{{Use Australian English|date=May 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox Australian place | type = town | name = Trial Harbour | state = tas | coordinates={{Coord|-41.9295|145.1757|format=dms|type:city_region:AU-TAS|display=inline,title}} | image = | caption = | pop = 24 | pop_year = [[2016 Australian census|2016 census]] | pop_footnotes=<ref name=Census2016Y>{{cite web |url=https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC60684?opendocument |title=2016 Census Quick Stats Trial Harbour (Tas.) |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=23 October 2017 |website=quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au |publisher=Australian Bureau of Statistics |access-date=13 September 2020 |quote=}}</ref> | established = | postcode = 7469 | elevation = | region = [[North-west and west LGA Region|North-west and west]] | location1 = [[Zeehan, Tasmania|Zeehan]] | dist1 = 20 | dir1 = SW | lga = [[West Coast Council|West Coast]] | stategov = [[Division of Braddon (state)|Braddon]] | fedgov = [[Division of Braddon|Braddon]] | maxtemp = | mintemp = | rainfall = | near-nw = West Coast | near-n = West Coast | near-ne = West Coast | near-e = [[West Coast, Tasmania|West Coast]] | near-w = [[Southern Ocean]] | near-sw = Southern Ocean | near-s = West Coast | near-se = West Coast }} '''Trial Harbour''' is a rural locality in the local government area (LGA) of [[West Coast Council|West Coast]] in the [[North-west and west LGA Region|North-west and west]] LGA region of [[Tasmania]]. The locality is about {{convert|20|km}} south-west of the town of [[Zeehan, Tasmania|Zeehan]]. The [[2016 Australian census|2016 census]] recorded a population of 24 for the state suburb of Trial Harbour.<ref name=Census2016Y/>
It is a small anchorage on the [[West Coast, Tasmania]] and historical locality, located in the northern part of [[Ocean Beach, Tasmania]]. It was an exposed and particularly vulnerable anchorage which was susceptible to the prevailing local weather of the [[Roaring Forties]], seventeen miles north of Macquarie Heads (the entrance to [[Macquarie Harbour]]).
==History== The locality was named Remine until 1987, when it was renamed. Trial Harbour was gazetted as a locality in 1987.<ref name=Placename>{{cite web |url=https://www.placenames.tas.gov.au/#p1 |title=Placenames Tasmania – Trial Harbour |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= |publisher=Placenames Tasmania |access-date=13 September 2020 |at=Select “Search”, enter "23059S", click “Search”, select row, map is displayed, click “Details”}}</ref>
=== Indigenous usage === Carvings and [[midden]]s were identified in the 1930s and 1990s.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Jones, J. F | title=Aboriginal carvings found at Trial Harbour | publication-date=1937 | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/228843343 | access-date=24 December 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | author1=Jones, Julie | author2=Caville, Jeanymaree | title=Sites at Trial Harbour, West Coast of Tasmania | publication-date=1993 | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/228840566 | access-date=24 December 2019 }}</ref>
=== European usage === It was named after the cutter ''Trial'', which first anchored there in 1881,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38267399 |title=HOBART SHIPPING. |newspaper=[[Launceston Examiner]] |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=10 February 1882 |access-date=25 December 2019 |page=2 |via=Trove }}</ref> and it was established by four Baltic sailors, Gustav Weber, and the three Karlson brothers, Karl, Peter and Steve, otherwise known as the Russian Finns.<ref>[[The Peaks of Lyell]] pp.18 of the fourth edition</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article67117428 |title=The Karlson Brothers. |newspaper=[[The Advocate (Tasmania)|The Advocate (Australia)]] |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=7 January 1924 |access-date=25 December 2019 |page=4 |via=Trove }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232579253 |title=EARLY HISTORY OF MOUNT LYELL. |newspaper=[[The Mount Lyell Standard And Strahan Gazette]] |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=20 February 1897 |access-date=25 December 2019 |page=4 |via=Trove }}</ref>
The harbour was utilised for a short while during the establishment of the early mining communities of [[Zeehan, Tasmania|Zeehan]], and [[Queenstown, Tasmania|Queenstown]], prior to the establishment of the settlements and facilities at [[Strahan, Tasmania|Strahan]] and [[Regatta Point, Tasmania|Regatta Point]]. It came under the control of the [[Port of Hobart|Hobart Marine Board]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12707025 |title=TRIAL HARBOUR. |newspaper=[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]] |location=Hobart, Tas. |date=3 November 1890 |access-date=28 June 2015 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
It had two hotels and other facilities in its early days<ref>page 184 of {{Citation | author1=Atkinson, Sue, (Museum consultant), (compiler.) | title=Tasmania : island of treasures | year=2012 | publication-date=2012 | publisher=40 Degrees South | isbn=978-0-9874468-1-7 }}</ref> and currently it is the location of holiday homes.
It has been also a location on the west coast where whales have been sighted close to shore.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29214631 |title=Whales at Trial Harbour. |newspaper=[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]] |location=Hobart, Tas. |date=22 February 1938 |access-date=28 June 2015 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
Further north along the coast – a similarly dangerous and exposed location was [[Granville Harbour]].
==Geography== The waters of the [[Southern Ocean]] form the western boundary, and the Little Henty River forms most of the southern.<ref>{{google maps|url=https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Trial+Harbour+TAS+7469/@-41.920608,145.1683386,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0xaa64d12b2eb9c15f:0x403c94dd0de02f0!8m2!3d-41.9295278!4d145.1756655 |title=Trial Harbour, Tasmania |access-date=13 September 2020}}</ref>
==Road infrastructure== Route C248 (Trial Harbour Road) enters from east and runs through to the west, where it ends.<ref name=Placename/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/Documents/Route%20Descriptions%20V3.6.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801112712/http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/Documents/Route%20Descriptions%20V3.6.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2017-08-01 |title=Tasmanian Road Route Codes |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=May 2017 |website= |publisher=Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water & Environment |access-date=13 September 2020 |quote=}}</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== * {{cite book| author-link = Charles Whitham|last=Whitham|first= Charles| title=Western Tasmania – A land of riches and beauty| edition=Reprint 2003| publisher=Municipality of Queenstown| location=Queenstown| year = 2003}}
[[Category:Coastline of Tasmania]] [[Category:Localities of West Coast Council]] [[Category:Towns in Tasmania]]