Burnie

For more than 60 years a paper town, Burnie's industrial heritage dominates the city's eastern entrance, sustaining Australia's fifth largest container port and the regional economy.

In the curve of Emu Bay, the mill known simply as 'The Pulp', once employed 3,500 people. But Burnie's history and character extend beyond the mill to embrace a city known for culture, sport and beautiful gardens.

Local musical productions share the stage with visiting performers and the Regional Art Gallery exhibits work from around the nation. In and around the city are public and private gardens that blaze with colour through the seasons; on the outskirts, Annsleigh Gardens and the Emu Valley Rhododendron Garden. A natural amphitheatre of 13 hectares, more than 9,000 plants line the paths and surround the lakes in a superb display of wild and hybrid rhododendrons.

Burnie's busy shopping district leads directly to a board walk on the beach, but once a year is jammed with competition: The Burnie Ten Footrace, among the richest in the nation, draws hundreds of athletes and crowds of spectators every year. But the 'milk run' that ends in Burnie at the Lactos Cheese Factory, has attracted even greater recognition, with some of the finest cheeses tasted at the door, and sold throughout the world.

An historical note:

Burnie was settled before Melbourne in 1828. The Burnie Inn was licensed in 1847 and is the city's oldest standing building. It was relocated from the city centre to Burnie Park in 1973. The first Burnie Ten Footrace was held in 1985.