Misplaced Pages

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48-514: The bluffs stretch northwest to southeast over 100 kilometres (62 mi) from the 1,420-metre (4,660 ft) Western Bluff near the town of Mole Creek to the 1,210-metre (3,970 ft) Millers Bluff, approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of Campbell Town . During the late 19th century the Tiers were known as the Great Western Range. The Central Highlands, or Tasmanian central plateau,

96-545: A community maintained swimming pool. Mole Creek's cemetery opened in 1916, serving also Caveside, and remains open. Mole Creek has a hotel, established in 1907, a guest house and restaurant, a swimming pool and adjacent community hall, supermarket, service station, post office and a church. Mole Creek is in the Meander Valley Council local government area , the Division of Lyons—for the state house of assembly and

144-546: A missionary. The church was in the parish of Deloraine and was closed in the early 1990s. Mole Creek's only remaining church is part of the Presbyterian Church of Tasmania , in the Presbytery of Bass. St Andrew's church was consecrated 12 September 1932. It celebrated its 40th anniversary in 1972 and remains in use. The town of Mole Creek lies at 240 metres (790 ft) above sea level. The Mole Creek-Chudleigh karst

192-401: A tree by boring rows of adjacent holes. Orchardists use girdling as a cultural technique to yield larger fruit or to set fruit. In viniculture (grape cultivation) the technique is also called cincturing . Like all vascular plants, trees use two vascular tissues for transportation of water and nutrients: the xylem (also known as the wood ) and the phloem (the innermost layer of

240-589: A volunteer fire brigade . It first ran from 1956 to 1962 and was disbanded due to lack of local interest. A district brigade and fire station had been re-established by 1970. The town had a cricket club by the early 20th century and an Australian rules football club by 1946. The football club still exists and plays in the Leven Football Association. The cricket club plays in the Northern Midlands Cricket Association. The town has

288-415: Is a slow process compared to felling and is often used only when necessary, such as in the removal of an individual tree from an ecologically protected area without damaging surrounding growth. Accidental girdling is also possible and some activities must be performed with care. Saplings which are tied to a supporting stake may unintentionally be girdled as they grow, due to friction caused by contact with

336-451: Is an area underlain by limestone with underground streams, sinkholes and caves. It was formed when Gondwanaland was covered by a shallow sea approximately 500 million years ago. The area has a layer of Ordovician limestone, approximately 100 metres (330 ft) thick covering an area 26 by 10 kilometres (16.2 by 6.2 mi), and other sedimentary rocks. The town is surrounded by a plain underlain by this limestone which crops up through

384-524: Is in the Meander Valley Council area, but with about 3% in the Kentish Council LGA. Australian Aboriginals have lived on the island of Tasmania for thousands of years. The earliest archaeological evidence for Aboriginal habitation of Tasmania is from the valley of the Forth River , 35000 years before the present. Prior to European settlement , Mole Creek, along with much of the surrounding area,

432-496: Is normally only done to healthy trees that did not yield well the previous year. Care must be used not to damage sapwood that may kill the tree or vine . Trees normally heal in four to five weeks after cincturing. Painting the cut can protect against fungus and pests . Various animals can girdle trees through their feeding or others activities. In North America, trees are prone to damage by voles in particular girdling both their roots and trunk. Among North American birds,

480-455: Is so prominent as the older rocks that overlay them are softer and have been eroded away. In places dolerite columns have collapsed into scree slopes . The face of the tiers has been eroded and retreated approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) since their formation, leaving the mountain Quamby Bluff as a solitary outlier. The central plateau's landform has been changed by glaciation. Valleys under

528-525: Is unique to Tasmania and sold internationally. Nearby is the Mole Creek Karst National Park , which includes the show caves Marakoopa Cave and King Solomons Cave. These caves have been popular with tourists for over 100 years. Trowunna Wildlife Park is a 65-acre (26 ha) private sanctuary a short distance on the main road towards Chudleigh. The park contains native Australian animals both in enclosures and free-ranging. It works as part of

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576-566: The Hydroelectric Commission , reached Mole Creek in 1936 and street lighting was installed soon after. Construction of a memorial hall began at the end of 1950, funded by a state government grant of 1000  pounds . A driving force behind construction was the school's lack of a recreation hall forcing them to on occasion rent the Methodist Hall. The Mole Creek bush nursing centre was opened in mid-1944. and came under control of

624-546: The Meander Valley and the northern midlands. The edge of the tiers have prominent cliffs and columns of Jurassic dolerite . The highest peak in the tiers is the 1,444-metre (4,738 ft) Ironstone Mountain . Unlike most of the bluffs this mountain is not visible from the Meander Valley, but is south of the escarpment. The escarpment has a distinct concave profile. Cliffs and scree slopes are common features. The dolerite

672-443: The bark (consisting of cork cambium or "phellogen", phloem , cambium and sometimes also the xylem ) of a branch or trunk of a woody plant . Girdling prevents the tree from sending nutrients from its foliage to its roots, resulting in the death of the tree over time, and it can also prevent flow of nutrients in the other direction depending on how much of the xylem is removed. A branch completely girdled will fail; and, when

720-412: The bark ). Girdling results in the removal of the phloem , and death occurs from the inability of the leaves to transport sugars (primarily sucrose ) to the roots . In this process, the xylem is left untouched, and the tree can usually still temporarily transport water and minerals from the roots to the leaves. Trees normally sprout shoots below the wound; if not, the roots die. Death occurs when

768-420: The carbohydrates produced in the leaves do not go to the roots for storage. Girdling temporarily stops tree growth. Root pruning , an ancient Asian practice, and other controlled damaging, such as driving nails into the trunk or beating the branches and trunk, produce results that are similar to girdling. Girdling is commonly used on grape, avocado , apple , litchi , mango , citrus and other trees. Girdling

816-405: The federal house of representatives — and the state legislative council electoral division of Western Tiers . At the 2011 census , Mole Creek's statistical area—covering 217.2 square kilometres (83.9 sq mi)—had a population of 609 though the town itself had only 230. Ring barking Girdling , also called ring-barking , is the circumferential removal or injury of

864-436: The sapsuckers are the most common girdlers of trees. While sapsuckers will bore holes in tree trunks to feed upon insects, they also make parallel rings of holes in order to eat sap that collects in the openings or to feed it to their young. They most frequently attack pine, birch, maple, spruce and fruit trees and do the most damage during breeding season and territory establishment between February and June. Beavers girdle

912-509: The 1980s the track saw extensive use transporting limestone to South Burnie. The rail extension was closed in 1985 and the track lifted in 1992. The Deloraine Wesleyan district decided, in 1875, to erect a chapel in Mole creek. Construction began on the Methodist (Wesleyan) church, on donated land, and an associated cottage in late 1876. It was completed in 1878, then enlarged in 1880, at which time

960-729: The Launceston Public Hospitals District Board in 1968. The site is now a health centre housing the Mole Creek Child Health Centre and is operated by the Department of Health and Human Services. A rail line was opened in 1890. It ran 20.4 kilometres (12.7 mi) to Mole Creek, through Chudleigh, from a junction near Deloraine on the Western Line . There was a plan to extend the line further west and government surveyors employed to this end. The survey

1008-460: The area are forestry, farming, limestone mining and the R Stephen's honey factory. One of the largest non-farm employers in the area is Unimim Lime Limited. They quarry and process limestone to make quicklime and hydrated lime. As of 2007 they employed 28 people at Mole Creek Mole Creek is well known for its honey and accounts for about 35 percent of Tasmania's honey production including Leatherwood honey—a noted monofloral honey —which

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1056-503: The area has been estimated to drop from 200 to 60 during 1827-30. During the 1820s, the Van Diemen's Land Company cut a stock route from Deloraine to Emu Bay (now known as Burnie ) via Chudleigh and Mole Creek. Prior to this cattlemen had run cattle and built stockman's huts on the land west of Westbury . From the 1820s onwards land grants began being issued as the land was gradually surveyed . A systemic exploration of Mole Creek and

1104-432: The area west was conducted in 1826 by Edward Curr , Joseph Fossey and Henry Hellyer . Mole Creek was originally a mixture of tall forest, plains and boggy marsh . Settlers in the early 19th century cleared the land largely using fire and the ring barking of trees. The land was first held in large leaseholds by the wealthiest in the colony of Tasmania. In the mid-19th century a number of waste lands acts were passed by

1152-593: The bases of stems 3-6 inches in diameter, and girdle the roots of larger trees. This often weakens or kills trees. In the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe, the eastern grey squirrel is also known to girdle or entirely strip bark from trees. Bucks (male deer ) inadvertently girdle trees by rubbing their antlers on trees of various ages. Agrilus biguttatus can girdle trees through their feeding behavior and create zigzag galleries that measure up to 1.5 meters in length. One of several ways rabbits damage

1200-545: The caves underlying the area. The caves of the nearby Mole Creek Karst National Park , which include the show caves Marakoopa Cave and King Solomons Cave, have attracted tourists since the 1850s. Their popularity encouraged the establishment of tourist facilities in Mole Creek including Howe's Boarding House and Lee's Mountain View Guest House. By 1876 the town had a water-powered flour mill and water powered saw mill . At

1248-491: The effort to preserve Tasmanian devils by keeping a population that are free of facial tumour disease , and runs as a training centre for animal handling and animal keeping. Other animals at the park include spotted-tail quolls, eastern quolls, wombats, grey kangaroos, red-necked wallabies, pademelons, potoroos, bettongs, bandicoots, pygmy possums, wedge-tailed eagles, brown falcons, goshawks, owls, green rosellas, black swans, ducks, honeyeaters, wrens and robins. Mole Creek has

1296-529: The factory had 50 hives and was selling honey under the Golden Bee brand. Since 1951 it has concentrated on leatherwood honey. Each year hives are transported to Tasmania's west coast to make honey with the distinctive flavour of leatherwood ( Eucryphia lucida and Eucryphia milliganii ). The Factory and Apiary are provisionally registered on the Tasmanian Heritage Register. It has operated on

1344-510: The government allowing for smaller holdings, opening up the then densely forested land around the town of Mole Creek. Many of these first settlers were farm labourers or ex- convicts , who had worked as labourers or tenant farmers on the larger holdings. The name Mole Creek comes from a nearby stream, recorded as early as the Land Commissioner's reports' maps from 1826-28. This creek flows above ground, and in portions underground through

1392-412: The karst became part of the Mole Creek Karst National Park when it was formed in 1996. The agricultural land around Mole Creek is mostly suited to grazing, intensive in some areas, though some is marginal cropping land that requires careful crop rotation with seasons where the land must be left fallow . Mole creek has a cool temperate climate . The area is notably frosty in winter and experiences

1440-407: The leaves have no sinks but the fruit, which grows to above the normal size. For grapes girdling or cincturing is used to make the grapes large and sweeter on the grape canopy and are sold as girdled grapes . Flowering and fruit setting is a problem on some trees; girdling may improve yield in the same way. The "damage" done by girdling restricts the movement of nutrients to the roots , thus

1488-589: The main trunk of a tree is girdled, the entire tree will die if it cannot regrow from above to bridge the wound. Human practices of girdling include forestry , horticulture , and vandalism . Foresters use the practice of girdling to thin forests . Extensive cankers caused by certain fungi , bacteria or viruses can girdle a trunk or limb. Animals such as rodents will girdle trees by feeding on outer bark, often during winter under snow. Girdling can also be caused by herbivorous mammals feeding on plant bark and by birds and insects, both of which can effectively girdle

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1536-406: The mixed oak woodland. Girdling can be used to create standing dead wood, or snags . This can provide a valuable habitat for a variety of wildlife, including insects and nesting birds. Girdling is also used as a technique to force a fruit-bearing plant to bear larger fruit. A farmer would place a girdle (bark removal) at base of a large branch or at the trunk. Thus, all sugars manufactured by

1584-432: The occasional snowfall. The average rainfall of 1,125 millimetres (44.3 in) is significantly higher than parts of the Meander Valley Council area further to the east. The average rainfall has noticeably declined over the past 3-4 decades. Mole Creek Primary school is a government school for students from kindergarten to grade 6 that has, as of 2015, 76 students. There was a state school in Mole Creek by 1900. It

1632-581: The original building was moved to the rear and used as a supper room. An adjacent church hall was added in 1919. The Wesleyan chapel was rented by the Government for a school from at least June 1879. A new parsonage was built and opened in 1956 but was subsequently sold to Forestry Tasmania in 1972. In 1976, along with most Methodist churches in Australia, it became part of the Uniting Church in Australia . It

1680-489: The overlying sediments. Nearby hills have prominent basalt , limestone and dolerite depending on location. The flats are of alluvial origin with Permian sediments formed from mudstone and sandstone . The karst is riddled with over 400 caves and sinkholes, some of which are open to the public. King Solomon's Cave and the Marakoopa Caves became part of a state cave reserve in 1939. The caves and many other parts of

1728-420: The roots can no longer produce ATP and transport nutrients upwards through the xylem . The formation of new shoots below the wound can be prevented by painting the wound with herbicide. Ring barking techniques have been developed to disrupt or impede sugar transport in phloem, stimulating early flower production and increasing fruiting, and for controlling plant size, reducing the need for pruning. Girdling

1776-480: The same 2-acre (0.81 ha) site since operations began; the oldest building is a c.1920 timber cottage and the prominent façade that faces the main road dates from the 1970s. The factory is run by Stephen's decedents using the "Golden Bee" label introduced in 1930 and the "Golden Nectar" label for leatherwood honey introduced 1951. As of 2010 it was producing 350 tonnes (390 tons) of honey each year and approximately 35% of all Tasmanian honey. Electricity, supplied by

1824-464: The same time a Wesleyan chapel and minister's residence were being constructed. A post office opened on 28 May 1884 though the town remained small. A former resident remembered Mole Creek in the 1890s as "a small bush settlement". Lime kilns were built at Mole Creek in the late 19th century, taking advantage of the extensive limestone in the area. In the early 20th century the opening of some scenic caves for tourism lead to further development in

1872-472: The tie. If ropes are tied frequently to a tree (e.g. to tether an animal or moor a boat), the friction of the rope can also lead to the removal of bark. The practice of girdling has been known in Europe for some time. Another example is the girdling of selected Douglas-fir trees in some Northern California oak woodlands , such as Annadel State Park , in order to prevent that Douglas-fir from massive invasion of

1920-484: The tiers are filled with talus, mostly bounders with a 25% mix of soil formed from boulder weathering. The peaks and bluffs of the Great Western Tiers include: Mole Creek, Tasmania Mole Creek is a town in the upper Mersey Valley , in the central north of Tasmania , Australia . Mole Creek is well known for its honey and accounts for about 35 percent of Tasmania's honey production. The locality

1968-407: The town. King Solomon's Cave was discovered in 1906 and opened for tours in 1908. Marakoopa cave was found in 1910, opened in 1912 and sold to the state tourist department in 1919. Edward Charles James, who had obtained a lease on King Solomon's Cave, built what is now the Mole creek hotel over 1907-8 as a 30-room guest house. Due to some unusual sale conditions he could not serve alcohol. The building

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2016-539: Was also moved and added to those at Mole Creek's school. The primary school services surrounding districts including Chudleigh and Caveside. The nearest high school is in Deloraine . The town is named after Mole Creek, a tributary of the Mersey River . This creek is named due to the way that it appears above ground, descends below ground into the limestone cave system, then reappears multiple times. The main industries in

2064-401: Was cancelled in 1891 and by 1900 there was no longer an expectation that the line would be extended to Tasmania's west coast. Throughout its existence, it carried mostly timber destined for the paper mill at Burnie and, in later days, woodchips for Bell Bay . From the 1920s passenger services, which on occasion ran as far as Devonport , were mostly conducted by railcars . From the 1970s to

2112-543: Was changed to a district or area school in 1936. A single-room school building, and associated teacher's residence, had been constructed over 1892–93 in Caveside . When the school was closed in 1937 the building was moved to Mole Creek in 1938 and used for 'domestic arts' at school. Western Creek, near Meander , had a school from 1893 to 1938. After it closed some students attended Meander's school, but others moved to schools at Mole Creek and Deloraine. This school building

2160-712: Was part of the lands of the Pallittorre Aboriginal tribe. Their range included Deloraine , the face of the Great Western Tiers , and the Gog mountain range to the north of Mole Creek where they mined ochre in the Toolumbunner ochre pits. There is evidence that they had been settled in the Mole Creek area for at least 10,000 years. As Europeans moved onto their land the two groups came into conflict, many Aboriginal people and some Europeans were killed. Their population in

2208-564: Was sold in 1910 to George Lee who ran it as the Mountain View Guest House. A grocery and hardware shop ran from part of the building from 1929 to 1965. In June 1953 the sale conditions were overcome and a licence to serve alcohol was granted. Robert Stephens had kept bees as a hobby. After he returned from service in World War I he continued his interest. He opened a commercial honey production facility in Mole Creek in 1918. By 1923

2256-553: Was still used as of 1996 but was subsequently closed and sold. A news report in 1900 reports that, in addition to the Wesleyan weatherboard church, there was a Baptist church and in 1905 the town had a Seventh-day Adventist church. In the 19th century Anglican services were held in the Wesleyan chapel. St Colombia's Anglican church was built in Mole Creek and dedicated in September 1902 by Bishop Henry Montgomery and Gilbert White,

2304-452: Was uplifted from the lower Meander Valley, most probably in the Eocene epoch though possibly earlier, forming the Tiers' escarpment. The plateau's north-east boundary, which ranges from 760 metres (2,490 ft)–1,500 metres (4,900 ft), originated in extensive Tertiary faulting. This escarpment divides the high, rocky, sparsely inhabited central plateau from the fertile lower land of

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