PIEMAN RIVER

river, northwestern Tasmania, Australia. It is formed near Tullah by the confluence of the Macintosh and Murchison rivers. The 61-mile- (98-kilometre-) long main stream is fed by the Huskisson and Stanley rivers and then flows generally west to its estuary, which also receives the Donaldson, Whyte, and Savage rivers at Hardwicke Bay on the Indian Ocean. The river was named for an infamous convict, Alexander Pierce (Jimmy the Pieman), who was recaptured at its mouth after escaping from the Macquarie Harbour penal colony. It was the scene of some gold and tin mining during the 1870s and '90s. After 1965 the development of iron-ore mining on the Savage River and increased copper-mining activity at nearby Mount Lyell provided the impetus for the harnessing of the Pieman's hydropower potential. There is a small timber industry based at the port of Corinna on the river's estuary.