Erik Muilenburg has come a long way to finally find his home in Tasmania. Born in the Netherlands in the 1960s, Erik emigrated to Western Australia with his family in the late 1970s before meeting his future wife, Thelma, ten years later. The couple have now been living in Circular Head in far-north-west Tasmania for more than five years, and they love the laid-back lifestyle.
The Muilenburgs had purchased a house in Perth in the late 1980s, “just as the interest rates skyrocketed to 18 per cent,” Erik, then working as a carpenter, recalls. “We had to sell our house and then looked around for a place in which to make a fresh start and live the Australian dream.”
The couple were keen to fi nd a place where they could get away from the hassles of big-city life on the mainland and in 1989 they moved to Launceston. Eleven years later, keen for a career change, Erik enrolled at the University of Tasmania, gaining a degree in Education.
“After graduating from university at the end of 2001, I looked for a job as a mathematics teacher,” Erik explains. “An opening came up here in the Circular Head Christian School, so in February 2002 we moved to Smithton with our four sons. Thelma later got a job at the school as a teacher’s aide.”
The family love the unhurried lifestyle of Circular Head and the extraordinary natural beauty of the State’s far-north-west. Smithton is surrounded by beautiful green farmland, lovely thick forests, beautiful beaches and remarkable seascapes with great thundering surf.

“The most remarkable thing that we find about living in Circular Head is that it has a real country and community atmosphere,” Erik says. “People greet each other in the street. Life in town is relaxed, and if the kids want to go to the cinema or Thelma wants some serious retail therapy, the city of Burnie is less than an hour away.”
The Muilenburgs’ four sons also love the country life. “Our oldest child is still living in Smithton while undertaking a university degree at the University of Tasmania’s Cradle Coast Campus in Burnie, which is less than an hour away,” Erik says. “Our second eldest child has gained full-time employment in an established retail business in town and our two youngest sons are still attending school.”
The family have never regretted moving from Western Australia to Tasmania. “As much as some people are led to believe that Circular Head is isolated, Smithton has all your basic needs with three supermarkets, great cafes to catch up with friends for a coff ee and a variety of boutique shops,” Erik enthuses. “It’s also a great place to bring up children, as the fi nancial pressures of keeping up with busy city lifestyles just don’t exist here.
“It’s great to live in a place where people look out for each other and rally together, especially in times of need, which is something you don’t always get living in the bigger cities. We love it here!”

Head for the Nut

Circular Head’s beautiful coastline is one of the longest in Tasmania and its fertile soils, coupled with a gently undulating landscape, support more than 30 per cent of the State’s dairy farms. The area gained its name from the unusual land formation commonly known as ‘The Nut’ at Stanley, the solidifi ed lava lake of a long-extinct volcano sighted by Bass and Flinders on their historic circumnavigation of Tasmania in 1798.
The municipality off ers a wide variety of work options. Its diverse industries include dairy and prime beef production, commercial fi shing and aquaculture, agriculture, forestry and timber production, iron ore pelletising, vegetable processing, manufacturing and tourism, along with a myriad of supporting businesses. The quality of Circular Head’s land and ocean produce is well-known, with much exported to domestic and international markets.
For locals, Circular Head off ers a variety of competitive sport and general recreation options. During the winter months men’s and women’s hockey is particularly popular, along with football. In the summer, residents take advantage of the long daylight hours and warmer weather, enjoying leisurely walks in rich forests or taking relaxing strolls along the coastline.
There is plenty of culture to be found. Top of the list is the historic colonial township of Stanley, just 15 minutes’ drive from the administrative centre of Smithton. Locals and visitors alike can challenge themselves with a steep walk (or leisurely chairlift ride) to the top of the Nut, or just admire the many historic buildings along the main street. In season, seals, penguins and other wildlife can be seen in their natural environments. Afterwards, enjoy a delicious meal or a coff ee in one of the town’s many cafes.
Circular Head is blessed with some of the world’s cleanest air, courtesy of the Roaring 40s, along with a cool temperate climate and regular rainfall, especially during the winter months. It is home to one of Australia’s largest wind farms, Woolnorth, which supplies 12 per cent of Tasmania’s residential energy needs. At the far north-west tip of the municipality is Australia’s only Baseline Air Pollution Station, Cape Grim, which measures global atmospheric composition. Cape Grim was one of the fi rst fi ve Baseline Stations established worldwide.
Circular Head is located just one hour west of Burnie, one of Tasmania’s largest regional cities. For those heading to the mainland, Burnie-Wynyard Airport provides 55-minute direct flights to Melbourne and beyond.