| Type: | town |
| Mathinna | |
| State: | tas |
| Coordinates: | -41.4768°N 147.8886°W |
| Pushpin Label Position: | top |
| Lga: | Break O'Day Council |
| Postcode: | 7214 |
| Pop: | 131 |
| Pop Footnotes: | [1] |
| Area: | 1370.4 |
| Density: | 0.2 |
| Elevation: | 300 |
| Stategov: | Lyons |
| Fedgov: | Lyons |
| Dist1: | 63 |
| Location1: | Launceston |
| Dist2: | 133 |
| Location2: | Devonport |
| Dist3: | 160 |
| Location3: | Hobart |
| Region: | North-east |
| Location4: | St Helens |
| Dist4: | 83 |
| Dir4: | SW |
| Near-Nw: | Alberton |
| Near-N: | Pyengana |
| Near-Ne: | St Helens |
| Near-E: | Upper Scamander |
| Near-W: | Upper Esk |
| Near-Sw: | Ben Lomond |
| Near-S: | Fingal, Mangana |
| Near-Se: | St Marys |
Mathinna is a rural locality in the local government areas (LGA) of Break O'Day (97%) and Dorset (3%) in the North-east LGA region of Tasmania. The locality is about south-west of the town of St Helens. The 2016 census recorded a population of 142 for the state suburb of Mathinna.[1]
It is a small Australian town in the north-east of Tasmania, 63 km east of Launceston. It was named after a young Aboriginal girl sent to live with the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Sir John Franklin and his wife, Lady Jane Franklin.[2]
Mathinna was gazetted as a locality in 1976.[3]
The town became established as a gold mining centre, shortly after gold was discovered in the area in the 1890s. The Golden Gate Mine in Mathinna was one of Tasmania's highest-yield gold mines, second only to Beaconsfield. At its peak in the late 1890s, the town sustained a population of over 5,000, including a large number of Chinese miners, making it the third largest town in Tasmania at the time.[4] Melbourne-based mining company Riltec made a failed attempt to re-establish the Golden Gate mine in 1994,[5] although recent gold mining efforts have been more successful, with a production target of 70,000 ounces made for the Mathinna mine in 2006.[6]
Blackboy Post Office opened on 30 June 1870, was renamed Reedy Marsh, Blackboy in 1871 and Mathinna in 1882.[7]
Former Premier of Tasmania Eric Reece, was born in the town in 1909.[8]
The Scamander River forms part of the northern and most of the north-eastern boundaries.
Route B43 (Mathinna Road) enters from the south and runs north-west and west to the village. From there, the road continues west as C401 (Upper Esk Road).[3] [9]