The 150 or so hectares of the Glenburn Precinct, out near Kowen Forest, have always been multi-purpose. For thousands of years the Ngunnawal people lived along the banks of the Molonglo River and Glen Burn Creek, the region a major thoroughfare from the mountains to the sea.
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In the mid 1800s it was home to a small community of hardy European settlers who thought the plains might provide good pastoral land. They raised families, built homes and schools, ran sheep and cows. grew vegetables. There was even a small copper mine for a while.
Today the area plays hosts to mountain bikers, bushwalkers and horse riders. There are car rallies and world-class facilities for clay-target shooting as well as the ACT's largest commercial pine plantation.
And on Friday a new walking trail was opened that will bring the history of the area to life.
Minister for the Environment and Heritage Mick Gentleman unveiled new interpretative signage along the trail.
"The Glenburn heritage precinct has a fascinating history,"Mr Gentleman said.
"Some of the early settlers in the district prior to the establishment of Canberra made their homes in the Kowen district. The precinct has 16 significant sites including several homesteads, orchards, stockyards and a graveyard."
One of the significant sites in the Glenburn Homestead. Today, only two dwellings remain, a two-room slab hut, with hand-cut wooden walls and a brick fireplace at one end, which was likely built in 1897; and a pise, or rammed earth, hut, likely built in 1900. Both are in excellent condition, lovingly restored by the ACT Parks and Conservation Service.
Senior ranger Col Schofield said the buildings showed what a hard life the early settlers would have endured.
"They came here thinking the plains might provide good pastoral land for sheep and cows, but they battled poor soils, pests, and drought and the going was hard," Mr Schofield said.
"John James Edmonds and his wife Agnes raised several children in this very hut."
By the early 1900s most of the European settlers had moved on. The first pine trees went in in 1927 and the area was somewhat forgotten about. While various restoration projects have been underway since 1978, they have increased in scale with the help of a group of volunteers called the Friends of Glenburn, working in conjunction with Parks and Conservation and the National Parks Association of the ACT.
The trails were launched as part of the Canberra and Region Heritage Festival which wraps up on May 7.
The marked trails range from 10km to 12km, are all rated of medium difficulty and a moderate level of fitness is required. They are suitable for both walkers and cyclists.
For more information head to environment.act.gov.au
