Beaconsfield is situated approximately forty kilometres from Launceston in northern Tasmania. Gold was discovered at Cabbage Tree Hill near the present day town of Beaconsfield in 1877. The region contained payable gold deposits and an underground mine, the Tasmanian Gold Mine, was in operation between 1877 and 1914. However there were problems with water extraction from the mine, and a lack of labour as a result of the First World War led to its closure. Other mines continued to operate in the area up until the twenty-first century.
More recently Beaconsfield has been associated with a mining disaster where two miners, (Brant Webb, thirty-seven, and Todd Russell, thirty-four) were trapped underground for fourteen days but amazingly survived their ordeal. The mine was a payable concern, and when considered along with the Henty Gold Mine in the southwest of the state, serves as a reminder of the importance of the mineral industry to Tasmania.
