The No Town Project

Coal was discovered north of Westport on Mt Rochfort in 1859, but it wasn’t until 1878 that a company raised enough money to begin to extract it. The town of Denniston was established at the top of the famous ‘incline’, a steeply graded incline railway which carried the coal down the hill. The community of Burnett's Face was established in 1886, with the last resident leaving in 1956. With its own school, two hotels, a bakery, three general stores, a butchery, and a fancy goods shop, Burnett's Face was a thriving community with a population of 398 in 1926. Today no buildings remain on the site. For further reading see the Friends of the Hill website.