Tim the Yowie Man: Murrumbidgee musings

Boundaries: Murrumbidgee is a five member electorate comprising the districts of Molonglo Valley, Weston Creek, Woden Valley, Coree (including the village of Uriarra) and Stromlo, the Tuggeranong suburb of Kambah, and that portion of Tuggeranong District adjacent to Kambah to the west of Athllon Drive.

Did You Know? The name 'Murrumbidgee' is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning 'big water'. It is the name of the river that flows through the electorate.

Timeless treasure: Among the highly productive pastures of 1200-hectare Uriarra Station is an area of exposed area of granite about 30 metres long by 10 metres wide. But for the fact Dr Tony and Helen Griffin, current custodians of the historic farm, have the stone fenced off, you wouldn't look twice at it. However, the "Uriarra moth stone" as it is often referred, is a significant site where Indigenous people historically feasted on bogong moths, a delicacy they would travel from far afield to collect. "We've been told the women would heat up the stone while the men trekked high into the hills each summer to collect the moths," explain the Griffins.

Settler's Secret: Nestled on a terrace above the banks of the Uriarra Creek near Coree are the remains of the former Sherwood Homestead and its extensive English gardens.

According to oral tradition, the oak trees at Canberra's Sherwood were planted by British migrants Henry and Eliza Phillips from seed collected from England, including from the Sherwood Forest of Robin Hood fame - home to some of the oldest trees in Europe. Also growing beneath some of the mature elm and towering oak trees at Canberra's Sherwood are hundreds of Rip Van Winkles, a rare variety of daffodil planted 150 years ago by the Phillips. Earlier this year a number of these were dug up and carefully transported by ACT Government horticulturalists to Yarralumla Nursery. They are expected to be on display at Floriade next year.

Unsolved mystery: While it's well-known that journalist, lay preacher and adventurer John Gale (1831-1929) referred to by many as "the father of Canberra", founded the Queanbeyan Age newspaper, he was also a politician. In fact, given Gale's love of fishing along the region's rivers, it's somewhat fitting that Gale served a single term as Member for 'Murrumbidgee' in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. The National Library of Australia holds a photo of Gale smoking a pipe and sitting on a rock while fishing the 'bidgee near Canberra. The exact location of the photograph has never been identified.

Now I know it's not of the quality of modern photos, but if you can identify the location, I'd love to hear from you.

Natural Wonder: Red Rocks Gorge, located along a section of the Canberra Centenary Trail about 2-3km upriver from Kambah Pool. It's hard to believe this impressive gorge is so close to the Tuggeranong town centre. If you take this walk in the morning, the sun will spectacularly highlight the red colour of the cliffs on the far side of the river. The walking track doesn't go to the bottom of the gorge so hikers don't disturb peregrine falcons which breed (August-November) here.

Peculiar plant: On the banks of the Murrumbidgee River grows the rare Tuggeranong Lignum (Muehlenbeckia Tuggeranong). This scarcely woody shrub that only reaches a metre in height might not catch your eye, but only 10 of these specimens have ever been documented, and all are along a section of the river near Kambah.

While many other homes to feature are extravagant resort-style châteaus, it was the resident spooks of the Victorian Gothic style two-storied Bombala mansion, which helped it earn a spot of the national television program.

"When I mentioned the ghosts to the producers of the show, they were hooked," says Steve Rickett, a former Canberra businessman who has lived alone in the 32 room Victorian mansion for the last decade. But according to Rickett, it's not just the paranormal entities which will woo viewers of the program which airs on October 18.

"Viewers will be amazed to see a period homestead depicting an intact and complete representation of how the wealthy lived in the late Victorian period of 1890s, boasts Rickett, chuffed his treasured Victorian time capsule, "hidden for decades will finally have the opportunity to unveil its old worlde charm to a national audience".

Unreal Estate: Burnima will feature in Episode 4 of Unreal Estate, which screens on Channel 9 at 8.40pm on Tuesday October 18.

See it yourself: Under the cover of darkness, snoop around spooky Burnima Homestead on an exclusive tour led by your akubra-clad columnist. Tour includes dinner and overnight accommodation (thankfully, not with the ghosts). For the brave only. Saturday November 26, from 3pm until late. Details: www.yowieman.com.au

To arrange for a daytime tour of Burnima's gardens and homestead, contact Steve Rickett. Ph: 02 64583042 or contact@burnima.com.au

These boots are made for walkin'

The mystery of the origins of the pile of boots on the bush piano on a veranda at Glen Helen Homestead Lodge (Mysteries Solves, August 27) has finally been solved.

Colin O'Brien, owner of the lodge for the past t10 years, explains: "The piano started to accumulate boots, donated by desert trekkers, after we decided to move it from out the back where it had been in the weather for years, to the front verandah of the lodge."

"Our lodge is located near the end of the gruelling 223 kilometre-long Larapinta Trail, which is almost as harsh on footwear as the body," explains O'Brien, adding "when some walkers arrive here they they'll find a pair or exchange their boot for a better one."

"Most parts of Australia, with the exception of parts of the Heysen Trail in South Australia the ground is pretty soft underfoot, but here it is kilometre after kilometre of sharp stones, gravel loose surface, it's just unforgiving - it can easily cause even the best made boots to fall apart," reveals O'Brien.

"Some suggest I should keep all the boots and stack them up higher and higher, but you can have too much of a good thing," says O'Brien, adding, "when the stack gets unmanageable they simply go to the tip".

Clue: Among much hoopla, this week it was announced The Snowy Mountains Scheme will be added to the National Heritage List. Given this column's obsession with natural and man-made wonders of the snowies, I couldn't help but dig out a Snowy Hydro photo for today's quiz. It's obviously one of the 15 major dams, but which one?

Degree of difficulty: Medium

Last week: Congratulations to Anita Delorenzo, of Kingston, who beat a cast of thousands (well, okay hundreds) to correctly identify last week's photo as an historic image of the Center Cinema Building, now home to the Academy nightclub, in Bunda Street, Civic. Delorenzo who recalls she "loved looking through those square windows near the candy bar" when going to the movies as a teenager wasn't the only reader for whom the photo brought back childhood memories. Roger Gottlob confessed to regularly "taking the stairs to the subterranean cinemas (which closed in 2003) as a high school student in the 1980s," and Judith Phillips scored bonus points for revealing the architect as Enrico Taglietti. In fact a model Taglietti cobbled together during design phase of the building is held by the Canberra Museum and Gallery.

Meanwhile, Greg Royle, of Red Hill, attempted to date the photo using the building's fetching colour scheme. "My guess would be late 1970s or early 1980s, since the mission brown paint colour was everywhere at time," says Royle.

The photo was plucked from the @CBRelics twitter feed which features a steady stream of historical images of Canberra, and which is well-worth following if you are nostalgic about our fair city.

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to timtheyowieman@bigpond.com. The first email sent after 10am, Saturday October 15, 2016, with the correct answer wins a double pass to Dendy cinemas.

CONTACT TIM: Email: timtheyowieman@bigpond.com or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, 9 Pirie Street, Fyshwick. You can see a selection of past columns here.