Gormanston, Tasmania

It was built as the company town for the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company operations at the Iron Blow open cut copper mine and later also became the location of the short lived terminus of the North Mount Lyell Railway at Gormanston railway station before it closed.* {{cite book| author=Rae, Lou|title=The Abt Railway and Railways of the Lyell region | publisher=Lou Rae | location=Sandy Bay|year=2001| isbn=0-9592098-7-5}}

It may have been named in honour of Jenico Preston, 14th Viscount Gormanston, Governor of Tasmania 1893–1900.

Mount Lyell Post Office opened on 1 January 1891, was renamed Gormanston in 1894 and closed in 1979.{{Cite web | last = Premier Postal History | title = Post Office List | publisher = Premier Postal Auctions | url = https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=Tas&country= | access-date = 16 June 2012}}

It is the only remaining townsite that lies in effect 'in' the West Coast Range.

It was a major settlement of employees of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company, especially of those who were employed at parts of its workings that were located in the North Lyell and open cut areas.

At the peak of its population and importance, Gormanston had its own local government authority, of which mine manager R. M. Murray was the long-standing Warden.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68301542 |title=Gormanston Council Mr. R. M. Murray's Record Term as Warden |newspaper=The Advocate (Tasmania) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=14 May 1940 |access-date=19 February 2019 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}

The company also had a daily bus to take workers down to the mine and plant in Queenstown.

It was the nearest community to the 1912 North Mount Lyell Disaster and was used as a base by company officials attending to this disaster.* {{cite book| author=Bradshaw, Noeline| title=The North Lyell Mining Disaster | publisher=Galley Museum Volunteer Committee | location=Queenstown}} (Available at Galley Museum Queenstown)

Considerable numbers of buildings have been removed to other locations, and the local government authority was absorbed into the new 'West Coast Council' and the adjacent Mount Lyell workings have been closed down.

It is the closest settlement to Lake Burbury, a hydro created lake from the damming of the King River.

There are currently no other settlement or other buildings on the Lyell Highway towards Hobart until Derwent Bridge.

There are booklets available in the Galley Museum in Queenstown, that give historical information about the town in its heyday, and in particular lists of registered inhabitants in the early 1900s.

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book| author=Atkinson, H.K.| title=Railway Tickets of Tasmania| year=1991| isbn=0-9598718-7-X}}
• {{cite book| author-link=Geoffrey Blainey|last=Blainey|first=Geoffrey| title= The Peaks of Lyell | edition=6th | publisher=St. David's Park Publishing | location=Hobart| year=2000| isbn=0-7246-2265-9}}
• {{cite book| author=Crawford, Patsy| title=God Bless Little Sister | publisher=Red Hill Books | location=Margate| year=2004| isbn=0-9752152-0-5}}
• {{cite book| author-link = Charles Whitham|last=Whitham|first= Charles| title=Western Tasmania - A land of riches and beauty| edition=Reprint 2003| publisher=Municipality of Queenstown| location=Queenstown| year = 2003}}

• http://www.rootsweb.com/~austas/gormans.htm - for residents in 1910

{{Western Tasmania |state=autocollapse}}

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Category:Mining towns in Tasmania

Category:Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company

Category:West Coast Range

Category:North Mount Lyell Railway

Category:Localities of West Coast Council

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