Tim the Yowie Man: Frightful sights - from the grave to truly bizarre

Some readers were dismissive of my concern that, at first glance, I thought I had stumbled upon a human skull near the surface of a bush grave near Braidwood.

"What's the big deal? I happens everywhere," says John Standen of Kambah.

However, most correspondents were much more understanding of my fright.

"OMG, I would run away and freak out at the site of a skull-like object," reports Wendy Mackenzie of Gordon, adding "in my hometown of Weethalle in central west NSW there are rabbit burrows everywhere in the cemetery."

Tim Adams who is researching "the expression of identity in colonial cemeteries in and around the ACT" as part of a Masters in History at the ANU, recently had a similarly unsettling experience at Wyndham on the South Coast hinterland.

"I thought I saw a skull in a damaged grave," reveals Tim, describing the feeling as "a particular type of dread".

Mercifully for Tim, on closer inspection, the skull-like object turned out to be a smooth white river rock. "I have no idea how it got there, whether it occurred naturally or as a prank ... it certainly got my heart rate up though," he exclaims.

However, not all reports are cases of mistaken identity.

"Many years ago, we did a history tour which saw us entering a family crypt of a prominent person in colonial history. One of the coffins was open and several of his bones were visible," reveals David Dran of Charnwood.

Closer to home, John Smithers of Casey reports, "I've seen a few graves at Woden Cemetery with the entire top caved in."

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The scene that greeted Chrissy Hastir on a lunchtime walk at Woden Cemetery was even more confronting. "I saw what looked like human bones lying on a path near some old graves ... [it] freaked me out," she says. After her walk, when Chrissy got back to work ,she called the Canberra Memorial Parks office. "They sounded somewhat concerned!" she exclaims. I bet they did.

For James Smith, regular contributor to this column, finding human bones on the footpath was a regular scene. "As a student, I worked as a cemetery gardener in the East End of London," he reveals. "We used to have this sort of issue, not with rabbits or (unsurprisingly) wombats, but with foxes and stray dogs. [We'd find] bones on the path ... most relating to Victorian times."

Tony Southwell, formerly of Bowning, reports "When I was a kid, cemeteries were a favourite place for rabbiting with traps. I would set them after school, then check them before school. It was easy digging for the rabbits, so it was a brilliant hunting ground."

Sydney's Joe Gale, formerly of Goulburn, provides some insights into why some graves subside over times. "The older-style wooden coffins collapse from moisture, white ants (especially in old rural cemeteries) and the ground above sinks ... allowing rabbits and wombats to move in."

Finally, sometimes such a morbid topic requires light relief. After noticing the footings had collapsed on her parents' grave in the Glenorchy Cemetery in Victoria, Leonie Clayton of Stawell emailed the stonemason stating her "mum and dad have escaped".

"Dad we wouldn't worry about, he would be down the creek fishing," she exclaims, "but mum, well mum was a whole different story," she muses, adding out at Glenorchy you are liable to fall through into an unmarked grave.

Oh, and for future reference, if anyone notices any alarming sights in ACT cemeteries, best contact Canberra Memorial Parks on 6207 0000 or canberramemorialparks@act.gov.au

This column's recent feature on the extraordinary cliff-top dinner atop The Castle in the Budawangs caught the eye of South Coast photographer Andy Hutchinson who submitted a photo of his own lofty dinner party.

Inspired by the name of this lookout near Berry in the Barren Grounds National Park, Andy and his mates carried out a full dinner service at Drawing Room Rocks.

"The food was great and we all enjoyed it before carrying everything back down afterwards," reports Andy. "It wasn't quite as big a trek as The Castle, but we still knew about it when we reached the top!"

Markus Buchhorn is living in simulacra heaven. And yes, I'm jealous.

"I would contend that the Tinderry granite generates the highest density of rock-based simulacra in our region, maybe due to its softness compared to the Namadgi granite," says Markus. "It does not weather like the round onion skins there, it erodes and cracks far more randomly, and interestingly."

Over coming weeks, I will feature a selection of rock features from Markus's 200-hectare simulacra-filled property.

Over the years, several readers have asked about the purpose of the long, curved earth wall near Yens Bay Road, near the old Adaminaby Cemetery.

"It seems too far from the high-water mark of Lake Eucumbene to be connected with the dam," asserts John Smithers of Kaleen.

Well, it turns out the wall is actually the remains of a coffer dam built in the late 1950s in case the dam over-reached its capacity.

Neville Locker, long-term Adaminaby local, after whose family the adjoining creek is named, explains.

"When the Snowy Mountains Authority completed the main Eucumbene Dam wall in 1958, locals anticipated it would take years for the lake to fill, but instead we had some very heavy rainfall and over a two-year period the water came right up to basically full.

"The authority suddenly realised they hadn't made any provisions for an overflow and became panic stricken as the natural overflow would have gone down Locker Creek and probably wiped out the new town [just moved from lower levels to allow for the dam]," reveals Neville. "So they hastily erected the coffer dam wall to block the water going down Locker Creek and flooding the new town."

Thankfully the deluge stopped in time and the coffer wall was never needed to protect the new town from inundation. Nor will it ever be needed for, according to Neville, "the authority quickly learnt their lesson and created an appropriate overflow at the dam wall itself."

Did You Know? When the catholic church was moved in 1956 from Old Adaminaby, it was re-erected in the new town as a mirror image with a steeper pitch roof. According to Steve Brayshaw, the town's unofficial historian, "this was done in order to prevent the portico being located on the side open to the north-west, the direction where most of the weather comes from."

Rating: Easy

Clue: Don't let the numbers on the markers fool you

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to tym@iinet.net.au. The first correct email sent after 10am, Saturday July 22 wins a double pass to Dendy, the Home of Quality Cinema.

Last week: Congratulations to Dianne Prime of Taylor who was first to identify last week's photo as the memorial plaque to Charles Anton on rocks behind Thredbo Top Station.

Many readers responded to this column's recent photo of the heavily scarred tree that Jan Pryor recently photographed near Bywong. Liz Howarth reports there is a similarly afflicted Scribbly Gum (Eucalyptus rossii) on Red Hill.

There were also some colourful theories as to the cause of the scars, from the outlandish "alien laser beams" to the more plausible "lightning strikes".

However, most readers agreed with Ryan Winefield, a consulting arborist in Canberra, that based on the photo, it was likely the result of "perennial cankers which are caused by a pathogen, usually a fungus, that infects the wood".

"Each of the ridges are actually the layers of secondary thickening or rings indicating it's been infected for some time," explains Ryan.

"It doesn't look like it's healing," agrees environmental scientist Ben Harvey of Watson. "It would be interesting to keep an eye on it and see if there are fungal fruiting bodies on it throughout the year."

Sounds like you've just landed a monitoring job, Jan. Best keep those walking boots handy.

CONTACT TIM: Email: tym@iinet.net.au or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, GPO Box 606, Civic, ACT, 2601

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