League (now AFL). The Inglis River, with its yacht club http://www.wynyardyachtclub.yachting.org.au and anchorage for fishing boats is the most notable feature of Wynyard itself. The Inglis, though, is tidal and subject to fast and dangerous currents, so swimming is only possible at low tide when the flow of water from inland is modest. The first white settlers in the area were the King family, who lived on a seaside parcel of land, now occupied by the Wynyard Golf Club. Family patriarch John King drowned while fording the mouth of the Inglis River in the 1840s. There are, however, good swimming beaches at East Wynyard and the Old Port, close to camp sites with cabin accommodation.The town has an annual Christmas parade held on Christmas Eve, a colourful summer fair, and regular markets, on the foreshore, at a site near the airport and a farmers' market at the showground, which backs onto the river.
Wynyard is a good place to start exploration of the north west of Tasmania. There are motels and bed-and-breakfast accommodation, including the very popular Alexandria Bed and Breakfast, which is a beautiful and elegant federation home built in 1905 on the banks of the Inglis River. For those who wish to explore the immediate area, there are Table Cape, the tulip fields in spring, the lighthouse at Table Cape, and from the Tollymore Road from Table Cape to the Bass Highway, views can be enjoyed to the west along the coast as far as The Nut at Stanley, taking in the sweep of coast past Boat Harbour beach and Rocky Cape. From Table Cape itself, views east can on a fine day extend beyond the Dial Range to Low Head and the Asbestos Range. Inland, it is possible to see St Valentines Peak, Black Bluff and on a good day Mount Roland.
The new Tourist Information Centre behind the main shopping area has a complete range of tourist information, its own parking area, and an attractive display. Tourists can book many trips inland from there.
Transport
Private flights may be booked from Wynyard's own airport (Burnie Airport), including tourist circuits to the Wilderness in the South West and around the locality. Regional Express AirlinesRegional Express Airlines
Regional Express Pty Ltd is an airline based in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia. It operates scheduled regional services. It is Australia's largest regional airline outside the Qantas group of companies and serves New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, North Queensland and Tasmania...
operates scheduled passenger flights to Melbourne at least 4 times a day using small 33 or 34 seat Saab 340
Saab 340
The Saab 340 is a discontinued Swedish two-engine turboprop aircraft designed and initially produced by a partnership between Saab and Fairchild Aircraft in a 65:35 ratio...
turboprop aircraft. The airport has two runways and is unusual with the secondary runway and a defunct railway line that intersect each other; the line is now in a state of disrepair. Passenger train services run by Tasman Limited from Hobart to Wynyard ceased on 21 July 1978. The service ran daily to and from Hobart with a connection at Western Junction to/from Launceston
Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...
. It was a narrow-gauge (3'6" - 1067mm) mostly single-track service.
History
The Tommeginner tribe of Aboriginals traversed the area before and after the arrival of Europeans in the 19th century, living along the coastline, building fish traps at Freestone Cove and hunting for game on the inland coastal plains.The first white settlers west of the Inglis River was the King family, that took up land in the early 1840s.
Notable residents
F. M. AlexanderF. Matthias Alexander
Frederick Matthias Alexander was an Australian actor who developed the educational process that is today called the Alexander Technique – a form of education that is applied to recognize and overcome reactive, habitual limitations in movement and thinking.-Early life:Alexander was born on a...
the creator of the Alexander technique
Alexander Technique
The Alexander Technique teaches the ability to improve physical postural habits, particularly those that have become ingrained and conditioned responses...
was born on the northern bank of the Inglis River at a settlement called Alexandria, situated about three km upstream from the river mouth. He later moved to Waratah
Waratah, Tasmania
Waratah is a town in western Tasmania. It was constructed to support a tin mine at Mount Bischoff. The town is built at the top of a waterfall, and water was diverted from the stream to provide water for mine sluicing and processing. At the 2006 census, Waratah had a population of 227.Tin was...
, Melbourne, London and New York to pursue acting and teaching.
Tulip Festival
The Wynyard TulipTulip
The tulip is a perennial, bulbous plant with showy flowers in the genus Tulipa, which comprises 109 species and belongs to the family Liliaceae. The genus's native range extends from as far west as Southern Europe, North Africa, Anatolia, and Iran to the Northwest of China. The tulip's centre of...
Festival, renamed 'Bloomin' Tulips' in 2004 by the festival committee, is a popular event each year. The festival is one of the town's greatest attractions to tourists, whether from Tasmania itself or from the mainland. The tulip fields are well worth a visit. Most of these are on Table Cape, but others can be seen near the Bass Highway. The area is also famous for its lily fields.
Access
Within walking distance of the centre of Wynyard is Burnie AirportBurnie Airport
- Statistics :Burnie Airport was ranked 47th in Australia for the number of revenue passengers served in financial year 2009-2010.- External links :* *...
, run by the Burnie Port Authority. This well-used little airport serves the nearby city of Burnie, about 15 minutes' drive east and offers air access to Melbourne, King Island and Devonport. Buses and car-hire facilities are available as well as adequate car parking. The cafeteria and gift shop are close to the waiting area.
By car, Wynyard is approximately two hours' drive west of Launceston
Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...
, along the Bass Highway.
Devonport
Devonport, Tasmania
-Sport:The Devonport Football Club is an Australian Rules team competing in the Tasmanian Statewide League. The Devonport Rugby Club is a Rugby Union team competing in the Tasmanian Rugby Union Statewide League...
, the southern terminus of the Spirit of Tasmania
Spirit of Tasmania
Spirit of Tasmania may refer to:* The trading name of TT-Line Pty. Ltd.* One of the following ferries that sailed under the name of Spirit of Tasmania during its careers:** ** ** **...
ferry to the mainland, is 40 minutes east by car.
There are bus services to Wynyard from Hobart, Launceston and Devonport.