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Burnie Tasmania
A view of Burnie CBD and ports from a hillside suburb
Burnie
Population:	19,160 [1]
Coordinates:	41°03′49″S 145°53′31″E / 41.06361°S 145.89194°E / -41.06361; 145.89194Coordinates: 41°03′49″S 145°53′31″E / 41.06361°S 145.89194°E / -41.06361; 145.89194
Time zone:  • Summer (DST)	AEST (UTC+10) AEDT (UTC+11)
Location:	47 km (29 mi) from Devonport 134 km (83 mi) from Launceston 154 km (96 mi) from Queenstown 296 km (184 mi) from Hobart
LGA:	City of Burnie
State District:	Braddon
Federal Division:	Braddon

Burnie is a port city on the north-west coast of Tasmania, originally settled in 1827 as Emu Bay. The town was renamed for William Burnie - a director of the Van Diemen's Land Company - in the early 1840s. The city boundary usually includes the outer town of Somerset. Burnie is governed by the City of Burnie Local Government Area.

[edit] Economy

Key Industries: Papermaking; cheesemaking; Burnie port is the fifth largest container port in Australia; heavy machinery manufacturing; forestry; farming.

[edit] Facilities and Education

A wide range of shops and services. Burnie has a well developed central business district with several national retailers operating stores. These include; K-Mart, Coles, Woolworths, & Target. These together with hundreds of secondary specialty retailers make it possible to buy almost anything in Burnie. There are then the "fast food" and takeaway (take-out) restaurants including the multinationals such as; KFC, McDonalds, Subway, Dominos. Coffee and cake (and more) can be had at around 30 or more establishments throughout the CBD. Just outside the CBD there are other major retailers such as; Harvey Norman Superstore, Spotlight, Godfreys. Other amenities include multi-function "Burnie Arts and Function Centre" (formerly known as the Civic Centre), post office, police station, supreme court, public and private hospital, as well as numerous sporting and social organisations. Burnie is also home to the Cradle Coast campus of the University of Tasmania, and, starting in February 2009,^{[dated info]} campuses of the Tasmanian Polytechnic and the Tasmanian Academy.

[edit] Transport

Burnie Airport is located in the adjacent town of Wynyard, a 20 minute drive from the City of Burnie.

Burnie Port is Tasmania's largest general cargo port and Australia's fifth largest container port.^{[citation needed]} It is the nearest Tasmanian port to Melbourne.

Burnie is connected with Devonport via the four lane Bass Highway and a rail link which is used for freight purposes. Burnie is also connected to the West Coast, Tasmania by the Murchison Highway.

Bus service Metro Tasmania provides transport around the city and its suburbs.

[edit] Climate

The average temperature in summer ranges from 12.5 to 21 °C with drier days as warm as 30 °C, with around 16 hours of sunlight per day. In winter, temperature ranges from 6 to 13 °C, and only 8 hours of sunlight. Relative humidity averages over 60% for the year in the afternoon.

Burnie averages 994 mm of rainfall per year. Most of the rain is during the cooler months.

[edit] Sport

Australian rules football is popular in Burnie. The city's team is the Burnie Dockers Football Club in the Tasmanian State League.

Rugby union is also played in Burnie. The local club is the Burnie Rugby Union Club. They are the current Tasmanian Rugby Union Statewide Division Two Premiers and were promoted to the Statewide First Division for the 2009 season. Their nickname is "The Mighty Emus". The club has been in existence since 1953 but at the end of the 1980s, were forced into a temporary absence from all competitions and relinquishing their place in the state-wide First Division.[1] Their home ground is McKenna Park Sporting Complex located on 3 Mile Line.

[edit] Media

The Advocate is the region's newspaper, its mailroom is located in Burnie while press operations were ceased in mid-2008 and relocated to Launceston^{[citation needed]}.

Burnie has access to the ABC, SBS, WIN and Southern Cross television stations. The fifth channel, Tasmanian Digital Television, has recently^[when?] started transmitting from the tower at Round Hill, east of the suburb of South Burnie.

There is one commercial radio station, 7BU at 558 kHz on the mediumwave band. Many Melbourne radio stations can be received in Burnie.^{[citation needed]}

A newspaper also runs from its headquarters located in the city. The Advocate has operated in the city since 1890 and covers the west and north-west of Tasmania.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Notable people from Burnie

• The Bedroom Philosopher, musician and comedian
• Alastair Lynch, Australian rules footballer
• Eddie Jones, rugby union footballer and coach
• Captain K.G. "Ken" Jackson MBE, pioneering aviator, one-time Qantas Airlines chief pilot

Burnie CBD and Port from Wilfred Campbell Memorial Reserve

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Burnie City Council
• Burnie Pioneer Village Museum