When the Tassie Ham Conference & Expo wrapped up on Sunday afternoon (7th November 2022), Marija and I headed down to Hobart waterfront and Constitution Dock.

We then visited the Mawson’s Hut Replica Museum. Sir Douglas Mawson(b. 1882. d. 1958) was an Australian geologist, academic, and Antarctic explorer. He was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

Next we walked over to Parliament House Gardens where the 2022 Nepal Festival was in full swing.

We then wandered over to historic Salamanca Place. Salamanca consists of rows of historic sandstone buildings which were formerly warehouses for the Port of Hobart Town. They have been converted into restaurants, galleries, craft shops and offices. Salamanca was named after the 1812 victory of the Duke of Wellington in the Battle of Salamanca in the Spanish province of Salamanca. 

Whilst in Salamanca Place we enjoyed some waffles and ice cream.

We then walked back to our car, stopping briefly to have a look at the very impressive Police boat and a navy ship docked.

As it was such a nice sunny afternoon, Marija and I decided to drive up to the top of Mount Wellington to do a joint activation for the World Wide Flora Fauna (WWFF) program and the Summits On The Air (SOTA) program.

Above:- Map of Tasmania showing the location of Mount Wellington. Map c/o Google maps.

Mount Wellington qualifies for the SOTA program. It is VK7/ SC-001. The summit is 1,270 metres above sea level and is worth 10 points. It has been activated a total of 67 times.

Above:- An aerial view of Mount Wellington and Wellington Park. Image c/o Google maps.

Mount Wellington is known as kunanyi by the indigeneous people of Tasmania. The Tasmanian Goverment in 2013 announced a dual naming policy with Mount Wellington named as one of the inaugural dual named geographical features in Tasmania.

In 1791 the mountain was named Table Mountain by Captain William Bligh and First Lieutenant F.G. Bond for its similarity in appearance to Table Mountain in South Africa.

In 1793 Commodore John Hayes sighted the mountain and named it Skiddaw after the mountain in the Lake district of northwest England.

In 1802 French explored Nicholas Baudin referred to the mountain as ‘Montagne du Plateau’.

However, the British first settled in the Hobart area in 1804 and as a result Flinder’s name of ‘Table Mountain’ became more popular. Table Mountain remained the common name of the mountain until in 1832. At that time it was decided to rename the mountain in honour of the Duke of Wellington (b. 1769. d. 1852).

Above:- Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Image c/o Wikipedia.

The summit is also located within Wellington Park Conservation Area VKFF-2932. The park is Tasmania’s second most visited attraction. Wellington Park is 18,250 hectares in size and is one of Tasmania’s largest reserved areas outside of the Tasmanian World Heritage Area.

Above:- the Wellington Park Conservation Area. Image c/o Google Earth.

Over 500 native species of flora have been recorded in the park, with over 80 species only found in Tasmania. A number of these are of conservation significance.

Native mammals who call the park home include the long–nose potoroo, pademelon, bettong, southern brown and eastern barred bandicoots, brush tail, ring–tail, pygmy and eastern pygmy possums, eastern quoll, platypus and echidna, swamp rat, long-tailed mouse, dusky antechinus and various species of bats. 

The Tasmanian and brown froglet, brown tree frog, southern toadlet, bull frogs, spotted grass frogs and the endangered green and gold frog can be found in the park.

Reptiles which can be located in Wellington Park include blue–tongued lizards, mountain dragons, a variety of skinks, all three of Tasmania’s snakes – the tiger, copperhead and white–lipped snake.

We drove up to the top of Mount Wellington and set up on the rocky area adjacent to the car park. We ran the Yaesu FT857d, 40 watts, and the 20/40/80m linked dipole for this activation.

During our activation we were visited by Hayden VK7HH and Ben VK4UMB. Marija and I convinced Ben to get behind the mic and qualify the park and summit.

We also had some very interested onlookers. This included three couples who were visiting from Singapore. We explained the hobby to them, and after some encouragement one of the gentlemen was game enough to pick up the mic and say hello to some of the amateurs we were working around Australia. It was a good advertisement for the hobby.

Hayden VK7HH took some video of our activation.

It was starting to get extremely cold and the sun was setting so Marija and I decided to pack up. Hayden and Justin had already moved off to a warmer location.

Between the two of us we had 77 QSOs in the log, with contacts into VK1, VK2, VK3, VK4, VK5, VK7, New Zealand, USA, Portugal, Finland, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, and Germany.

The highlight was working Portugal on 40m SSB.

Marija made the following QSOs on 40m SSB:-

1. VK5KG
2. VK2MET
3. VK1AO
4. VK3VIN
5. VK3PF
6. VK4TJ
7. VK3BBB
8. VK2CCP
9. VK4SMA
10. VK5DW
11. VK2EXA
12. VK7TW

I made the following QSOs on 40m SSB:-

1. VK3SGA
2. VK2MET
3. VK1AO
4. VK3ANL
5. VK3BBB
6. VK2CCP
7. VK3PF
8. VK4NH
9. VK4DXA
10. VK2EXA
11. VK3PT
12. VK3MTT
13. VK3UAO
14. VK2WP
15. VK3GJG
16. ZL2ATH
17. KG5CIK
18. VK/DP5LED
19. VK3VIN
20. VK2WOG
21. VK3ZPF
22. VK5BJE
23. VK4KLA
24. VVK4SMA
25. VK4TJ
26. VK5GY
27. VK5KG
28. VK3VKT
29. VK2HRX
30. CT1CJJ
31. VK3FMRC
32. VK5IS
33. VK3APJ
34. VK2IO
35. VK5HS
36. VK3AMO
37. VK3GRX
38. VK3DL
39. VK3SKT
40. VK2HMC
41. VK2YK
42. VK5GA
43. VK3NP
44. VK3DEM
45. VK5HAA
46. VK7CIA
47. VK2MI
48. VK5DW
49. VK2MOP
50. VK5FBIC

I made the following QSOs on 20m SSB:-

1. OH1MM
2. VK4KC
3. VK4MAD
4. VK4DOG
5. EA4FLS
6. VK4TJ
7. F1BLL
8. IW2NXI
9. ON4ON
10. IW2BNA
11. DJ5AV
12. F4WBN
13. DL2ND
14. VK5HS
15. F5JKK

References.

1. Summits On The Air, 2022, <https://www.sota.org.uk/>, viewed 28th December 2022.
2. Wellington Park Management Trust, 2022, <https://wellingtonpark.org.au/the-park>, viewed 28th December 2022.
3. Wikipedia, 2022, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Mawson>, viewed 28th December 2022.
4. Wikipedia, 2022, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamanca_Place>, viewed 28th December 2022.
5. Wikipedia, 2022, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Wellington_(Tasmania)>, viewed 28th December 2022.