Burnie City Council, Tasmania

Burnie is a port city on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia, originally settled in 1827 as Emu Bay. The town was renamed for William Burnie - a director of the Van Diemen's Land Company - in the early 1840s. The city usually includes the outer town of Somerset.

Burnie was originally named Emu Bay due to its location and fauna, and was established in 1827 by the Van Dieman's Land Co. as a town to service local farm areas; the first permanent settlers arrived from England in the vessel Caroline on February 2, 1828. However, Burnie remained small until tin was discovered near Waratah in the 1880s, prompting the Van Diemen's Land Company to construct a tram link from Waratah to Burnie. This eventually grew and became the Emu Bay Railway, which linked Burnie to the west coast mining towns of Zeehan and Rosebery.

Long after mining in the area slowed down, Burnie remained the major deepwater port for the north of Tasmania, with two permanent container ships making daily crossings between it and Melbourne. It has also been the home of a major paper mill from 1938, although operations there have been scaled back significantly since around 2000.

Burnie was declared a city in 1988. However, the population has since decreased, and today the Burnie City Council local government area has a population of 19,030 (2004). Burnie is home to the north west campus of the University of Tasmania, and Hellyer College.

External link

• Burnie City Council