BURNIE

town and port, northern Tasmania, Australia. Burnie is situated on Emu Bay at the mouth of the Emu River. Established in 1829 by the Van Diemen's Land Company as Emu Bay Settlement, the settlement was renamed to honour a company director, William Burnie, and was declared a town in 1866. In the 1870s it served as the outport for the tin mine at Mount Bischoff, and it was constituted a municipality in 1908. Burnie lies on the Bass Highway to Launceston (92 miles east) at the junction of the main western and west coast rail lines. Somerset adjoins Burnie to the west. Burnie is the northernmost port served by the Sydney-Tasmania ferry and is the commercial centre for northwestern Tasmania. Its deepwater harbour, the facilities of which were enlarged in the 1960s after the completion of the West Coast Outlet Road, handles containerized cargo, copper, lead, zinc, and tin concentrates and the cereals, potatoes, and livestock produced in the area. Other industries include the manufacture of pulp, paper, hardboard, and titanium-oxide pigments, as well as freezing and canning works. The town hosts a New Years' Day sports carnival, one of the largest of its kind in Australia. Pop. (1986) including Somerset, 20,665; (1991) including Somerset, 20,505.