Gormanston, Tasmania

Gormanston is a town in Tasmania on the slopes of Mount Owen, above the town of Queenstown in Tasmania's West Coast. At the 2006 census, Gormanston had a population of 167.It lies at the shoulder between Mount Lyell and Mount Owen and is south or "up the hill" from an equally abandoned community, the remains of the townsite of Linda which is at the northern side of the Linda Valley.HistoryIt 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.Mount Lyell Post Office opened on 1 January 1891, was renamed Gormanston in 1894 and closed in 1979.It is the only remaining townsite that lies in effect 'in' the West Coast Range.At the peak of its population and importance, Gormanston had a local government authority based in its town, and 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. The company also had a daily bus to take workers down to the mine and plant in Queenstown.