Mount Paris Dam Wall
Mount Paris Dam Wall, on the Mt Paris Road, is the only surviving pillar and slab dam in Tasmania. Built across the Cascade River using only shovels and wheelbarrows in 1937, it was originally named the Morning Star Dam. An 11 Km water race connected it with the Mt Paris Mine. The mine closed in 1970 and the dam fell into disuse. A hole blasted into the 16 metre high wall in 1985 released the water, improving the flow of the Cascade River. In the middle of the dam, most of the vegetation has now grown back, the only indication it was ever any different is the dam wall which still rises starkly before you in the middle of the bush.
How to Get There
Driving from Launceston is a 90 minute drive, while Hobart is three and a half hour drive away. Our day started at St Helens and the Bay of Fires on the east coast and only took one hour. The final part of the drive on Mount Paris Dam Road is on dirt, so be careful and drive to the conditions. The drive takes you through logging areas which are re-growth managed forests, where you will see clear felled trees. You will also see the stages of re-growth where the forestry management have replanted trees for future use.
Car Park and Bush Track
A small sign indicated the direction to a carpark along a small dirt track. From here, a short walk takes you to the dam wall and the Cascade River.
The Dam Wall
The old dam wall stands in stark contrast to the forest growing around it. Now completely surrounded by tall trees and ferns, the concrete wall looks like something from a lost city. The breaches in the wall allow you to walk through to the other side, where the dam once flooded the forest. This area has also regrown so that it is hard to see where it was flooded.
Mount Paris Dam Wall 
The Dam Wall and Cascade River 
Hole in the Mount Paris Dam Wall 
Cascade River Flowing Through the Breach in the Dam Wall 
Ferns Growing Near the Breach in the Dam Wall 
Cascade River Flowing Through the Breach in the Dam Wall
What Did We Think?
This was an amazing stop which we were very pleased to have done. The dam area is quite surreal, because of its large concrete structure in the middle of a forest.
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