Mathinna
Postcode: 7214
Mathinna is a small Australian town located in the north-east of Tasmania, 63 km east of Launceston. It was named after a young Aboriginal girl befriended by the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen’s Land, Sir John Franklin and his wife, Lady Jane Franklin.
The town became established as a gold mining centre, shortly after gold was discovered in the area in the 1890s. The Golden Gate Mine in Mathinna was one of Tasmania’s highest-yield gold mines, second only to Beaconsfield. At its peak in the late 1890s, the town sustained a population of over 5,000, including a large number of Chinese miners, making it the third largest town in Tasmania at the time. Melbourne-based mining company Riltec made a failed attempt to re-establish the Golden Gate mine in 1994, although recent gold mining efforts have been more successful, with a production target of 70,000 ounces made for the Mathinna mine in 2006.
Premier of Tasmania Eric Reece, was born in the town in 1909.