Why is there a chicken bone in the floor of the National Portrait Gallery?

"I grew up believing it was a prawn - now you tell me 'it's just a random collection of coral and shells'," gasps Jenny Stevens of Kaleen, who claims she can't bring herself "to set foot in the Great Hall ever again". Heck.

Such despatches of disenchantment were thankfully balanced by the sense of joy that the 345-million-year-old prawn-shaped fossil brought to other readers.

"Oh, I never knew about Shawn, he really gives that most famous of all Canberra bubbles a more light-hearted, fun face," says Jeremy Smith of Kambah.

It turns out the faux prawn isn't the only unusual "fossil" partially hidden in the floor of one of our national institutions.

"Have you seen the bone at the National Portrait Gallery?" asks Brian Carter of Jerrabomberra.

"It's about ten to fifteen centimetres long and is a few metres to the left of the entrance to the gallery's cafe (or to the right if exiting) and about a couple of metres from the wall amongst the table and chair legs," he explains.

And no, Brian doesn't mean a bone that inadvertently toppled off a diner's plate - this fossil is well and truly embedded in the paving of the concrete terrace.

Brian, who is a frequent patron to the café, admits he loves "pointing out the bone to other patrons" and would like to know its origins.

In terms of antiquity stakes, the NPG bone has nothing on Shawn the Prawn.

Some workers at the gallery have heard about it, but not all. One staffer who just clocked up 10 years at the cultural institution had "never heard of the bone". However, keen to help me solve the mystery as to its origins, she did manage to track down the contractor responsible for the concrete pour some 25 years ago.

According to the concreter, there are two likely scenarios.

Firstly, that that the bone was mixed in with the concrete aggregate prior to the pour. "The aggregate comes from a quarry near Wagga Wagga and the bone could have dropped into the rock mix at any time prior to arrival here at the gallery," he reports.

The second theory is that the bone was thrown into the concrete as it was drying (presumably by a worker on site) and only revealed itself at the point of polishing.

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"Neither of these scenarios can be corroborated but the latter has been the rumour amongst staff for some time," reports my gallery insider.

"Oh, and for the record, the project manager was sure it was a chicken bone, although this is also something that cannot be confirmed!"

There must be something about bird bones and the floors of our city's iconic buildings for I also received an anonymous letter from the relative of a foreman involved in the construction of Parliament House in the 1980s.

"His budgie passed away so he brought it into the site the next morning and buried it in the very centre of the foundations, just before a concrete pour," explains my informant. While the idea of the frail frame of a pet budgie holding up one of our country's significant buildings is an odd but alluring one, just like the origins of the NPG bone, it is difficult to confirm.

This column has a long-running obsession with watersheds like that at Nimmitabel, where, depending where a drop of water lands on the main street determines whether it eventually flows into the Snowy River catchment which empties into the ocean at Marlo in Victoria or down the Murray River catchment and into the ocean at Lake Alexandrina in South Australia.

Richlands, the historic property at Taralga that featured in last week's column, also has its own noteworthy watershed. According to Stephen Horn, a third-generation custodian at Richlands, "rain that lands on the western side of the house slowly drains into a series of swamps and lakes and eventually into Abercrombie River which, via the Lachlan, Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers finds its way into the sea at Lake Alexandria in South Australia".

Meanwhile, a drop of water that lands on the eastern side of the house takes a completely different route to the sea. "It becomes the first murmurings of the Guineacor Creek which eventually flows into the ocean just north of Sydney via the Wollondilly, (Warragamba Dam), Nepean and Hawkesbury rivers."

Another place on the property that sits atop this watershed is the former dairy-cum-shearing shed. While Stephen was showing me around the wooden milking stalls, I suddenly felt a gush of water land on my hat.

Given it was sunny outside I immediately thought Stephen must have bumped something above me where some water had been trapped from a recent storm. However, when I looked up and saw a very sheepish-looking possum peeking out from the rafters directly above me, the source of the unwanted spray was suddenly clear. Thank goodness my hat has such a wide brim.

We all know that a bird pooping on you is apparently a sign of good luck. However, despite intensive research, I can't find if I will be showered with good fortune following my possum encounter.

This column's recent exposé on the former Hibernian Inn that once stood between Queanbeyan and Bungendore (Phantom pub on way to the coast, December 2, 2023) prompted several readers to ask if the ACT had other 19th-century roadside inns.

According to ACT Heritage, the area now known as the ACT boasted five roadside inns dating from the 1800s. Here are the other four. How many do you recognise?

1. The Elmsall, Oaks Estate - first built circa 1836 as a residence that formed part of the Campbell estate. It was leased and licensed from 1837 to 1840 before again reverting to a residence. It was again licensed in 1886 but quickly became a residence again. Today it is a private residence.

2. The Grant Inn, Ginninderra/Charnwood area (exact location unknown) - a sly grog shop that ran in the 1840s and 50s for which there is sadly no known physical evidence.

3. The Canberra Inn, Lyneham - built as a residence in the late 1850s and licensed from 1876 to 1887, during which time hungry travellers on the mail and passenger coach from Yass to Queanbeyan or en route to the Araluen goldfields via Braidwood (no doubt via the Hibernian Inn!) eagerly anticipated a home-cooked hearty meal and beer at the inn. It then reverted to a private home and today is known as The Old Canberra Inn after yet another licence was issued in 1976.

4. The Cricketer's Arms, Hall - licensed from 1864 it was initially called the One Tree Hill Hotel but changed its name following the construction of a nearby cricket pitch in 1876. It was forced to closed soon after prohibition of the sale or consumption of alcohol was introduced in 1911. It was demolished in the 1930s.

Rating: Medium

Clue: 70 years ago

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 December 16 wins a double pass to Dendy, the Home of Quality Cinema.

Last week: Congratulations to Christopher Lee of Evatt who was the first reader to identify last week's photo as the toposcope on a viewing platform at Tathra Headland.

While beachcombers continue to find fragments of blue tiles near North Bendalong (Walter Hood crewman admits they let the Captain Drown, November 3, 2023), further south at Tathra, Netty Atkins reports that while recently walking along the beach opposite the golf club, she found part of a tea cup. For the uninitiated, the Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company was a regular shipping service that operated from1858 until the early 1950s between towns on the South Coast.

I love how different towns around the ACT embrace the upcoming annual visit of the rotund jolly man in the red suit with their own regional touches.

Take Narooma, where for most of the year, dozens of timber Santa whale signs are stashed away in a shipping container out the back of the town's Men's Shed, and where, according to club president David Trickett, "come this time of year, many businesses buy or hire one to add to the Christmas cheer".

"It's fun to make them, and also to show in a very tangible way what we can do at the Shed," says David.

Are there others? Send in your favourite Christmas streetscapes and I'll feature a couple next week.

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