Ask most of us where Seymour is, and you get a blank look.
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You get there by turning right at St Marys and when you hit the coast, go eight kilometres further on to arrive at Seymour, located on Long Point.
Coal was discovered there in the 1840s, possibly by a farmer called Hume.
Dr Joseph Milligan noted coal at both Fingal and Seymour when he did a survey of all Tasmania's coal resources in 1848.
A lease was taken over the area by Algernon Swift in 1860.
He was one of very few recognised experts on coal and iron in the colony and later built a giant iron smelting works at Beaconsfield.
Swift couldn't raise capital to develop the property and in 1861, the Seymour Coal Co. was floated.
They took over the property and employed Swift as manager.
The company worked two seams of coal.
One was at a depth of 35 feet, while the other, which was of a much better quality, was at 162 feet.
In fact, tests showed it to be equal to Newcastle's in terms of quality.
The problem was never the coal, it was always transport.
The company hired two sailing ships and built two jetties, one on each side of Long Point.
If the weather was coming from the north, they used the south jetty.
If from the south, they used the north jetty.
If the weather was from the east, however, there was no protection.
They had a major setback when an easterly gale struck in 1862, sinking one of their ships and beaching the other.
Two crew members were drowned and others only saved by the heroism of a captain.
After this they bought two steamships to take their product to markets in Hobart, Launceston and Melbourne, and begged the government to build a harbour in the area, for them and also for the farming community.
It was considered, but didn't eventuate and the company had to close in 1867.
A new venture was attempted in 1888, when a drilling contractor was engaged to test the resource.
He falsified his results, showing no coal resource, then pegged the ground himself.
His ruse backfired, because he then couldn't raise capital.
In 1928 a Victorian company was floated to take over the ground - Seymour Coal Mines Ltd.
This was a major undertaking, with substantial underground workings and a big wharf built where the old one had been destroyed on the south side of Long Point.
The company was just getting underway when a double disaster hit in 1931.
First a major storm destroyed the wharf then a gelignite explosion killed four men.
With the country in depression, there was no way to recover.
Interest from Goliath Cement at Railton led to a brief reopening by men from Fingal in 1957, trucking output to the railhead at St Marys.
Unfortunately, when Goliath converted to oil in 1964 the last company folded.