Sat, 20th June, 2015 'Waanyarra', Dunolly State Forest

Very cold this morning – clear sky and some frost on the ground. The woodpile looks like is has snow on it.

7.30am it was 6 degrees in the van and 0.4 outside. I put on the heater but it only went for a little bit then stopped. The diesel has glugged. Steve didn’t put the winter conditioner in the fuel he bought in Melbourne thinking the conditioner would already be in it – but alas it wasn’t so we are freezing!! I put on all my clothes then back into bed to warm them up!! At 8.30 it was -0.1 outside!! Cold breakfast wrapped in my blanket!!

At 10am the heater started up again – Steve will be putting the winter conditioner in today!!

Steve went back to where he found the gold yesterday as he had a couple more murmurs to check out – I went along to collect the gold!! This is where he found his first piece.

Someone else had scrapped all around the tree and missed his second piece. Unfortunately the other murmurs were only steel!!

Left him at it and headed out onto the Cemetery Road heading in the other direction to check out the historical features along the way. First was the early settlement of Waanyarra which runs along Jones Creek. The Police Camp was set up not far from here in 1853.

Further down the road past a For Sale sign (will have to check it out) I got to Morton’s Welcome Inn. Michael Morton was a convict from Tipperary, Ireland and transported here in 1847. He built the Inn in 1850 as a replica of his home in Ireland. It was their home for their family of 8, a provisioning store and a public bar for countless miners. It looks like it has been used as a stable too.

A creek ran behind it and there was a stone crossing erected around 1860.

Past some private properties, also for sale I came to a T intersection. Across the road was the site of the Waanyarra State School which was built in 1877. In 1903 there were around 65 students being taught in the one room school. Nearby was the cricket ground where lots of town picnics were held. There was also a wooden residence built here for the teachers to live in.

Further down the Waanyarra Road was a rock wall which was a dam wall built in around 1860 by William Douthat and his son Emanuel.

Walked back to the van. Steve didn’t have any luck. Had some lunch then went for a drive back down where I had walked. Drove on further past the stone wall to find an old basalt masonry bridge crosses over Waanyarra Creek.

Turned back – interesting house!!

Turned up another marked track ‘Jude Track’ to discover more prospecting areas. Found a puddling hole that the locals have used as a dump. There would have been a post in the middle and the gold laden dirt was put in the dugout section in a timber framework and a horse would go around and around moving a board around the circle to break up the dirt and then they sieve the fine dirt to recover the gold.

Someone was doing some dry sieving nearby and had left their fire burning so we did our good deed and put it out.

I read my book while Steve looked for some gold but no luck and no much rubbish either. Back to the van and I got the fire going while Steve had one more go for some gold. The cold chased him back and we enjoyed warming up by the fire. Chatted with Eddie – he has been living here for 8 years. Headed inside to cook tea and enjoy the heater. Watched the rerun of the V8s two races in Darwin at 8.30pm.