Tag Archives: Tyndall Beach

An extra historical morsel regarding Browns River which runs out into the Derwent River

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Browns River separates Tyndall Beach (below the Alum Cliffs) from Kingston Beach. On the Kingston side, a plaque remembers Robert Brown.

According to http://www.rampantscotland.com/placenames/placename_hobart.htm  the township of “Browns River was named after the noted Scottish botanist Robert Brown who explored the area a week after Hobart was founded. “  Apparently Hobart (Sullivans Cove) was established on 21 February 1804 (I shall remember the date because it is my birthday – well not the 1804 bit) and therefore before the end of February this ‘township’ of Browns River was in its infancy. A week – ye gods!  How quickly these pioneering settlers got around.  Nothing could happen so fast these days.  But, is the timing true or simply a legend? I don’t know.

The name was changed to Kingston in 1851 by the Governor of Van Diemens Land, Sir William Thomas Denison.  The website http://tasmaniaforeveryone.com/tasmanias-names-the-suburbs-of-hobart suggests “The name Kingston was advocated by the then Police Magistrate, Mr Lucas. Although his exact reason for deciding on the name of Kingston is unknown, there are many theories. His parents, Thomas and Anne Lucas, the district’s first settlers, lived at Norfolk Island before coming to Van Diemen’s Land and the capital of Norfolk Island was Kingston. Another possible reason is that Thomas was born in Surrey, England in a village close to New Kingston. It had been settled in 1808 by Thomas Lucas and his family, who were evacuated from Norfolk Island. He named his property ‘Kingston’, after the settlement on Norfolk Island. “

On through Kingston still heading southwards past Boronia Beach

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I finished my lunch on the south side of Browns River, crossed the pedestrian bridge over Browns River at 12.17 pm then proceeded along Osborne Esplanade (parallel and next to the Derwent River) towards the Kingston shops.  Over Christmas I holidayed in Kingston and my 3 posts titled I am on holiday watching over the Derwent River, Getting out into the air at Kingston Tasmania and Kingston Beach, Tasmania offer more information about this leg of my walk along the Derwent River.

I had the pleasure of meeting with Em for cups of tea and a long happy chat and saying hello to people I knew as they walked past the outdoor café Beachfront 32.  Immensely pleasant.

At 1.52 pm I restarted my walk southwards amidst foreshore joggers, walkers and seagulls – the sun was shining again and my world was warm.

By 1.59 pm I reached the Kingston Beach Sailing Club and could look back northwards across the sweep of water and the arc of Kingston’s white sandy beach.

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The last photo looks north to the headland at the end of Tyndall Beach which was spread at the bottom of the southern end of the Alum Cliffs.

A minute later I reached the Boronia Beach Walking Track and turned left.

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A gentle shady path meandered along above the water and I could hear happy voices on the rocks below.   The views through the trees were spectacular.

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Up above me on my right were large houses with massive picture windows surrounded by high mesh fences. Then the landscape opened out and I could still look northwards to the Alum Cliffs where I had walked during the morning.

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At 2.18 pm I reached a gate marking the entrance to the track down to Boronia Beach, a beach that I had previously not known existed.

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By 2.24 pm I was walking on the beach.

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I remembered the chitons which had featured on a public art work at Taroona Beach and wondered whether they could be found on this beach (refer back to my posting Public art works along the Derwent River –Taroona’s Chiton for more information). I checked the rocks but found none.  I  concluded the chitons must collect together only on the Taroona Beach rocks.

The rock formations at the southern end of the beach were a surprise.  The soft sandstone has been weathered and small caves were formed into the cliff.

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Seeing these caves cast my mind back to Kalambaka in north western Greece. Last year I visited this town and marvelled at the stunning beauties of the Meteora (refer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteora for more information) Below is one of my photos showing the caves in some of the cliffs which hermits used to climb up and live in (and which Roger Moore as James Bond climbed over dramatically in the movie “For Your Eyes Only”).

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Boronia Beach’s caves are smaller and different in many ways from those of the Meteora.  However they surprised me in this tucked away gem of a beach.

For those who loved the photo of mussels growing on Boronia Beach rocks which I provided in an earlier posting about the Stage 12 walk, here is another.

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Five or so minutes later I began the trek uphill out of Boronia Beach under old pine trees.

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I was horrified to see thousands of escaped ‘forget me not’ plants, some flowering as they carpeted lots of the area near the beach and up the hill. I pulled out a few dozen and their roots came out easily but a concerted effort of a few days’ work to remove these before they spread any further is essential if the wild bush is to stay as pure as it can.

A gate half way up the hill let me out onto a continuing walking track at 2.36pm.  Not long after I decided to sit on the steep steps and smell, look and listen to the environment. Very peaceful.

By 2.45pm  I was walking again and a couple of minutes later I reached a gate to exit the entire walking track area.

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The entry was signed but, while the exit was easy, it was entirely unclear whether to turn left or right.  At the end of the dirt road in both directions I could see gates closed over the road.  Murphy’s Law has it that I will often make the wrong choice and it was no different at that point. I chose to walk down to the gate at the bottom of the road but found it entered into private property. Back up the road, lined one side with large girthed pine trees, I walked to the other gate and found no obstacle to walk around it. At 2.54 pm, I was continuing along the road watching a family of magpies fossicking in an open paddock, and later marvelling at an old crab apple and a pear tree both of which were laden with fruit.

At 3 pm I arrived at the junction with Kingston and Blackmans Bay’s main linking road, Roslyn Avenue.  The address for the dirt road on which I had been walking is Roslyn Ave 82-88, and it is directly across from Jindabyne St over the roundabout on Roslyn Ave.  One corner of the intersection is occupied by the Catholic Church of Christ the Priest and the Aloysius Primary School.

Down from the Alum Cliffs onto Tyndall Beach on the edge of the Derwent River

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Discovering the Alum Cliffs had been a goal and now this part of the Stage 12 walk (on the cliffs) along the edge of the Derwent River was coming to an end. At 11.42 am I was walking above Tyndall Beach and a minute later reached the sign indicating a steep pathway leading down to the beach.

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By 11.49am I was walking on the softly squishing expressive white sand. The day was now overcast, but it was refreshing to be at sea/river level again and feel the onshore breeze.  I noticed a track continued at the cliff bottom along a grassy area but chose not to take that route when I saw a sign indicating snakes might be around.

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I have never seen this sign before in Australia.

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I walked along the sand until I reached Browns River, then turned inland along the river until I arrived at the Christopher Johnson Memorial Park with its public toilet, picnic tables and kids play area near the cross bridge.

At midday I stopped for a lunch break on this reserve and watched contented dogs and owners roaming.  A very brave Mr Blue Wren grabbed at insects in the grass around my feet and talked away to me (or someone – never saw Mrs Wren) incessantly. Parts of his wings were iridescent blue in the light of the greying day. I was afraid to move and frighten him away.  Wonderful.

From Hinsby Beach to Blackmans Bay accomplished on Stage 12 yesterday

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The goal of my walk along the Derwent River for Stage 12 was to start at my last stopping point, Bus Stop 30 on the Channel Highway at Taroona on the western shore of the Derwent River, and continue to Blackmans Bay in the local government area of Kingborough.  I did not get as far as expected, but I was satisfied when I finished 2/3 of the way along the Blackman’s Bay Beach.

Over future posts, I will write up the stories of the walk, what I saw and what I experienced, but for now it’s enough to say that I am continuing with this massive project to walk both sides of the Derwent between the mouth and Bridgewater, and then onwards to Lake St Clair.

Yesterday I covered 5 ¾ kilometres of the length of the Derwent River on the western shore (making 35 3/4 kms in total on the western shore), and walked approximately 11 kilometres (making a total of 154 kms to date) to achieve that distance; there were a lot of steep ascents and descents.

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This distance also takes in the streets and paths on which I walked that led to dead ends so that I needed to retrace my footsteps.

The highlights of the walk include finding a way through some of the early part of the almost untracked Alum Cliffs, the delightful walk along the tracked part of the Alum Cliffs, meeting some friendly people along the way, the unusual snake sign at Tyndall Beach, stopping for a long cup of tea in Kingston with a friend, my discovery of another tucked away beach – Boronia Beach, and the Blackmans Bay Blowhole.

There are many memorable images but my favourite for today is one of my photos of mussels growing on the rocks at Boronia Beach.  I have already made it my desktop background image. When enlarged, the blues glow.

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Fundamentally the Stage 12 walk was about forest and water.

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The day started with my being roughly opposite Gellibrand Point at the northern tip of South Arm and finishing opposite the long South Arm Beach.

I intend my next walk will start from where I left off at Blackmans Bay and then continue into the Tinderbox area to Fossil Cove.  But before then I need to record the details of yesterday’s walk.  So Stage 13 will be a while away.

Geological and Social History of our Alum Cliffs

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Patricia Roberts-Thompson (http://taroona.tas.au/assets/document/1354363720-a_walk_along_alum_cliffs.pdf) indicates that the first recorded reference to the Alum Cliffs was in 1847.  She explains that these rocks, Permian mudstone (250 million years old, contain iron pyrites and, as the rock weathers, the pyrite oxidises and produces sulphuric acid which reacts with the limey clay to produce alum. Roberts-Thompson could find no evidence that the alum has been extracted from our cliffs for commercial purposes.

Simon Stephen’s research (http://taroona.tas.au/assets/document/1352547986-geology_reduced.pdf) is in sync with that of Patricia Roberts-Thompson  when he says the mudstone on the Alum Cliffs contains much sulphur so that when struck a strong smell is emitted. “Much of the sulphur manifests itself as a white encrustation on thee sheltered areas of the cliffs. It has a distinct bitter taste…”  (Trust me – I won’t be taking a bite or licking it). Stephen’s article is exceptionally interesting not the least because it pin points a geological fault line which is near Crayfish Point (where I have already walked) and which extends out through the end of Hinsby Beach and then under the water along the Alum Cliffs.  I don’t know if any seismological activity has occurred in my life time there nor whether any is expected. I’d rather nothing happened during my forthcoming Stage 12 walk along the Alum Cliffs.

The Kingborough Council distributes a brochure with the following information: “The route followed by today’s Alum Cliffs Track has long been a coastal path used by local people. In 1988 it was formally developed as part of Australia’s Bicentennial celebrations. In more recent years, Council has upgraded the southern section of the track, which climbs from Tyndall Beach through coastal blue gum forest with tall silver banksias. The track then winds up through silver peppermint bushland, dips into a glorious fern filled gully, before rising again onto headlands for commanding views over Storm Bay and the Derwent Estuary. A new start to the track without steps has now been constructed above Tyndall Beach to make the track accessible to more users. The Alum Cliffs are so named because alum – a compound used in dyeing, tanning and medicinal products – is found in the cliffs.”

It is a shame that all instructions to reach and walk the Alum Cliffs use Kingston Beach in the south as the base to walk north and then return. Websites provide information about multiple entrances along the route at Tyndall Rd, Harpers Rd, Taronga Rd.  Apparently a Metro bus stop is located 100m south of the intersection of Taronga Rd and Channel Highway. I wonder how many people have walked the Alum Cliffs Track from the northern end and, if not, like me would like to read advice about how to tackle the cliffs departing from Hinsby Beach.

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It may be that, on Stage 12, I will start out at the end of the Hinsby Beach and then be forced to retrace my steps, return to the Channel Highway and walk up the winding fairly narrow Highway with no pedestrian walkway until I reach the Brickfields Track. From http://www.greaterhobarttrails.com.au/track/brickfields-track I understand that “the Brickfields Track links between Taronga Rd (adjacent to the Channel Highway) in Bonnet Hill and links to the Alum Cliffs Track. The route of the Brickfields Track takes you through the historic remains of the brick-making area; part of the nearby and short lived 1840’s convict probation station. The track is a mix of narrow bush track and timber boardwalk with some steps along the route.”