Liawenee, Tasmania
Liawenee is a small town in the central highlands of Tasmania. It is an Tasmanian Indigenous name that means ‘frigid’. This is very fitting as Liawenee is classed as one of the coldest permanently inhabited places in Australia.
History
Established in the 1920’s, as a camp for the construction of the hydro-electric dam, Liawenee was home to the workers and their families. Originally it only consisted of a few cottages and the remainder of the accommodation was canvas tents. An interesting choice of accommodation in a location where snow is frequent in winter.
At the moment, Liawenee consists of only a police station and several other buildings.
Location
Liawenee is located on the Lake Highway in the ccentral highlands of Tasmania. It is a small town that you pass through as you head further south to Miena and access to the Great Lake.
Climate
Due to its high elevation, Liawenee is one of the coldest places in Australia. Temperatures range from 5C to 18C in summer and between -2C and 6C during winter.
Liawenee Canal
The canal connects Lake Augusta and the Great lake in the Tasmanian central highlands. Since the late 1800’s, trout have been grown in Tasmania and the lakes of the central highlands are stocked with Rainbow and Brown Trout as well as Atlantic salmon. Annually, the fish migrate from the Great Lake to Lake Augusta via the Liawenee canal.
The fisheries department in Tasmania have installed a fish trap on the canal to capture some of the fish as they move up the canal to spawn. These fish are stripped of their eggs and sperm and released, unharmed, back into the water to resume their journey. I have been to this annual event a few times and if you are in the area at the time, head to Liawenee for a look at trout in their thousands.
The eggs and sperm are then used to produce hatchlings at the Salmon Ponds Plenty in the states south. These hatchlings are then used to re-populate the waters around the state.
You can purchase a fishing licence to fish for trout in these waterways at specific times throughout the year.
Memories
Some of my fondest memories as a kid were visiting my Pop’s shack in the central highlands to go fishing. Every time we visited, we would stop at the Liawenee canal as a stopover and for a toilet break. One year, the trout were spawning and my Pop told us he could catch a fish with his hands. Not believing him for a second, he often told ‘porkies’, we watched, in amazement. He slowly slipped his hand into the frigid water and we watched in awe as he swiftly grabbed a large brown trout from the water. We all ran over to touch it and then he returned it to the canal to continue its trip.
Fishing at the Lakes in Tasmania always brings back fond memories and reaching Liawenee on the central plateau always meant we were not far from the shack. Some of my fondest childhood memories are from this area, one of the coldest places in Australia.
