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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. ==History == 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.〔Jupp, p.110〕 Prior to European settlement, Mole Creek, along with much of the surrounding area, 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.〔Jupp, p.111〕 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 aboriginals and some Europeans were killed.〔 Their population in the area has been estimated to drop from 200 to 60 during 1827-30.〔Australian Garden History Society, pp.1–4〕 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.〔Evans & Terry, p.9〕 A systemic exploration of Mole Creek and the area west was conducted in 1826 by Edward Curr, Joseph Fossey and Henry Hellyer.〔Evans & Terry, p.20〕 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.〔Evans & Terry, p.33〕 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 the government allowing for smaller holdings, opening up the then densely forested land around the town of Mole Creek.〔Evans & Terry, p.26〕 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 the caves underlying the area.〔Evans & Terry, p.11〕 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.〔Evans & Terry, p.79〕 By 1876 the town had a water-powered flour mill and water powered saw mill. At 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"〔Green, p.4〕 Lime kilns were built at Mole Creek in the late 19th century, taking advantage of the extensive limestone in the area.〔Evans & Terry, p.21〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mole Creek」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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