Pyengana
The more westerly route from Lottah formerly rejoined the Tasman Highway at Little Plain, whence one can look back, towards St Helens, down the verdant Pyengana valley. The dairy farming town of Pyengana wasn't settled permanently until 1875. The trail blazers, literally, were George and Margaret Cotton and their (eventual) family of nine children who moved across from Mathinna to the new rural home they christened "St Columba".
George Cotton was one of the fourteen offspring of Francis and Anna Maria Cotton, of "Kelvedon", Swansea. His wife, Margaret née Connell, originally the family's Irish nursemaid, was strong willed and hard working. Among other farm produce she grew apples, a variety named "Light Fingers", which she sent by ship from the port of St Helens to Melbourne the first such fruit exports from Tasmania. She also named St Columba Falls, after they were discovered by two of her sons.
The history of Pyengana (aboriginal for, 'Land of Two Rivers') is an intriguing chronicle of triumph over adversity, and has been very well documented by the late Gwen Webb in her illustrated publication, "Pyengana A New Country", to which the reader is referred.
When passing through Pyengana, either to or from beautiful St Columba Falls, don't forget to stop for a refreshment break at the 'Pub in the Paddock'. A visit to Healy's cheese factory is also a 'must'. For the more venturesome, it is possible to complete a 'round trip' beyond St Columba Falls to Ralph Falls, thence on to Ringarooma and back to St Helens down the Tasman Highway.
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