ponrabbel: MUD OR TREASURE

Postcards from Launceston

Mud glorious mud! Launceston's most undervalued 'placescape' is arguably it's mudflats at the head of the Tamar Estuary and the confluence of the two Esk Rivers.

These mudflats are the result of the region's geography despite the myth that they came about through the mismanagement of land by settlers. European settlers have been cursing them since their earliest times on the Tamar,

Indeed, Governor Lachlan Macquarie in his Tasmanian diary he tells us a little about the Tamar's muddy bottom and its history ..."Sunday 15th. Decr. 1811. ... At 2. a.m. this morning weighed anchor and dropped down the River with the Tide, having a Party of the 73d. in the Launch belonging to the Town to assist in towing the Vessel down the River, on account of the Wind being directly against us. We had only dropped down about one mile below the Place we had left when, through the stupidity of the Pilot (Robinson) the Vessel got aground and stuck in the mud close to the Right Bank of the River, where we must ly [sic] till the Tide makes again before we can get off. — At 20 minutes past 1. P.M. The Tide having made we got off at high water, and were towed down about two miles; but the wind being too strong against us, we were obliged to come to anchor again at 10 minutes past 2. P.M. — At 5. P.M. weighed again and dropped down about a mile, but were then again obliged to come to anchor....."

However Tasmania's Aboriginal people must have revelled in these mudflats and the swamps that once adjoined them. In a way they are the making of the 'place' – and Launceston too. For them food must have been bountiful with the abundance of waterfowl, plant life and land animals. This place was quite probably managed – placescaped – in some way by them.

This 'place' and its histories needs to celebrated rather than 'cleaned up'. Groomed yes but lets leave well alone, and the unwell heavy metal deposits and 200 years of accumulated sewage along with it.