Low Head is a small hamlet located on a peninsula by the same name 5 km north-west of George Town, Tasmania

George Town, Tasmania

George Town is one of the larger towns in north-east Tasmania, on the eastern bank of the mouth of the Tamar River. At the 2006 census, George Town had a population of 4,266. It is the regional centre of the George Town Council Local Government Area....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. On the mouth of the Tamar River. It is known for its diving off the Low Head Pilots Station. The town has a lighthouse

Lighthouse

A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

, a beach and a penguin

Penguin

Penguins are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have become flippers...

 colony. At the 2006 census

Census in Australia

The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...

, Low Head had a population of 474.

The little town, which could be regarded as almost part of George Town

George Town, Tasmania

George Town is one of the larger towns in north-east Tasmania, on the eastern bank of the mouth of the Tamar River. At the 2006 census, George Town had a population of 4,266. It is the regional centre of the George Town Council Local Government Area....

 is popular during the summer time.

In 1996 the Iron Baron

Iron Baron

MV Iron Baron was a 37,557 dwt bulk carrier built in 1985 and chartered by BHP. On 10 July 1995 it was nearing the end of a voyage transporting 24,000 tonnes of manganese ore from Groote Eylandt via Port Kembla to the port of Launceston in northern Tasmania, Australia. Weather conditions at the...

ran aground on Hebe Reef, off Low Head, causing the worst oil disaster in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

's history.

The Chance Bros. 'Type G' diaphone

Diaphone

For Diaphone, the Noctuid moth species see Diaphone The diaphone was a noisemaking device best known for its use as a foghorn: it could produce deep, powerful tones able to carry a long distance...

 foghorn at Low Head Lighthouse

Low Head Lighthouse

Low Head Lighthouse is located in Low Head, Tasmania, about north of George Town on the east side of the mouth of the Tamar River. It was the third lighthouse to be constructed in Australia, and it is also Australia's oldest continuously used pilot station...

is the only operable horn of its type and is popular with tourists. It is sounded at noon each Sunday.

External links

• Iron Baron - report on oil spill