Don't wait for a sign, check these out

On the side of Braidwood Road at Tirranaville, about 15 minutes' drive south of Goulburn, stands a small sign screwed to a post.

The sign acknowledges "the outstanding courage" of the four Faithfull brothers from adjoining Springfield Station, who in 1865 pulled off a remarkable feat against the marauding Ben Hall gang. They heroically fought them off. It's the stuff of legend. Specifically, the sign marks the very spot where a bullet fired by Percy, one of the brothers, hit a post, while his brothers retreated to safety.

With the bullet-embedded post long gone, the sign is the only reminder of this momentous occasion. And what a sign it is.

I love everything about it - the heritage font, the rust creeping around its edges and the fact it was erected in 1964 by the late Edgar Penzig, a luminary in bushranging circles.

Penzig was also responsible for highlighting many other places of significance from our bushranging era, including Ben Hall's grave at Forbes - locations for future generations to visits and ponder about life in mid-1800s Australia.

However, what I like most about the Springfield sign is that it tells a story. Unfortunately, in today's world where it seems we are always in a hurry and with no pullover bay, virtually no one who drives past the "Faithfulls vs Bushrangers" sign would notice it, let alone read it.

Sometimes it pays to slow down and smell the roses, or at least explore the countryside at a less hectic pace. And that's exactly what Ed Garnett of O'Connor did when he recently noticed the sign for the first time.

"I have a real soft spot for the country around Canberra and spend a fair amount of time riding my bicycle on roads," reports Ed. "While on a ride to Goulburn for lunch one day, via the back road from Tarago, I came across this old sign off to one side on the edge of a field.

"I'd probably have missed it if I were travelling in a car ... only those walking or cycling see these ... others speed past, oblivious to it."

I suspect I'm becoming more nostalgic as I grow older. I think we all do, don't we? However, I'm not the only one obsessed with vintage signs. There's an increasing number of people collecting them.

Take Barry Snelson of Calwell who has more than 100 vintage signs crammed into every nook and cranny of his suburban home.

"I just love them, they're in my blood," he says. But for Barry, "it's not just the nostalgia" that keeps him on the lookout for more. "These signs need to be preserved - it's part of our heritage," he says.

"I remember as a young bloke scouring tips and scrap heaps to find anything that should be preserved. Old signs were a prize. My dear old mum would say 'Barry you've brought home more junk. Where are you going to put it?' Answer? 'In my bedroom, mum'," he laughs.

Another local who has been collecting signs all his life is Kingsley Southwell of his circa-1877 property, 'Brooklands', at Wallaroo.

"There's just something about them," says Kingsley who has amassed hundreds of signs over his lifetime. "I especially like anything metal with writing on it," he says, adding "lamps, signs, ship tank lids, you name it."

However, unlike Barry, Kingsley's collecting days are over. Kingsley is downsizing and next month he's having a clearing sale of railway memorabilia, farm machinery and of course his vintage signs.

Earlier in the week, I had a sneak peek at the signs that will go under the hammer.

Among his favourites is a giant "Museum" baked enamel sign that was the template for the Museum Railway station on the City Circle route in Sydney.

Gee, it'd look good on the wall of the yowie bunker. I offer to buy it on the spot. But Kingsley is playing by the book. "If it's already listed in the catalogue for the clearing sale then it has to be available for sale on the day," he says. "It's only fair as some collectors may travel from far away." Bummer. It was worth a try.

Kingsley's Clearing Sale is on March 26 (check out the catalogue at www.nickkirshner.com.au ) at 52 Brooklands Rd, Wallaroo, about 10 minutes' drive from Hall Village. No doubt I'll bump into Barry Snelson of Calwell there. He just won't be able to help himself. I just hope I have enough dough to outbid him on that museum sign.

Regular readers may recall the 160-year-old shoe and 1857 half sovereign gold coin Derek Duffy found beneath the floorboards while renovating his circa-1860s antique store in the main street of Braidwood.

Well, he's at again. While undertaking renovations to the adjoining building dating to the same era, he discovered a vintage sign under a tin patch that was covering the opening to a manhole in the floor. It is likely the enamel sign would have been used to indicate the building was insured by Fire Sun Insurance Company as was common practice in the 1800s. But that wasn't all he found. When Derek peered through the manhole, he noticed a gun lying on the dirt. Was it a bushranger's pistol squirreled away after a foiled robbery attempt in the 1860s? "No, it turned out to be a toy cap gun", muses Derek. Who knows what he'll find next! Watch this space.

The mystery of why "MONICA" is written on a survey point in a park in Wongoola Place, O'Connor, has been solved.

Colin Trinder asked, "Is she an acronym, a code, perhaps a long-dead pet buried and commemorated in the park - or something more sinister?"

The answer is much more mundane and it's not, as some readers suggested, a reference to Monica Pty Ltd, a company which specialises in high-voltage electricity, rather it is actually named after a person.

According to Gavin Evans of the Office of the Surveyor-General and Land Information "Monica trig was established by the Survey Branch of the Department of the Interior (Canberra office) during the 1960s. Although it was against policy to name trigs after living people, the Monica trig was established just after the wife of a respected senior chainman, Jack Bourke, had given birth to a daughter, Monica."

According to Gavin there used to be two yellow concrete posts (witness posts) on either side of the MONICA survey mark to "provide the survey mark some protection and also allow for the mark to easily be found by surveyors". Over time the posts deteriorate and are replaced. However, due to the proximity of children's playground, about 20 years ago when MONICAS's witness posts were due to be replaced, they were deemed a safety hazard and slated to be removed.

However, it seems Surveyor-General's contractors must have missed collecting one of the posts for Laurie Laffan, who has lived mostly in O'Connor since 1956, claims for the last 20 years it's been lying on the ground behind a seat in the park where he uses it "to stretch his calves and ankles". "I also went to St Monica's Moony Ponds, that's why it struck a chord with me," explains Laurie. Good to see it being put to good use.

Rating: Medium - Hard

Clue: 845m above sea level

Last week: Congratulations to Leigh Palmer of Isaacs who was first to identify last week's photo as the symbolic spire at the site of the former Honeysuckle Space Tracking Station where the TV signal from the moon landing was received and broadcast live around the world in 1969. Leigh just beat this competition's seasoned bridesmaid, Brigitte Tabuteau of Bruce, and Alan Hume of Burrill Lake, to the prize. The photo was sent in by Paul Porteous who took the photo of the sculpture against the night sky while exploring the area a few weeks ago.

How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and suburb to tym@iinet.net.au. The first correct email sent after 10am, Saturday February 26, 2022, wins a double pass to Dendy, the Home of Quality Cinema.

Regular readers may recall a couple of years ago your columnist bemoaned the fact there was no headstone on the grave of Flying Officer Philip Mackenzie Pitt, Canberra's first aircraft fatality.

In fact, when I visited the Queanbeyan Riverside Cemetery with Richard Lamb in January 2020, the final resting place of Pitt, who piloted a De Havilland DH9 two-seater biplane which crashed at the Canberra Aerodrome (located at present day Dickson) on February 11, 1926, it was completely devoid of any marker.

However, I'm pleased to report that due to the great work of Richard, along with fellow Canberra heritage enthusiast Jane Goffman, and the good folk at the No.3 Squadron Association (Pitt had taken off from RAAF No.3 Squadron's Richmond Base), Pitt's final resting spot is now clearly marked.

"I'm so glad that at last poor young Pitt has a place in this world with some dignity," reports Richard.

Hear hear! Well done to all involved.

Note: Also killed in the crash was RAAF photographer William Edward Callander who is buried in St John's graveyard in Reid.

CONTACT TIM: Email: tym@iinet.net.au or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, PO Box 186, Fyshwick, ACT, 2609