Tasmanian Charcoal Iron Company’s Mine

Large colonial engraving depicting charcoal mining in Tasmania. 

The Tasmanian Charcoal Iron Company operated between 1871 and 1874.

In October 1867, under the pseudonym “E.H.”, Enoch Hughes wrote the first of a series of letters to newspapers extolling Newcastle, N.S.W. as a location for an iron works, complete with estimates of production costs.A later letter written by Hughes on the same theme, in May 1872, influenced the formation of a private company, the Tasmanian Charcoal Iron Company, to mine and smelt iron ore in Northern Tasmania.  The two main proponents of the venture, two Tasmanians, James Reid Scott (a local politician) and Thomas Cook Just (a newspaper proprietor and entrepreneur), inspected the iron ore deposit during May 1871. They and three others then each took up adjacent leases of 80 acres—the maximum allowed to one party—together controlling 400 acres that included the ore deposit. Combining with “one or two leading commercial men in Melbourne, represented by Messrs. Lempriere—old Tasmanian residents”, they formed the Tasmanian Charcoal Iron Company. The share capital was fixed at £80,000, in 40,000 shares of £2 each, every share being paid up to £1, with the remaining amount. being left at call

1. PORT LEMPRIERE, SHOWING THE COMPANY’S JETTY.
2. IRON ORE DEPOSIT ON MOUNT VULCAN.
3. CUTTING THROUGH RED OXIDE OF IRON ON MOUNT VULCAN.
4. TRAMWAY LEADING TO THE IRON MINES.

From the original edition of the Illustrated Australian News.|

Collections:
State Library of Victoria: 10381/241686