Queenstown located in the rugged mountainous west coast of Tasmania was born when gold in decent quantity was first discovered in the area in 1881.
Many diggers soon began to arrive in the hope of making their fortune but getting there was extremely difficult.
With the surrounding bush being so thick that it was almost impenetrable but the lure of gold was a powerful motivator and a shanty town originally called Penghana soon began to grow in the queen river valley.
Within a couple of years alluvial gold was found in creeks running into the nearby Linda valley and a 50 acre lease was pegged out around what would become known as the iron blow.
There was plenty of gold to be found but it was very fine with some prospectors reporting that nearly a quarter of the gold was lost washed straight off the end of their sluices however this didn't deter another significant rush.
Queenstown today is well worth a visit with its surrounding moonscape-like environment caused by copper mining and mass logging in the early 1900s.
An incredible sight the town is also on the edge of Tasmania's world heritage wilderness area and is surrounded by lakes that are excellent for fishing.
Queenstown is a two-hour drive from Bernie on Tasmania's north west coast and a three and a half hour drive from Hobart.
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