Document

West Coast Pioneers Museum & Cradle Coast Authority | Project details, ph 03 6227 9917 |

MINING IN A WILD WORLD

CALL FOR MINING HERITAGE TOURISM PROJECTS

$200 000 REWARDNEW OPTIONS FOR HERITAGE TOURISM

OPERATORS TO MEET IN QUEENSTOWN

NEW VENTURES REQUIRED

Over $200,000 is to be allocated to

“Satellite Projects” in Waratah,

Corinna, Tullah, Rosebery and

Queenstown as part of the “Mining Life

in a Wild World” project.

Interpretive themes for each town are

being prepared as we go to press.

Having completed the Interpretive

Plan, the Mining Heritage Management

Committee will identify how these

themes can best be conveyed to visitors

to each of the towns and how to roll

these themes into one experience

under the banner of “Mining Life in a

Wild World”.

Lindsay Kelly of Jaffa Design is

working on the interpretive plan

and his draft recommendations

will be presented to the Mining

Heritage Management Committee

on the 23rd September 2010.

The Mining Strategy, developed

some years ago, that gave birth to

this project called for the

development of new tourism

experiences that would allow

visitors to gain a greater

understanding of the west coast

Mining Towns and the people that

inhabit them. Theatre such as the

former “Boomtown” play, stories

and art depicting life on the west

coast, fossicking tours and tours of

long disused mining towns would

all add to the rich tapestry that is

today’s west coast mining region.

In an effort to seek out potential

opportunities there will be a

Tourism Business Development

meeting held at Penghana,

Queenstown at 3pm on Thursday

23rd September 2010. This

meeting will be open to anyone

interested in starting a tourism

Tourism  Business  Development  Mee2ng  

Penghana,  Queenstown  

3pm  Thursday  23rd  September  2010  

Anyone  in,  or  interested  in  star2ng,  a  tourism  business  who  wishes  to  improve  or  expand  their  business  with  these  new  opportuni2es  should  a=end.For  further  details  phone  

0488  244  023

business or those already in the

tourism industry who wish to

improve or expand their business.

For further information contact

Wayne Bolton, 0488 244 023 or

[email protected]

!

P r o f e s s o r Geoffrey Blainey n e e d s n o introduction to the people of the west coast.

He is one of Australia’s most r e s p e c t e d historians, an au thor w i th an international reputation, and the man who as far back as 1965 explained ‘The Tyranny of Distance’ in Australian history.

But the people of Queenstown have known the professor for longer than this.

Professor Blainey came to Queenstown as a university student during the 1950s. He had the job of gathering the material to write a book about the town and the great mines at its heart.

At that time, Blainey was able to talk to many old-timers who had been on the field from its earliest days and his history was greatly enriched by their firsthand accounts. He also had access to all the company records. The result was his first book, The Peaks of Lyell, It was one of the first comprehensive corporate histories ever written in Australia.

It was an instant success and after 25 editions it is still going strong because it is a g r e a t r e a d , arguably one of the best books e v e r w r i t t e n about Tasmania.

Professor Blainey is still active in national discussion. And later this year he will be returning to Queenstown to revisit the sites of his book, and to record, in situ, some of the best stories from his book.

These audio recordings will be combined with historic images to create a permanent record of this great man’s first, seminal work.

F A M O U S H I S T O R I A N T O

R E V I S I T Q U E E N S T O W N

A N D R E T E L L H I S W O R K F O R F I L M

Return to The Peaks of Lyell

RECOVERING JEWELLED NIGHTS As a result of the promotion of the search for the film Jewelled Nights by ABC radio and inThe Advocate and Mercury newspapers a fascinating amount of information has come forward from right across the west coast community.

Many locals were involved in the creation of this 1925 film, both on set and behind the scenes. Now we have pictures of the hut and letters from its owner. The film was seen in Burnie, Wynyard, Stanley, Sheffield, Smithton, Sisters Creek, Hamilton, Waratah, Strahan, Queenstown and Zeehan in 1926. After that, it disappeared. Is there anyone out there who saw it. Or is there anyone who knows of someone who saw it?

If you have any information or material concerning this lost classic, please contact No Flicker Films on 6227 9917.

The National Film and Sound Archive as well as the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and the local Gallery museum in Queenstown and the Burnie Pioneer’s Village museum have shared their collected works with the project. This beautiful original photograph taken of Louise Lovely on the set at Whyte River was kindly donated to the project by Lillian Williams.

NO FLICKER FILMS

PRESENTS . . .

! Madam Melba’s West Coast

PerformanceCareful research has revealed that Dame Nellie

Melba was heard in The Gaiety.This will come as a surprise to many, including

some historians who scoffed at the suggestion. Melba’s time in Tasmania is remembered in the

Melba line and the Melba Hotel and there are programs for her appearances in Launceston and Hobart, and reports of an impromptu recital from the balcony of a hotel in New Norfolk. Surely she came to the west coast.

Locals swear that their grandparents heard the diva sing in the Gaiety. Some say she sung, others that she came but was too crook to sing. But no photographs of her in the hall, or indeed, any contemporary mention of her visit has been found. Historians conclude that the stories of her appearing in Zeehan are therefore wishful thinking.

But researchers working on this project have discovered an advertisement for, and a review of, a Melba concert in the Gaiety in 1903. The Feyiety project has accessed the wax recordings mentioned, and will remaster them for the Gaiety. Next year the great diva’s voice will again be heard in the Gaiety, just as she was heard so long ago.

To promote existing businesses within the milieu of an old mining world, a poster of old advertisements is being animated and new advertisements made to resemble old ones. One example of an old advertisement and another of a new business are shown here to give you some idea of what can be done—but you have to see the moving picture to fully grasp the potential. Opportunities to advertise your businesses on this exciting animated poster are now open. Contact Wayne Bolton on 0488 244 023.

!

In early April 2011, the Gaiety Theatre will stage a Gala Performance to rival any ever staged—as the old Zeehan & Dundas Herald was fond of saying. The show has as its impresario Iain Lang of the Tasmanian Theatre Company and he will be bringing with him a series of acts the like of which have not been seen in Tasmania for over 100 years. And some never seen before. The night will also include the first screening of a new recreation of the film Jewelled Nights.

West coast residents from Rosebery, Queenstown, Zeehan and further up the coast gathered in the Gaiety for a storytelling weekend in the middle of July. As well as sharing their stories with each other, a lot of the material was captured by film-maker Malcolm Mckinnon. Stories covering the theatre’s days as a Picture Theatre, a Ballroom, a Dance Hall and a sports stadium are now being edited into a set of documentaries. They will find a permanent place in the Gaiety Theatre’s ‘Feyiety’ show at the end of this year.

GRAND OPENINGGALA NIGHT

PRINCIPAL SPONSOR

FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF RESOURCES, ENERGY AND TOURISM MAJOR SPONSORS

CRADLE COAST AUTHORITY WEST COAST PIONEERS MUSEUM

TOURISM TASMANIAProduction by No Flicker Films, Roar Film, Reckless Eye & Digital City

BFI & NFSA partnerships

The research into the history of the Gaiety Theatre has given new insight into the spread of films around the world. It has revealed that the most famous early film in Australian history: The Story of the Kelly Gang played in Zeehan in 1907. This, together with many other films of the era are now stored in archives at the British Film Institute in London and the National Sound and Film Archive in Canberra. Under a generous agreement with the West Coast Pioneers Museum, developed by Andrew Youdell in London, three reels of these remarkable “actuality” films from the early 1900s will be remastered for showing again in The Gaiety. A similar partnership with the National Film and Sound Archive is expected to create a fourth reel featuring footage shot by the famous Launceston vaudeville act: The Marvelous Corrick Family of Entertainers.

C A M E R A F O R A N Y L O C A L S T O R Y

STORY TELLERS TAKE THE STAGE

Gaiety’s History Captured

Margret Coulsen recalls the night a car was driven into the Gaiety to provide illumination for the ball.