Burnie is a port city on the north-west coast of Tasmania, originally settled in 1827 as Emu Bay. The town was renamed for William Burnie - a director of the Van Diemen's Land Company - in the early 1840s. The city boundary usually includes the outer town of Somerset. Burnie is governed by the City of Burnie Local Government Area Burnie is home to the Cradle Coast Campus of the University of Tasmania, and Hellyer College.