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Centenary of Lyell DistrictPrint Page 
The "Miners Sunday" sculpture commemorates the pioneers and the centenary of the District.
The area was first explored by Charles Gould in the 1860s but its inhospitable environment deterred settlement and it wasn't until 1881, when Cornelius Lynch found gold in a creek near Queen River, that prospectors and miners began to move into the area. Many of the miners came from the Pieman River diggings to the north. They travelled down the coast to the port at Strahan and walked inland to the diggings.
Two years later three miners - Bill and Mick McDonough and Steve Karlson - discovered the rocky outcrop known as Iron Blow. The find was opened in 1883 and by 1888 the Mount Lyell Gold Mining Co. had been formed. It operated out of a town called Penghana.
Location
| Address: | Driffield Street, Queenstown, 7467 |
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| State: | TAS |
| Area: | AUS |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -42.078512 Long: 145.555725 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Sculpture |
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| Monument Theme: | Landscape |
| Sub-Theme: | Settlement |
| Approx. Event Start Date: | 1883 |
| Approx. Event End Date: | 1983 |
| Artist: | Stephen Walker A. M. (Hobart, TAS) |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Saturday 15th October, 1983 |
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Miners Sunday
This transition from a prospectors camp to a settled community.
Commissioned by the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Co. Ltd. to commemorate the Lyell District Centenary,
15th. October 1983
Cast in Queenstown
Sculptor
Stephen Walker
