However, it also prompted Faye McNevin of Rivett to invite me to her home to show me a rare artefact from the doomed plane, which when it nose-dived into a hill just north of Queanbeyan on August 13, 1940, killed all 10 people on board, including three members of the Australian Cabinet.

Carefully pulling a business card-sized metal object from a safe box belonging to her late father Stanley Curtis Brill, Faye tells me, "this is the manufacturers plate from the plane".

While there are several objects salvaged from the crash in public collections such as the aircraft's rotor flywheel held by the Australian War Memorial and a severely twisted metal propeller blade held by the National Museum of Australia, it is the only relic from the crashed Hudson that I'm aware of in a private collection.

So just how did the metal plate end up in Stanley's possession?

"At the time dad was working at the Kingston Transport Depot," explains Faye. "On hearing the news of the crash on the radio, he raced up there to see if he could help."

"Despite being one of the first on the scene, there was nothing he could do," says Faye. "Everyone on board was killed instantly on impact."

In his autobiography, privately published by his family, Stanley explains further:

"Later on, the remains of the burnt-out Hudson were thrown in the Kingston dump. Bill Barlow, one of my motorbike friends, and I were making a little aeroplane so he brought home lots of bits of the frame of the wreck for bits of our project. The manufacturers plate was still on the airframe so I chiselled it off and polished it up and I still have it to this day in my memorabilia."

"Look at the date, the plane was inspected in California," says Faye, pointing to '9/2/40' engraved into the plate. "To think less than six months later, it crashed here in Canberra with that terrible loss of life."

Terrible indeed. In fact, it was a crash that Andrew Tink, author of Air Disaster Canberra: the plane crash that destroyed a government (NewSouth, 2013), believes had far reaching ramifications.

"Most of the War Cabinet were wiped out in the plane crash and it left Menzies bereft and distraught," says Tink. "Menzies then went to a general election rather than have three byelections, and his government only just got back in a hung parliament."

That election left the first Menzies government severely weakened, which ultimately led to him losing power.

I wonder if there are any other parts of the wreck that are held in private collections?

Did You Know? The rotor flywheel held by the AWM was recovered from the wreck by Harold Smith, an RAAF instrument maker stationed in Canberra at the time of the crash. He had been placed on guard duty at the crash site to protect the aircraft's contents, including personal possessions and classified documents, from the many sightseers who rushed to the scene of the disaster. The AWM also holds uniform insignia recovered from the uniform of General Sir Brudenell White who was a passenger on the plane.

Faye isn't the only reader whose father had a penchant for collecting curious historical items. Anyone who visits Byam Wight's apartment in Kingston could easily be excused for thinking they'd arrived at a Sydney railway platform, for taking pride of place near in his courtyard is a very large, rare and old NSW Government Railway platform clock.

"It is number 4 of 48 made and it was the platform clock installed at Newtown railway station in 1855," explains Byam, whose late father "purchased it at a surplus railway auction in 1975".

When recently restoring the clock to working condition, Byam discovered four legible graffiti signatures dated between 1914 and 1918. "It makes you wonder if they were off to the Great War," he ponders. Indeed.

Byam also provides some insights into the importance of the clock to keep the right time for both the safety and convenience of travellers.

"As the railways were using the token safety system in those days, it was essential that all the clocks throughout the metropolitan area of Sydney were in sync and showed the same accurate time," says Byam. "To do this, the Sydney Observatory would send a signal to all the station masters at 1pm each day and they would then adjust their station clocks accordingly". The things you learn.

"When the clocks were first installed, personal time pieces were very rare and expensive and consequently people literally didn't know the time of day, so mum would send the kids down to the railway station to get the time", explains Byam. "Also, those that could afford a pocket watch would set them to the railway station clock as they were the only means to set the accurate time (as there were no radio stations in those days)."

As to the reason for such a large dial (over a metre in diameter), apparently that was to allow the through train engine drivers to see the time without stopping.

Did You Know? A token safety system requires a train driver to physically collect a unique token from a station to ensure their train is the only one travelling on a section of line. According to Capital Region Heritage Rail chairman John Cowper, until about 10 years ago, such tokens were used on the Goulburn to Canberra line. Drivers now get the authority to proceed from a computer screen in the cab and do not need to alight from the train.

Last week's exposé on the patch of technicolor moss in Namadgi National Park (From Black to Technicolor, September 19) prompted a busy week in the park with many photographers making the drive out to see the spectacular splash of colour.

However for several observant readers including Ros Donohoe, the magical moss was already on their radar. "Driving through the park a few weeks back, the late afternoon sun on the bright lime moss also stopped us in our tracks," says Ros. Ngarigu artist Gail Neuss reveals she has been working on a painting of the moss for several weeks, which as Andrew Claridge reports, "is also prevalent in parts of Ben Boyd National Park, near Eden".

Several readers also pointed out that the deeper you drive into Namadgi (along the Boboyan Road) the more the bush looks like it's recovering. "I found driving through the first part [of the park] quite sad ... just seeing how the trees were obliterated," reports Louise Mackin. "However I found the further south you went, the trees that were recovering were doing so a lot faster than what I thought they would with lots of new shoots in the trees."

Further afield, earlier this week Robert Hancock made his first trip from Berridale to Kiandra since last summer's inferno ripped through the old gold mining town. "It was heartbreaking," says Robert. "I have witnessed the effects of bushfires in the past but nothing as devastating as what I saw once I entered Kosciuszko National Park [along the Snowy Mountains Highway]."

"It was unrecognisable," reveals Robert. "Most noticeable is the complete lack of understory which makes the place look so different."

Standing in Kiandra next to the site of the razed Matthews Cottage was especially sad for Robert who was present in the mid-1990s "when the cottage was dragged back from the highway on steel rails to protect it from passing snow ploughs".

"It will be many years before the forest returns to anywhere near its former beauty," he reflects. Indeed.

Clue: Creating a real buzz

Degree of difficulty: Medium

Last week: Congratulations to first-time winner Brad Fallen of Garran who was first to correctly identify the location of last week's photo as a dead Wollemi Pine outside the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Building, 1 National Circuit, Barton.

"I worked there for six years and remember when the tree was smaller and healthier," reports Brad who just beat June McKenzie of Fisher to the prize. The reason for the tree's sad demise is yet to be confirmed but many readers have speculated that being surrounded by concrete, last summer's extreme heat was more than likely a contributing factor. Pity, as a specimen that tall would have cost a fortune.

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and suburb to timtheyowieman@bigpond.com. The first email sent after 10am, Saturday September 26, 2020, wins a double pass to Dendy, the Home of Quality Cinema.

Now for a more positive tree story. David Evans of Fadden is enamoured by this fallen gum tree (likely a Yellow Box) in Wanniassa Hills Nature Reserve near Fadden (on the western side up from Erindale Drive).

"I've watched the ten branches become 'trees' over the last eleven years and hope the tap root continues to feed them". Love it. You've got to love nature.

While recently enjoying PhotoAccess' recent Water Walk along Jerrabomberra Creek, Roanna Gardiner of Isabella Plains spied this "guardian with a pert little nose in the eroded embankment". What a ripper.

CONTACT TIM: Email: timtheyowieman@bigpond.com or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, 9 Pirie St, Fyshwick