Tinderbox Hills

 Tuesday 18 June 2024

In a recent walk to Tinderbox Hills, I discovered that the track now goes through to Mount Louis. It is marked as 4.5k and 1.5 hours one way. However, on rereading the track information on the signage, the end of it was Mount Louis Road and not Mount Louis itself as I assumed. Nevertheless, we did go on to the top and viewed the remains of Mount Louis Signal Station, recorded as a historic Georgian Convict Site, built circa 1823.

Return was via Tinderbox Nature Reserve. This reserve is quite different country with an open grassy top and we descended to reach Magazine Gully as a loop, adding about 2.6k to the walk. In this gully there are old storage facilities for explosives, but beyond them the wide access gave way to a steep bush track, requiring us to have a breather at the top before continuing.

All up a 13.5k, 5 hour walk.

 Information on Magazine Gully below photos.

 

Misty woodland at start of walk

Woodland now in sunshine

 

Trees on hilltop Tinderbox Nature Reserve

Hilltop Tinderbox Nature Reserve

 

Explosives magazine

 

Walk profile   with the steep drop & ascent to & from Magazine Gully

 

 

Text from the information signs in Magazine Gully

 The Tinderbox Nature Reserve was formally the Magazine Reserve’ used primarily by the Mines Department for the storage of explosives. In 2000 the Tinderbox Nature Reserve was created as part of the Regional Forest Agreement process with the Parks and Wildlife Service as the managing authority.

 Along this track are several small historically important buildings from the period the site was used as a powder magazine. The Parks and Wildlife Service have undertaken work to restore a number of the buildings following vandalism. For both safety and conservation reasons do not climb or interfere. With the structures. They are an important cultural asset for future generations.

 Nature reserves such as this play an essential role in providing a refuge for plants and wildlife. Imagine the area around where you live to a time before the first roads were pushed into the area. You may appreciate how our way of living has impinged on the natural environment.

 Fire, weeds, feral animals, noise and other disturbances are stresses which creep in and collectively modify a landscape. Here, in this valley stop, look and listen to the sounds of nature as a refuge to the world we know.

What’s special in this reserve?

 This reserve contains regionally important forests of white gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) and Tasmania’s floral emblem, the blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus).

 These trees help make up the essential habitat required by two bird species endangered with extinction. These are the forty-spotted pardalote (Pardalotus quadragintus) and the swift parrot (lathamus discolor).

 The forty-spotted pardalote only lives in this State and the largest Tasmanian mainland population live and nest in the white gums of this region. They feed on a variety of insects, lerps (a protective insect covering) and manna, the sugary secretion produced by trees in response to insect attack.

 Swift parrots migrate from the mainland each year. They build their nests in the blue gums and only breed in Tasmania. They forage for nectar and pollen, occasionally supplementing their diet with vegetable matter insects and insect larvae,

 CONSTRUCTION of the MAGAZINES

The magazines and associated buildings were built for the Department of Mines. They were designed by the Department of Public Works in 1969 with construction being tendered out to building contractors

One function of the Department of Mines was the safe storage of explosives. Set into the side of the hill, the brick walled buildings are totally encapsulated in concrete except for the front wall containing the door. The Howden Magazine was decommissioned in 1985.

 STORING THE EXPLOSIVES

The magazines are specially designed to create the thick stable environment required for the storage of explosives.

The buildings are well anchored into the ground and solid. The ventilation system is designed to prevent the entry of rain and help maintain stability in air temperature and humidity. Access inside is via a heavy steel-lined fire-resistant door.

Above each of the magazines is a lightning arrestor connected to the ground with a heavy earthing cable. In the event of a strike, the lightning’s energy is directed through the arrestor system rather than passing through the building possibly setting off an explosion.

The 1970’s were a phase in Tasmania’s development where exploration or new areas required the use of explosives for various civil works. These included the construction of roads, mines and dams

Due to dangers involved in moving explosives and detonators, magazines were constructed in strategic locations around the state to minimize handling. The Tinderbox area at the time was relatively uninhabited land and this site was chosen as an ideal location to store explosives required in southern Tasmania. Explosives needed in the north were stored in the Dilston Magazine.

 Explosives were shipped to the Powder Jetty on North West Bay then transported here by road, a distance less than 2km. The movement of explosives on and off site was recorded by the caretaker at the office hut.

 The magazine complex comprised a caretaker’s house (now privately owned), office hut, water closet, and four magazines. These consisted of two larger explosives magazines and two smaller detonator magazines.