1. Origins

2. Geography

3. Climate

4. References

Liawenee and the surrounding Miena Dam area are amongst the coldest permanently inhabited places in Australia.

Origins

Liawenee's name was derived from a Tasmanian Aboriginal word meaning "frigid". It was founded in June 1920{{dubious|date=July 2012}} as a camp for the workers at the nearby hydroelectric undertaking as well as some other towns such as Miena. In its humble beginnings, the population consisted entirely of the workers at the hydroelectric plant and their families; the houses were wood and canvas.^[4] In this time, the camp boasted three cottages where married couples lived, and a so-called hospital that was only twice the size of a house, making it more of a first-aid clinic. The original layout included blacksmiths, bakeries and a chaff store which made up the requirements for a workforce making it a work camp rather than a village. During the Second World War the town became much larger, but settlers consisted mainly of men who were paid for their work yet could find no place to spend the money, nor a place to deliver mail.^[5]

The first Liawenee Post Office opened on 1 October 1919 and closed in 1922. The second opened on 2 February 1948 but closed in 1953.^[6] At present,{{When|date=December 2016}} Liawenee consists of a police station and several buildings.

Geography

Liawenee is located along the Lake highway among the central Tasmanian mountains. The mountains surrounding Liawenee include Split Rock, Willow Run Hill, Headlam Hill and McDowall Hill, with the latter being the tallest. It is known as the twelfth-highest locality in Tasmania and the nearest beach is {{convert|100|km|mi|abbr=off}} west-south-west from Liawenee's centre. The rough terrain suits bush-walking and mountain biking, except during winter, and the nearest populated area is Miena, about 13 km south. The section of the highway to Miena was sealed during 2015.

Climate

Owing to its high-elevation location in the far south of Australia, Liawenee's climate is on the border between an oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) and a subpolar oceanic climate (Köppen Cfc). February temperatures range between {{convert|5|C}} and {{convert|18|C}}, which is colder than most mainland Australian winters south of about Geraldton in Western Australia.^[8] Even though summers are cool to mild, occasionally a northerly wind causes temperatures to climb into the mid- to high twenties but rarely into the thirties. The coldest day on record was on 9 July 1997, when the temperature did not rise above {{convert|-2.0|C|}}. A record low of {{convert|-12.1|C}} was recorded at Liawenee on the morning of 9 July 2013. Days below {{convert|10|C}} have been recorded in summer, with the coldest day in summer being {{convert|6|°C|°F}}, recorded on 8 January 1994.^[9] The town spends an annual average of only 0.7 days above {{convert|30|C|}} but in contrast spends 210.2 days below {{convert|2|C}}, with 142.4 below freezing.

There are about 136 cloudy days a year, which peaks in July at 16 days and drops to an average of 8 days in January. There are about 182 days of measurable precipitation each year. The humidity is high but the lack of warm weather means that it rarely becomes uncomfortable. The annual mean 9am humidity is 82% and the annual mean 3pm humidity is 67%.

Liawenee and surrounding Miena Dam experience annual mean maximum temperatures of {{Convert|12.6|C}}^[9] and {{Convert|10.1|C}}^[10], respectively, and are thus amongst the coldest permanently inhabited places in Australia; irrespective of Miena Dam Liawenee is colder on this metric than notable mainland sites of a similar elevation such as Nimmitabel ({{Convert|15.6|C}})^[11] and Cooma ({{Convert|19.4|C}})^[12] as well as Thredbo village ({{Convert|13.5|C}})^[13] – a station of considerably greater elevation (1380m AMSL). Within Tasmania, only the uninhabited summits of Mount Wellington (Kunanyi) and Mount Read record lower annual mean maximum temperatures ({{Convert|7.8|C}}^[14] and {{Convert|8.7|C}}^[15], respectively) although other mountains of Tasmania that currently lack weather stations are very likely to also experience similar or colder conditions.

References

• Robert Arthur Gardner
• Robert Arthur Gross
• Robert Arthur Humphreys
• Robert Arthur Johnstone
• Robert Arthur, Jr.
• Robert Arthur King
• Robert Arthur Lloyd
• Robert Arthur Mould
• Robert Arthur Pinker
• Roberta Rudnick
• Robert Asa Crook
• Roberta Salter
• Robert Asaro-Angelo
• Robert A. Seiple
• Robert Asencio
• Robert A. Sengstacke
• Roberta Sessoli
• Robert A. Sheffey
• Robert Ash (engineer)
• Roberta Shepherd
• Robert Asher
• Robert Asher (disambiguation)
• Roberta Sheridan
• Robert A. Sherman
• Robert Ashforth