For the final part in my series to celebrate Namadgi National Park's 30th birthday (gazetted on October 3, 1984), here are my top 10 historical sites. There is evidence that Aboriginal people were living in the region during the last Ice Age, about 21,000 years ago, while there are tangible traces of early European occupants, including pastoralists, foresters, surveyors, skiers and even astronomers. Take a walk back in time.
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1. Ancient art
Many Canberrans travel as far afield as Kakadu to marvel at Aboriginal rock art, unaware that Namadgi is home to its own Aboriginal heritage sites. Yankee Hat is the most iconic of these and one of the few publicly promoted and accessible sites in south-eastern Australia that isn't enclosed in a mesh cage. The rock shelter is accessed by a relatively easy 6-kilometre (return) walk and features a range of native animals including kangaroos and dingos. Contact the park's visitor centre for more information on visiting Yankee Hat along with details on their indigenous awareness programs. The centre is just to the south of Tharwa on Naas Road, Ph 6207 2900.
2. Beam me up
Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station (or simply HSK to those who worked there) was a NASA tracking station which played a critical role in many space missions, including most famously, the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 when it provided the world with the first pictures of man on the moon. HSK was decommissioned in 1981, its antenna being relocated to the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex at Tidbinbilla. These days, only the concrete foundations (near the end of Apollo road) remain but it's a must-visit for space buffs.
3. Border blazes
Mapping of the ACT's border 1910-1915 is a remarkable story of heroics - of surveyors camped out for months in harsh conditions among rugged mountainous country. Although they are not sign-posted, if you explore Namadgi's far-flung boundaries, you might discover remnants from this survey - border markers, lockspits (lines of stone indicating the direction of the border), cairns, mile markers and blazes. In the 1990s, high country historian Matthew Higgins recorded more than 500 of these while walking much of the surveyors' routes. Unfortunately, many were destroyed in the 2003 fires but those which remain serve as a reminder to the first years of the ACT. Photograph but don't touch them.
4. Tough times
Winding through undulating country in the southern extremity of the park is The Settlers Track, a moderate 9-kilometre walking track which links three huts and provides a window into the remote lives of European settlers in our mountains. Built in 1939 from galvanised iron, Waterhole Hut was designed for passing stockmen and boasts a fireplace (complete with a possum living in the chimney), a dirt floor, no ceiling, a rusting cast iron bed and a number of rusty nails to hang things on. If you look in the main bedroom of the 1916 Westerman's Homestead the timber beams are oddly missing. Apparently in 1922 when Elizabeth Westermans died of tuberculosis, there was a flood and as a result they couldn't transport her body to the cemetery at Adaminaby so ceiling boards were ripped out of the bedroom to hastily construct a coffin and she was buried 150 metres away on the hill. To mark the park's 30th anniversary, the Canberra Bushwalking Club is hosting a free tour along the Settlers Track on Saturday, October 18. Call 0417 222 154 for more information or ddedentz@bigpond.net.au
5. Significant sites
Apart from rock art sites, there are many other Aboriginal heritage sites in Namadgi including axe-grinding grooves, ceremonial stone arrangements and campsites. Today, many of these sites continue to hold considerable significance for Aboriginal people with connections and associations to the broader Namadgi landscape and as such, their locations aren't widely publicised. If you stumble on any of these while exploring the park, please leave them as you find them.
6. Geodetic observatory
Somewhat dwarfed by massive granite boulders which surround it at the end of the Granite Tors walking track in the Orroral Valley is a most unexpected site – a domed circular building. Built in 1974, laser pulses were fired from this geodetic observatory to the moon and bounced back via retro reflector mirrors on the moon's surface. The time it took for the lasers to reflect provided information about the motion of the moon, the rotational wobbles of the earth, continental drift and even the theory of relativity. Amazing! From 1981 it also tracked man-made satellites before its functions were transferred to Mt Stromlo in 1998. The Namadgi Visitor Centre has a brochure on the 7-kilometre return walk which involves some steep sections.
7. Curious fortification
Hidden among the heavily forested hills above Glendale Crossing in central Namadgi is a 30-metre long chest-high dry stone wall the exact origins of which appear to have been lost in the mists of time. Although Val Jeffery of Tharwa reckons "it was part of a boundary fence to keep sheep in a paddock at Gudgenby Station", there are several more fanciful theories, including that it was an elaborate bushranger's hideout. If it was a boundary fence, why was only 30 metres of it made from stone, and why so precisely constructed? It's a mystery waiting to be solved.
8. Land of the giants
Regular readers will be aware of this column's enthusiasm for Bendora Arboretum, established in the mid-1900s primarily to discover more about which exotic tree species were best suited for timber and paper forest plantations in Australia. Among this treasure trove of 52 different species still standing is a small forest of the aptly-named Big cone pine (Pinus coulteri) which produces the biggest (and heaviest) pine cones in the world. Take care as the monster cones can grow as big as footballs and have sharp talons on the end of each scale. Access is by walking around 1½ kilometres along Chalet Road from a locked gate near its junction with Mount Franklin Road. The Bendora Ranger and Friends of ACT Trees are conducting a free tour of the arboretum at 10.30am Sunday, October 19. It's suitable for all ages and involves around 3½ kilometres of walking. Bookings essential on 6207 2900.
9. Snow power
Although the 1938 Mt Franklin Ski Chalet was razed in the 2003 fires, there are still reminders around the site of the pioneering days of skiing in the Brindabellas. One of these is the rusting remains of an Austin A40 which was purchased by a member of the Canberra Alpine Club in 1965 for just £20 in O'Connor after it had been involved in a robbery and was without windows or roof (it had been rolled following the robbery). It was driven to its current resting spot where for a season it powered the ski tow at the top of the Slalom Run. The Mt Franklin car park (sign-posted) is a 20-kilometre drive along the Mt Franklin Road (unsealed).
10. Gudgenby in a Box
When the historic 1845 Gudgenby Homestead was demolished in 1964, parts of it was crammed into a shipping container where it didn't see the light of day for almost 50 years, until last year it was transformed into a the "Gudgenby in a box" exhibit. Rangers used traditional methods to build a facade from the original slabs and frames of the hut. Its earthen walls mimic a popular construction method used by local settlers, but also have a modern touch with "QR codes" embedded in them. Scanning the codes on a smart phone reveals the exact locations of other pre-1913 buildings on Google maps. "Gudgenby in a box" is a short walk from the Namadgi Visitors Centre towards Mt Tennant.
Simulacra corner
Aranda alien
While recently strolling through the Aranda bushland, Colin Macdonald noticed a pair of sunglasses which someone "had attached to a straight-trunked stringybark, no doubt in the hope that their owner would see them and recover them".
After "seeing" a naturally-occurring face on a nearby tree trunk, the mischievous Macdonald couldn't resist moving the sunnies and snapping a photo for this column.
Contact Tim: Email: timtheyowieman@bigpond.com or Twitter: @TimYowie or write to me c/o The Canberra Times, 9 Pirie Street, Fyshwick. A selection of past columns is available atcanberratimes.com.au/act-news/by/tim-the-yowie-man.
Where in Canberra?
Cryptic Clue: Mr Bean was here (a long time ago)
Degree of difficulty: Medium-Hard
Last week: Congratulations to Anna Vincent, of Bibbenluke (near Bombala in southern NSW), who was the first to correctly identify last week's photo as the Olympia Theatre building in Forbes Street, Bombala. The historic 1931 cinema with its nickelodeon style facade closed its doors in 1984 and according to Anna "it's currently a gym, and is very popular with the whole community".
My Bibbenluke correspondent beat an avalanche of correct answers to lob into my inbox at the stroke of 10am, including Helen Hepburn of O'Connor who drives past it every week en route to visit her 99-year-old mother in Bombala and Yvette Martin of Banks who recalls the cinema was previously painted "in a lovely shade of apricot". The photo bought back a flood of memories for Bombala-born octogenarian Cres Roberts, now of Yass, who recalls seeing many a film at the old cinema, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the late 1930s.
Last week's clue related to the fact that the Bombala River, which flows through the centre of town, is well-known for its plentiful platypus which Yvette Martin claims "you can see from the bridge in town most mornings".
How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to timtheyowieman@bigpond.com. The first email sent after 10am, Saturday, October 4, with the correct answer, wins a double pass to Dendy cinemas.
