CosBeauty Magazine #81

Feature
day 7
Burnie & Devonport
Leaving Strahan, it’s a drive straight north
towards the Bass Strait-facing cities of
Burnie (2 hours 15 minutes) and then onto
Devonport (a further 30 minutes).
Burnie (population approaching 30,000) is
a port city on the north-west coast founded
in 1827 as Emu Bay, before being renamed in
the 1840s for William Burnie, a director of
the Van Diemen’s Land Company.
Since the closure of its controversial paper
pulp mill, Burnie has moved on from its
largely industrial past and reinvented itself
as a vibrant and creative city adjacent to a
largely unspoiled coastline.
The best place to see local crafts and
artisans at work is the Makers Workshop
(part contemporary museum, part arts centre,
gallery and craft workshop) where visitors
can meet the ‘makers’ – you’ll find papermaking,
cheese tasting, ceramics, textiles,
glass, print makers, sculptors and many more.
Meanwhile the industrial history of Burnie
can be explored at the Burnie Regional
Museum, where guests wander along a replica
Federation-era street and view how ordinary
citizens lived over 100 years ago.
Fellow port city Devonport (population
30,000+) stands where the Mersey
River meets Bass Strait and hosts the
Spirit Of Tasmania ferry on its voyage
to and from Melbourne.
Maritime history looms large and on
the Devonport waterfront, the Bass Strait
Maritime Centre has extensive exhibits
about early explorers, shipwrecks and
steamers. A highlight is a life size steamer’s
bridge where visitors can take the helm
and steam out of the Mersey; or if you are
feeling brave, steer through the infamous
Rip in a storm at night.
The Devonport Regional Gallery (housed
in an old church) is dedicated to Tasmanian
art. And heritage-listed Home Hill (now
a museum) was the residence of former
Australian Prime Minister Joseph Lyons in
the early 1900s. CBM
www.cosbeauty.com.au 101