A group of humble archers believe they have identified the source of a mysterious explosion that rocked residents of Lyneham on Thursday night, startling people as far away as Kingston.
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Canberra Archery Club target range officer Andy MacDonald arrived at the Lyneham range on Sunday morning to find the club's garbage bin blown to smithereens with fragments found across a 60 metre radius.
"We know that it happened on the night of the explosion although we didn't connect the two incidents until Sunday," he said.
Mr MacDonald was certain the explosion would have been felt by many residents, but suspected the blast was caused by a combination of chemicals rather than a large firework as initially suspected.
"It's not very often that someone blows up a bin with that sort of damage and force," he said.
"We found one piece of the lid around 30 metres away near the clubhouse and another piece near the roundabout in the other direction."
Mr MacDonald said someone had taken the bin from behind a shed where beginner's equipment was stored, emptied rubbish into another bin, and then detonated an explosion just a few metres away from the shed.
"An impression of the bin wheel had been pressed into the ground which would suggest the explosion generated a down force," he said.
"A melted portion of the lower most pieces surrounded by radiating surface fragmentation marks and a sooted portion clearly indicate that an explosion took place in the bin."
Club members attempted to recover fragments of the bin "like an air crash investigation", but could not locate all the pieces, with Mr MacDonald suspecting some remained on the roof of a nearby toilet block.
While Mr MacDonald said the incident was alarming, the Canberra Archery Club had not reported it to police, which may explain why the explosion had remained a mystery for days.
He also suggested the reason many people did not see the explosion was due to the range's isolated location in Southwell Park.
An ACT Policing spokesman said officers responded to several reports of "fireworks" in the area around 10.30pm, but could not locate anyone responsible or any materials from the blast.
An ACT Emergency Services Agency spokesman said no requests for assistance had been made to firefighters or ambulance officers and the cause of the blast was unknown.
Mr White, a Lyneham resident, said he felt his floor move after the "very loud explosion" while Ms Ealing, who also lives in Lyneham, said she felt reverberations for a couple of seconds after the blast.
Other Canberrans said the blast reminded them of the Mitchell explosions in 2011, which woke many North Canberra residents as a ferocious chemical fire swept through the Energy Services Environmental factory.
Do you have another theory about the source of the blast? Comment below.
