Lottah was gazetted as a locality in 1969. It was historically known as
Blue Tier Junction. A post office of that name was established in 1877 and renamed "Lottah" in 1895, supposedly an
Aboriginal word for "gum tree". Tin was discovered in Lottah in about 1875. The Anchor Mine became operational in 1880, and the town of Lottah grew up around the mine. At its peak, it had several hundred residents, and community facilities included a school, two hotels, two churches, a bakery, and a football club. Lottah supported a small
Chinese community, and one of its more notable residents was Senator
Thomas Bakhap, who had a Chinese stepfather and worked as an interpreter. People born in Lottah during its heyday include architecture professor
Brian Lewis and RAAF officer
Alan Charlesworth. The Anchor Mine closed in 1950, at which point the town's population had been in decline for several decades. ==Geography==