The Coal River Valley in located in the City of Clarence, Tasmania and is a primarily agrarian area to the west of the city, located between the townships of Cambridge, and Richmond. It is nestled between the Meehan Range, Pitt Water and the Pontos Range.
The Coal River Valley was one of the earliest areas used by the first British settlers outside of Hobart, and the nearby town of Richmond dates from 1823, when a bridge across the Coal River was constructed. The name Coal River comes from the abundant natural source of coal in the area. The first British settlers used the valley as a mixture of grazing, pastureland and crop growing.
Its primary land usage is as vineyards and produces very high quality slow maturing cool weather grapes.
The Coal River Valley is sheltered from the city lights of Hobart by the Meehan Range making it an ideal location for the University of Tasmania's Mount Pleasant radio telescope observatory.
Famous quotes containing the words coal, river and/or valley:
“Coal lay in ledges under the ground since the Flood, until a laborer with pick and windlass brings it to the surface. We may will call it black diamonds. Every basket is power and civilization. For coal is a portable climate.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The mountain may be approached more easily and directly on horseback and on foot from the northeast side, by the Aroostook road, and the Wassataquoik River; but in that case you see much less of the wilderness, none of the glorious river and lake scenery, and have no experience of the batteau and the boatman’s life.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“All the Valley quivered one extended motion, wind
undulating on mossy hills”
—Allen Ginsberg (b. 1926)