One of our sons face-timed his dad for his birthday, but we were in the car on our way to Waratah for the weekend.
"I hope you've got a good book" he chuckled. Oh dear, the boys been out of Tasmania too long.
Waratah:
Well, actually, a weekend wasn't long enough. We missed the Athenaeum Hall, the museum, the Philosophers hut, the church/gallery, the cemetery and the walk to the old 1890's hydro power scheme site. Our intention this trip was to go to Magnet, the old silver lead mining town a few miles down the road from Waratah. We booked in to the Bischoff Hotel.
Having recently read Jewelled Nights, a novel written by celebrated author Marie Bjelke-Petersen, I was chuffed to be staying in Room 9 , a room with a perfect view of the town.
In Marie's book, chief protagonist Dick/ Elaine Fleetwood stayed here in a room overlooking the township and waterfall of Waratah while dealing with the heartache of being in love with a man who thought she was a man, and who obviously had feelings for her, even as a man, but really she was a woman cross dressing and mining for osmiridium. Confusing.
Marie herself stayed here while doing her meticulous research for the book. The book was later made into a film, shot on site near Savage River and starring the lovely Louise Lovely, former Tasmanian, but then Hollywood, starlet.
photo:National Film and Sound Archive Australia
Louise Lovely's character Elaine Fleetwood, masquerading as Dick Fleetwood.
But, back to Waratah, actually,back to Magnet. My Dad started going there in the 1980's on little fossicking expeditions. We used to go down with him occasionally with four wheeled motorbikes and explore the old town. One trip he brought back a little kiddies boot, it sat on his bookshelf for many years. It would be about one hundred years old.
Magnet:
You need a good imagination to believe that a town with such facilities that history and photos attest to, existed here in this pretty wooded valley where a creek bubbles and winds through a lovely wilderness of myrtle, sassafras, man fern all covered in soft green moss. It doesn't take long to see plenty of clues though.
Underfoot and littered down the valley are old bottles of all colours and variety (a lot of grog), old bricks, building materials and leather, soles and bits of shoes. And then for the observant, theres trees and plants that don't belong. The first one is an old holly tree that stands in what was the town centre right near the bridge. It has gone strangely feral. Perhaps through being eaten by wallabies, its more like a thicket than a tree, with an umbrella structure and leaves that have all but lost their spiky profile. There are a few palm trees, a daisy bush and a quince bush dropping its sparce load of severely underdeveloped fruit. The willows follow the creek, but are sparce, distorted into strange shapes and haven't choked the creek like they do in other Tasmanian waterways.
......and even a finely preserved set of old boots sitting there as if the miner came home from work one night, took his shoes off at the door and never came back for them.
I'd booked a tour with Tarkine Magnet Tours. Even though I'd been to Magnet quite a few times, this was a wonderful tour. Paul, the guide, knows details of the town's history, has old photos and shows us tourists the sites of the churches, the school, the hospital, the hotel and the tennis court, and happily shares his stories with the punters.
town centre and bridge photo: www.miningmayhem.com.au
Magnet Catholic Church. Source tasmanianpioneers.com:Weekly Courier,linc
I would thoroughly recommend this tour to everyone, worth every dollar and every minute. But lets just keep it between ourselves because we don't want the masses to discover our special, secret places ;)
I'm left with questions about Magnet, the main one being why did they leave behind so many shoes?
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