Photos

Melaleuca is a very small settlement in the south west corner of Tasmania. You may have difficulty finding it on a map - it is near Bathurst Harbour and Port Davey in the wilderness South West national park. You have a choice of 3 ways of getting there:
1. Walk for 5 or 6 days using a track around the coast built for ship wrecked sailors
2. Brave the often wild seas and sail there
or
3. Do as I did and join a group flying in in a small plane. It is worth the effort to get there, even if just for a day.

These days Melaleuca's population consists of 2 national park rangers with occasional visits by the owners of the couple of "houses", bird watchers and the short visits of walkers.

This photo shows the jetty that belonged to Deny King who lived in Melaleuca for 50 years doing a bit of tin mining, painting and conservation work as well as raising a family in that isolated spot. He had to walk for 4 hours each way to take out his tin and bring back supplies. Some of his vegetable garden and orchard survive - we ate an apple straight from one of his trees.

The water in the creek (Moth Creek) is nearly black due to tea trees (Leptospermum)and melaleucas. The creek flows into Bathurst Harbour which in turn links with Port Davey and the Southern Ocean.

This photograph is copyright. © Ian Fegent 2013. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction of the image in any form is prohibited. You may not, except with my express written permission, copy, reproduce, download, distribute, use on an internet site or exploit the content.