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PO Box 17 WENTWORTH FALLS 2782 'HOBBY'S REACH' 99 Blaxland Road WENTWORTH FALLS Hobby's Reach Phone No. 02 4757 3824 Vol.11 No.2 July/Aug 2000 MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE President Valerie Craven 4757 3433 Vice President John Glass 4757 1821 Secretary Roberta Johnstone 4757 2024 Treasurer Shirley Jones 4757 2270 Members Josephine Adam 4759 1022 Members Peter Gunton 4787 7335 Barrie Reynolds 4757 4735 Graham Wam1bath 4757 3402 SUB-COMMITTEE CO-ORDINATORS Research Officer Joan Smith 4757 4009 Curator Coral Ewan 4784 1831 Traditional Garden Josephine Adam 4759 1022 Maintenance Clyde Francis 4759 1774 Native Garden Noreen Skellam 4757 1845 HR Helpers Valerie Craven 4757 3433 Walks & Talks Josephine Adam 4759 1022 Photocopiers Michael Finlay 4757 1584 Publishing Graham Warmbath 4757 3402 Bookshop & Editor Susan Warmbath 4757 3402 Membership Secretary Elizabeth Finlay 4757 1584 Publicity Geoff Dunn 4757 3233 Diary Dates Continued Tues July 11 10 am Hobby's Reach Research Fri 14 9 am Friends of Tarella Tues 18 Hobby's Reach Research; Gardening Fri 21 9 am Friends of Tarella Sun 23 Tarella Open 10 am to 4 pm. Tues 25 Hobby's Reach Research Fri 28 9 am Friends of Tarella Tues Aug 1 Hobby's Reach Research; Gardening Fri 4 9 am Friends of Tarella Sat 5 10.30 am Meeting, Speaker - Allen Smith, Clean & Decent Part 3 Tues 8 Hobby's Reach Research Fri 11 9 am Friends of Tarella Mon 14 Excursion to Glenbrook/Lapstone Tues 15 Hobby's Reach Research; Gardening Fri 18 9 am Friends of Tarella Tues 22 Hobby's Reach Research John Whitton 1820 - 1898 Fri 25 9 am Friends of Tarella Dates for your Diary Sun 27 Tarella Open 10 am to 4 pm. Tues 29 Hobby's Reach Research Sat July 1 10.30 am Meeting, Speaker -John Fri Sept 1 9 am Friends of Tarella McClymont on Lachlan Macquarie Sat 2 10.30 am Meeting, Speaker - Ted Tues 4 10 am Hobby's Reach Research Green on 'At the Coal Face' 9 am Gardening Tues 5 Hobby's Reach Research; Gardening Fri 7 9 am Friends of Tarella Fri 8 9 am Friends of Tarella Mon 10 Excursion to Rouse Hill Estate Mon 11 Excursion to Hartley Vale [full details on Page 2] Tues 12 Hobby's Reach Research Meetings The Saturday meetings commence promptly at 10.30 am but members are welcome to come at 10 am as the Research Room is open with a researcher on hand, the Library is open for members to select and return books, the coffee shop and Cottage Shop are open for business. After the meeting closes at 12 noon a light lunch of soup and rolls is available at a modest price which has to be paid for before the meeting to ensure that sufficient is available. The Cottage Shop is again open. Walks and Talks and other Information Saturday 1 July 10.30 am - Talk by John McClymont on his special interest and study, Lachlan Macquarie on the Making of the Colony. John is the President of Parramatta and District Historical Society and a lecturer in local history for Sydney University's Continuing Education Scheme and a very popular speaker to the Society. Monday 10 July Excursion to Rouse Hill Estate where Richard Rouse began building in 1813. We will explore the 180 year old rural property, its Georgian house, stables, woolshed and outbuildings. Meet 9.30 am prompt at Hawkesbury Lookout, Hawkesbury Road. There should be '-...__/ time for morning tea at Rouse Hill Estate [tea and coffee supplied] before llam start. Duration 20 minute video in the visitors centre then a guided tour concluding at lpm. Bring A picnic lunch and drinks and wear comfortable shoes and clothes for walking on a farm property. Cost $6 as this is a special opening for us. Sunday 23 July Tarella Cottage and Hobby's Reach Research Centre open from lOam to 4pm. Please check the Roster on page 7 to see if you are on duty. Saturday 5 August 10.30 am - Popular speaker and member of the BMHS, Allen Smith will deliver his third talk titled, 'Clean and Decent Episode 3 ', "being a furtive glimpse into the cess pits and privies of early Sydney that will make the original Clean and Decent C1997 look positively hygienic, might be a good weekend to visit relatives in Queensland!" Monday 14 August Excursion to Glenbrook and Lapstone where we will walk the 1867 Zig Zag track. Picnic lunch followed by an afternoon tour of RAAF Glenbrook including the old Lapstone Hotel which is now the Officers' Mess. Meet 10 am prompt at Bull 's Camp, Woodford where there will be time for morning tea before continuing on to Glenbrook. Bring A picnic lunch and wear comfortable walking shoes as there will be some easy walking on bush tracks. Normal day trip. Sunday 27 August Tarella Cottage and Hobby's Reach Research Centre open from lOam to 4pm. Please check the Roster on page 7 to see if you are on duty. Saturday 2 September 10.30 am - our speaker today is Ted Green on 'The most dangerous job in the world - at the coalface'. Ted is a retired coal miner having worked for 45 years in coal mines in the UK, Queensland and NSW, the latter in the Blue Mountains. Monday 11 September Excursion to Hartley Vale including afternoon tea at the restored Comet Inn. Full details next newsletter. 2 Walks and Talks Reports Historical Lawson Tour led by Heather Mollenhauer, 13.3.00 We are at Wilson Park, North Lawson. Originally a swampy hollow, today a shallow waterfall from between hillsides delivers a pretty stream through the centre of the lush grass of the valley floor. ''24 miles from Emu Plains .. a place of permanent water and grass must have been very good news to the pioneers" .. Now we leave Heather at this point precisely because she provides us with such comprehensive notes of the tour, five pages in all plus a map, and these are now available for proper perusal in the Research Centre. Around and about Megalong Valley Outing led by Jack Austin, 10.4.00 Just a feather of cloud high in a blue sky as we leave the Megalong Road and descend the steps of the 'crack in the earth' (of Mad Max film fame). We pass a cave ("where the feral children came from", chuckles Jack) and come out by a pool 20m beneath a waterfall at the centre of the surrounding cliffs. "It's an amphitheatre!" exclaims Dorothy Gilham. It echoes, the air is moist and the 1882 Pictorial Guide to the Blue Mountains aptly named it Mermaid's Cave. Very early, 1917, it was gazetted as a reserve - no wonder.. walk behind the waterfall, along the cliff ledges and into the caves .. magic! The track down was made in 1884 as an access route for the shale mines of the vicinity. The Megalong Road wasn't built until 13yrs later, although a buggy track existed to serve the Valley's coal mines. We next stop by the Old ford over Megalong Creek. Jack draws our attention to the granite boulders around which the water is flowing freely: "Granite is about two hundred and fifty million years old; as it deteriorates it provides rolling •-;lls and good soil." Clyde Francis following a nose that has scented honey goes on a leatherwood hunt.. '-.._.../ We' re off again, up Nellies Glen Road to the site of Bernard O'Reilly's 1911 slab home. "It would have been ugly but for the English honeysuckle which attracts birds" says the present owner, Clare Isbister, and then reads from The Green Mountains : 'The sound of bell birds .. one acre of flannel flowers .. how to skin a rabbit.. insects biting in the sun .. tall firs providing a cool breeze .. the valley curtained by red cliffs." Then the tale of the tiger: Bernard went up the Six Foot Track to Katoomba. On his way back, passing through the mining village, he saw the moon .. and a tiger. Apparently the horse thought he'd seen a tiger too .. because from the valley floor they were heard coming down the track! Then we heard of the Scotsmen who stayed at the house: corning out for breakfast in the morning, one of them 'didnae like t'porridge' his mate had prepared - so promptly killed him. "Dangerous stuff, porridge" notes Valerie Craven. Joyce Brister settled us with a wise cameo of the valley's history as revealed by its geology. Afterwards we went to church. From the pulpit Jack told us the ministers would come by way of the Six Foot Track into the valley and stay at the hotel. There were three hundred people in the valley, a butcher, baker and a school in 1892. Prior to that the parents had taught the children, when they had time. The first church had earth walls and a bark roof at least until 1850 when corrugated iron came in. The catholic church, built 1902 next to the cemetery, was short-lived .. the priest let the fire in the grate get out of control and it burnt down the church. 'This is a hell-fire sermon!" chuckled Jack. Bill Douglass enters at the back of the church, "there's a seat down the front, Bill", and missing the reason for our laughter, calls back: "you'll have to start again, Jack". ''What's more, this church was struck by lightning in 1932 -it looked all crooked and crazy like an illustration in a folktale!" A voice solemnly asks if the church has a bell? "Yes, it has a bell - m't ring it or the fire-engine will arrive!" As we file out of church in high spirits, we see a sandstone block with grooves '--&tused by spear-sharpenings long ago.
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