Graeme Barrow This book was published by ANU Press between 1965–1991. This republication is part of the digitisation project being carried out by Scholarly Information Services/Library and ANU Press. This project aims to make past scholarly works published by The Australian National University available to a global audience under its open-access policy. Canberra region car tours Graeme Barrow PL£A*£ RETURN TO Australian National University Press Canberra, Australia, London, England and Miami, Fla., USA, 1981 First published in Australia 1981 Australian National University Press, Canberra © Text and photographs, Graeme Barrow 1981 This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism, or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be made to the publisher. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Barrow, Graeme: Canberra region car tours. ISBN 0 7081 1087 8. 1. Historic buildings — Australian Capital Territory — Guide-books. I. Title. 919.47’0463 Library of Congress No. 80-65767 United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East, and Africa: Books Australia, 3 Henrietta St., London WC2E 8LU, England North America: Books Australia, Miami, Fla., USA Southeast Asia: Angus & Robertson (S.E. Asia) Pty Ltd, Singapore Japan: United Publishers Services Ltd, Tokyo Design by ANU Graphic Design Adrian Young Typeset by Australian National University Printed by The Dominion Press, Victoria, Australia To Nora and Jane, patient tour companions Contents INTRODUCTION ROUTES 1 Canberra—Captains Flat—Michelago—Canberra l 2 Canberra—Bungendore—Collector—Lake George— Canberra 13 3 Canberra—Bungendore—Bundong Station—Lake Bathurst—Tarago—Canberra 24 4 Canberra—Bungendore—Gidleigh—The Briars— Hoskinstown—Canberra 34 5 Canberra—T arago—Bungonia—Goulburn— Canberra 43 6 Canberra—Gundaroo—Nanima—Hall—Canberra 53 7 Canberra—old St Luke’s—Sutton—Amungula— Air Disaster Memorial—Canberra 63 8 Canberra—Gundaroo—Bellmont Forest—Gunning— Breadalbane—Collector—Canberra 68 9 Canberra—Uriarra Crossing—The Mullion—Mountain Creek—Uriarra Homestead—Canberra 75 10 Canberra—The Mullion—Glenrock—Murrumbidgee River—Mountain Creek—The Mullion—Canberra 84 Introduction Scenically the Canberra region is among the loveliest in New South Wales while in many of its old buildings it has reminders of the early days of British settlement. A large number of these are visible from the road, but few are open to the public. There are sound reasons for this although the growing opinion of tourism as a panacea for economic ills makes it surprising that individual owners and local bodies are not attempting to stimulate interest in what the region has to offer, both scenically and historically. One way to do this is for the owners to open locked doors and gates. Another is to restore old buildings which are being allowed to fall down before our eyes; yet another is to clean up nineteenth century cemeteries whose overgrown state is a shame and an indictment of those churches or local bodies neglectful of the heritage they are allowing nature to despoil. Few signposts in the region point the way to scenic delights or historically important places or buildings; wall plaques giving details of the owners and developers of notable buildings and properties are rare; there are few tourist brochures on the attractions of the Canberra region and its lively history. Implementing measures such as these need not be outrageously expensive. Yet any one of them would heighten the enjoyment and education of travellers. In themselves they would assist the cause of tourism in the region and thus the region’s economy. They would also help prevent the unthinking destruction of our tenuous links with our nineteenth century predecessors. Tasmania is showing what can be done. Enterprising entrepreneurs in that State, whether government or private, are exploiting its history and scenery with dash and flair. They even run ‘graveyard tours’ which take visitors around colonial burial grounds in Hobart and Launceston, with a few historic homes thrown in. The Canberra region has much to offer, yet old cemeteries are reverting to bush and nineteenth century homes remain shut to outsiders. Readers of this book will find details of ten routes which should prove attractive to travellers wanting to explore the region’s byways rather than its highways. Retracing one’s steps on the individual routes has been avoided as much as possible although in some tours getting to the interesting parts means initial travel over roads used for other routes. Each of the ten journeys can be made in a day, most of them with ease. Distances were calculated using the Canberra City Post Office as the starting point. Detailed maps are often useful although the directions given in the text and the sketch map provided should be adequate. For those wanting their own maps, those indicated at the start of each chapter are from the Commonwealth’s national mapping project, the 1 : 100,000 series. These are available at several government and retail outlets in Canberra. Travellers should not interpret references to the history of private properties as invitations to walk in uninvited. Some owners justifiably resent people wandering over their properties, others are willing to allow visits provided arrangements are made beforehand. Most churches in the region are kept locked as a deterrent to yahoos although often a key can be obtained from a local parishioner should the clergyman live elsewhere. Among the many people who helped me in some way with the preparation of this book I wish in particular to thank the following: the Reverend Peter Brown, Mr and Mrs J.R. Colquhoun, George Gundry, Philip Morgan-Giles, Jim Gibbney, Inge Giese, John Hyles, Merval Hoare, Mrs A.W. Hyles, Shirley Faulder, John Woolly, Stuart Hume, Dr W.B McAdam, John de Salis, Father Albert Havas, and the staff of the following: National Library of Australia, Australian Archives, Mitchell Library, Division of National Mapping (Department of National Development and Energy), National Trust of Australia (NSW Division), Department of Defence, NSW Registrar-General’s Office, NSW Archives Authority, NSW Soil Conservation Service, NSW Geographical Names Board, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. Many other individuals and organisations also gave valuable assistance at various times and for this I express my sincere appreciation. Finally I would like to thank the historian Errol Lea-Scarlett who kindly read the manuscript and made several helpful suggestions. To Goulburn ^ R C Church >s T a r a g o ^ Rums- ) Cemetery + / P a leran g/□ R oute 1 Canberra—Captains Flat—Michelago— Canberra Distance (round trip): approximately 180 km. Road conditions: excellent to good. Largely unsealed Captains Flat—Michelago section is dusty in summer and tricky in the wet. Map references: Sheet 8727 (Canberra) and Sheet 8726 (Michelago). This route takes travellers through often dramatic hill country and settled farmlands. Historic houses and churches may be seen, as well as the township of Captains Flat and the hamlet of Michelago. Drive from Canberra to Queanbeyan and then take the Kings Highway (commonly known as the coast road) in the direction of Batemans Bay. The turnoff to Captains Flat is well signposted and is about 4.5 km from Queanbeyan. The road to Captains Flat, from the turnoff on the Kings Highway, climbs, dips and swings, initially through thickly wooded countryside then, as pockets of grazing land begin to break up the bush, through rolling paddocks. At times the landscape resembles an English park in its open, lightly wooded appearance, while here and there modern houses dot the hillsides for this district is becoming a retreat for hobby farmers. About 11.5 km from the turnoff the Molonglo River can be seen on the left, snaking through a valley between rolling hills. Golden willows make this spot a lovely one in autumn. About 1.5 km further on, after the road climbs a hill, the Molonglo Plains, wide and long, come into view, given a dramatic backdrop by mountain ranges whose appeal changes with the weather. On fine, clear days they are blue, pure, inviting; when cloaked in mist or rain they are sombre, mysterious and unwelcoming. The botanist and explorer Allan Cunningham, who was the first white man to see these splendid plains, discovered them in April 1824 while leading an expedition into southern New South Wales. He left Parramatta in March with three government horses and three men and in 1 seven weeks covered 450 miles. Eleven years later his younger brother Richard, the NSW Colonial Botanist, had the misfortune to be killed by Aborigines and Cunningham replaced him. He only lasted a few months, finding it distasteful that among his duties were the growing of vegetables for the Governor and the supervising of the ‘Government Cabbage Garden’. At the bottom of the hill, 13.5 km from the turnoff, a dirt road to the left takes drivers to Bungendore or Hoskinstown (dealt with elsewhere in this book) while the Captains Flat road swings right to run along the edge of the flatlands. Soon the red roofs and tall chimneys of the nineteenth century Carwoola homestead and its outbuildings can be seen—the same sight, in fact, as that which greeted bone-shaken travellers of the 1800s because in those days Carwoola was a nineteenth century version of today’s motels and service stations, meeting, as it did, the wants of settlers and travellers. It was once numbered among the finest properties in the Canberra region, but over the years it has been reduced in size and the two-storey homestead, the outbuildings and the grounds are in a state of some disrepair. The present owners have carried out restoration work at Carwoola and the NSW Government has placed a permanent conservation order on the homestead and its outbuildings, so this historic place should be saved for posterity.