Voyages of the Banyandah

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Port Davey
From Macquarie Harbour Tas. February 2009

Port Davey & Bathurst Harbour

World Heritage National Park
Nearly landlocked waterway surrounded
by ancient Forests and Heath lands


Leaving Macquarie Harbour through 'Hells Gate'	Seals bask in warmth with flippers up as a warning


Lovely to eat, but unknown scaly pelagic fish	One of the largest flocks of wedged tail shearwaters seen in decades

Port Davey - Breaksea Islands act as natural break wall, Bathurst Channel runs in left, Bramble Cove below


Bathurst Channel & Little Woody Island w/ Fairy Prion rookery Banyandah in Wombat Cove, Schooner Cove opposite	Wombat Cove offered us protection from first gale


Cave of Red Ochre Played an important dress and ceremonial role. Mixed with animal fat then applied to the hair and body for decorations and warmth	Inside the cave These layers of mussels are ancient remains from Aborigine feasts

Looking inland towards Melaleuca from atop Mt Misery. White granite pushing up through a mosaic of
green and gold button grass and scrubby forest looking like a net holding the rock from bursting skywards.

Stained by runoff through button grass, the tea coloured water hides all obstructions - Mt Rugby in the distance


Climbing Mt Rugby, 731 metres, must be one thing every visitor does, the track was ground so deep.	Far more dangerous near the top than I had imagined, with heaps of crevasses formed by rasp rough rocks.

Tasmania is blessed with a great variety of wild flowers, these found on the mountainside

Euphrasiach, a herb with lilac flowers having faint striations on the lower three petals	Leptospermum, Pink buds followed by white flowers with green centres	Strawberry pine, a prostrate creeper that appears to have square stems

A near perfect reflection of Mt Rugby on Bathurst Harbour


putting green grass covers the foreshore	Calms following storms bring glorious sunsets

Moonlit stairway pointing down Bathurst Channel


Our visit to Melaleuca - the airstrip and tin mine Deny King built


It took many many years to establish this machinery. All of it transported by small boat from Hobart, then hauled across the boggy plains.

Tin was first discovered near Point Eric in 1891; alluvial tin ideally suited to recovery with pick and shovel that was mined by Deny King’s father, Charles, after the world depression of the 1930’s left him unemployed.

Deny came to help his father several years later and “liked the southwest straightaway. The beautiful scenery, the way the mountains slope down to the sea and the wildness of it all.”

Charles mined tin there for twenty one years. Deny King joined him, first living at Cox Bight on the south coast then alongside the inlet at Melaleuca, for a total of fifty years. While sluicing alluvial tin out the ground, he raised two daughters and campaigned for the area to be protected. Today’s World Heritage listing can be greatly credited to his hospitality and persistent lobbying.

Melalueca Inlet & airstrip - house nearby on Moth creek

Stephens Beach with Hannant Inlet behind - home of Needwonnee People for thousands of years


Midden at far south end of Stephen Bay	saucer shaped abalone amongst warrener spirals, flat scallops and bivalves littering the dune sides