Introduction
In my book “Fires, Farms and Forests”, I dedicated a chapter to outline the construction of a horse-drawn wooden tramway in the mid-late 1870s. The chapter focused on the monumental task of constructing 74 kilometres of a new line through some sections of dense rainforest, all cleared by hand.
As I wrote in the book, I believe it is the longest wooden tramway built in the world.
Image: Wooden trestle bridge over Wey River looking north on the Emu Bay and Mount Bischoff tramway, 1878? (Source: Burnie Regional Museum)
Tasmania’s Emu Bay to Mount Bischoff horse-drawn wooden tramway – is it the longest wooden tramway ever built in Australia or indeed the British Empire?
Chapter 6 of my book ‘Fires, Farms and Forests’ goes into detail about the construction of a wooden tramway from Emu Bay to the western boundary of Surrey Hills that serviced the tin mines at Mount Bischoff.
