of prostomid beetle. Mike also found us a 
metallic skink in the log, while Lynne 
augmented the beetle tally for the log when 
she arrived on the scene of the investigations 
once the rest of us had moved on. 
Flowers were rather sparse because of the 
time of year, but silver wattles were flowering 
profusely in places where the forest had once 
been heavily disturbed, turning the hillsides 
yellow. Those of us prepared to get down on 
our hands and knees amidst the squelchy 
litter of the wetter forest were rewarded by 
the sight of flowering stately helmet orchids 
and of maroonhoods in bud. 
Janet kindly sent a copy of her son Tony's 
fascinating Grade 10 English project (1996) on 
the Sandfly Colliery and Tramway. From this I 
learnt that the 12-mile-long, 2-foot gauge 
tramway from North West Bay was originally 
built to serve the coalmining ventures around 
Kaoota, which had started in 1876. 
Construction of the present tramway route 
began in 1905, under the auspices of the 
Sandfly Colliery Company Limited. As a 
transport route for coal (down-slope) and 
other produce (both up- and down-slope), it 
had a chequered history over the ensuing two 
decades, because of insufficient investment 
and changing markets, not helped by 
bushfires in 1917 and 1920 that took out 
bridges along the line. A succession of 
owners, including the State Government 
(through Kingborough Council), only found 
use for the line intermittently. 
Sometimes its main use was for transporting 
coal, other times timber. While coal mining 
continued intermittently at Kaoota up until 
1971, the rails and rolling stock were sold off 
in 1922. Some of this stock found use in the 
Recherche Bay and Ida Bay coal mining and 
carbide industries, while the rest remained at 
Margate, surplus to requirements. 
Orchids 
Stately helmet orchid (Corybos diemenicus), 
maroonhood (Pterostylis pedunculoto), and 
possibly the strap-like leaves and last year's 
flower-spike of purple beard orchid 
(Colochilus robertsonii). 
Tasmanian Field Naturalists Club 
BULLETIN 341 January 2011 p3 
