Strahan
is located on a spectacularly beautiful harbour at the end
of the world . Located 298 km west of Hobart and 41 km from
Queenstown, Strahan lies on the edge of the unspoiled beauty
of Macquarie Harbour.
It is the last outpost of civilisation on the West Coast of
Tasmania.
Sarah
Island was set up as the ultimate penal colony by the British
Government after the area was first explored by James Kelly
in 1815.
There
was obviously a bush fire ranging at the time of his exploration
as he wrote in his journal: "'The whole face of the
coast was on fire, lucky circumstance for us. The smoke was
so thick we could not see a hundred yards ahead of the boat.
On pulling into the 'Narrows' at the small entrance island,
we heard a large number of natives shouting and making a great
noise as if they were hunting kangaroo".
The
penal colony of Sarah Island was established in 1821 and was
known as the most appallingly cruel of all the convict stations
and was finally closed in 1833 with the removal of the last
convicts to Port Arthur.
The
township of Strahan wasn't really founded until 1877. 
Prior to that the small port had been variously known as Long
Bay and Regatta Point but in 1877 it became a vital port for
the tin mines at Mt Heemskirk. It was named after Major George
Strahan who was the Governor of Tasmania from 1881-86. The
town was officially proclaimed in 1892, two years after the
government had constructed a railway from the booming mining
town of Zeehan.
A railway line from Queenstown was opened in 1899. During
this mining boom, Strahan had a population of over 2,000 people
and was the second busiest port in Tasmania.
The
town continued to prosper as a major port until the 1950s
and 1960s. In 1960 the rail link to Zeehan was closed down.
Three years later the same fate befell the Queenstown rail
link (there is still a remnant of the railway line on the
shore near Regatta Point) and in 1969 Mount Lyell Co. started
to send its ore by rail to Burnie. The result was that while
its importance as a port declined the town became a major
tourist centre.
Strahan has always
been a working fishing port. Today, the town’s lobster
boats and long-liners still tie up at the wharf to unload
their catch, not far from Lady Jane Franklin II, the magnificent
Gordon River Cruise boat.
Fresh, sweet
and succulent, a West Coast lobster (Tasmanian crayfish to
the locals) is a rare treat.
In quiet corners
of Macquarie Harbour, the floating rings of marine farms dot
the surface – Tasmanian Atlantic salmon and ocean trout
thrive in the chilly waters. Strahan restaurants offer the
freshest salmon and trout you’ll ever taste direct from
net to plate.