TASMining
Beaconsfield
A deep gold reef built—and twice revived—a town.
1877Gold reef found · mining town surges
WHAT STARTED IT
William and David Dally found a payable gold reef at Cabbage Tree Hill in 1877. Shafts, batteries and pumping machinery drew miners and businesses to the earlier Brandy Creek settlement.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Renamed Beaconsfield in 1879, it became Tasmania’s richest gold town before water forced the mine to close in 1914. Mining resumed in 1999; a fatal 2006 rockfall and two-week rescue made the town internationally known. The mine closed in 2012.
TURNING POINTS
1877Dally brothers find the gold reef.
1879Town renamed Beaconsfield.
2006Mine rockfall and rescue.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A Tamar Valley residential and visitor town whose mine museum, engine house and shaft structures dominate its identity.