Wow Weekend Wind-up

Still reminiscing on the Wow Weekend, the Sunday was a total departure from Saturday's activities. It was a photographic sojourn to Duneria on the slopes of Mount Macedon. 

The sweeping drive of elm trees, I'd love if only I had an estate

Duneria was originally the stately home of Suetonius Officer (as in the Officers at Mt Talbot Station). He purchased the land in the 1870s and began the garden plantings. It is this garden as well as the house which are the attractions now.

The extensive grounds are planted with mature cool climate northern hemisphere evergreen and deciduous trees.

Again, my favourites, would love a Japanese maple

Our tasks were to stroll around the garden to photograph examples of texture, patterns, light & shadow.

 

And there were the macro subjects

 

And reflections and portraiture

 

 

 

 

 

 

The c1885-87 Gate Lodge

The indoor sessions were in the Library with the floor-to-ceiling bookcases complete with ladder, and an old 18th edition of Dewey.

Then the drive back home.

Looking west from the Major Mitchell Lookout

Our first casuality

Great news about a lecture at the Melbourne Museum – “Beneath the waves at Gallipoli”

While the battlefields of Gallipoli are etched in the Australian psyche, the hidden underwater relics of the war are generally overlooked.

Tim Smith, a leading maritime archaeology practitioner and Executive Director of Heritage Victoria, will talk about his work mapping underwater cultural heritage sites associated with key World War One Australian actions, including:

• the AE2 submarine sunk in the Dardanelles Strait, Turkey (1915), and the forthcoming June expedition

• the centenary search for the AE1 submarine sunk off Papua New Guinea (1914)

• battlefield landscape surveys at ANZAC Cove and Suvla Bay

• recent survey work at the wreck of the World War One battle cruiser HMAS Australia I off Sydney

• J-Class submarines in Melbourne and more.

Details: 2014 Heritage Address with Tim Smith: Beneath the Waves at Gallipoli

When: Monday 14th April 2014

Location: Museum Theatre, Melbourne Museum, Carlton Gardens

Start: 6 pm

Bookings: discoverylectures@museum.vic.gov.au by 11th April

Being fascinated with the fact that AE1 was our first submarine, but its loss before the Gallipoli campaign has meant it has been largely glossed over in favour of the land battles and the loss of the AE2. The AE2 was scuttled in the Dardanelles on 30th April 1915, as part of the Gallipoli campaign.

His Majesty’s Australian Submarine AE1 was launched in the yard of Vickers Ltd at Barrow-in-Furness England on 22nd May 1913. She was commissioned at Portsmouth on 28th February 1914 under the command of Lieutenant Commander T F Besant, RN. She was the first of two E Class submarines built for the fledgling Royal Australian Navy.

HMAS AE1 - Royal Australian Navy's first submarine at Portsmouth in 1914

Both submarines sailed from England and reached Sydney on 24th May 1914. They were, manned by 3 Royal Navy officers and a mixed crew of 32 sailors from the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy.

At the outbreak of World War 1 (4th August 1914), AE1 joined the naval forces assigned to the capture and occupation of the German Pacific colonies. With AE2, she took part in the surrender of Rabaul on 13th September 1914.

The destroyer HMAS Parramatta and AE1 were patrolling in the Bismarck Sea east of the Duke of York Islands on the 14th. The two vessels met, but the weather was hazy and visibility was down to about 5 miles when the Parramatta lost sight of the submarine. Despite a search by 5 Navy ships no trace was ever found. The loss of the AE1 was the first major tragedy for the Royal Australian Navy. (from http://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-ae1)

Last known image of AE1, 9 Sep 1914 with Yarra & Australia in the background

Wow Weekend tWo

Having satisfied my Abandoned need for a while, I needed to attend to the other requirements -
So I dragged the bike out of the car and took off along The Domino Trail, an abandoned rail-line now rail-trail still with some of its bridges 

Over Stony Creek

Above - the Doctors Creek Bridge deck, & below - in Doctors Creek

The dilapidated Blue Creek Bridge, I went around, except when I had to venture out for the cache. And finally the brick culvert tunnel through the embankment that crosses the Domino Creek.

Then having logged all the 11 geocaches on the Domino Trail, I needed to bag a trig point, so up the steep Tower Track to the top of Blue Mountain with its communication, trig & fire towers. It was on the way down that I spied the red leaves of a deciduous tree in the forest AND found a cemetery! The Newbury-Blue Mountain Cemetery is reverting back to bush, but is still open, it had its most recent burial about 1980.


The trig & fire towers
 

The exotic tree in the cemetery

The path into the Newbury-Blue Mountain Cemetery

Next Sunday - a change of pace

Wow weekend

On the weekend, I had a chance to tick a couple of boxes

Kattemingga's church

I'd come across a Pinterest photo of 'Old church in fog, Kattemingga, Victoria, Australia', was intrigued didn't know Kattemingga - so Internet search = it is in central Victoria just south of Newbury. 

The grounds of Kattemingga Lodge

Kattemingga Lodge is a 150 acre farm, with a accommodation, AND a film-set used for 'The Man from Snowy River', 'Ponderosa', 'The Mole', and a number of commercials - I had to visit!
The farm/lodge is currently operated by Nola & Gary Whitehouse and who have been there for 35 years, but as Nola is about to turn 72, they have decided to retire, having sold the property to a Buddhist retreat, so the future of the film-set buildings is uncertain (and my recording of them imperative).

The main street of the film-set

With all the planning of a military campaign, I stayed Friday night at the Lodge overlooking this - 

Then up before the crack of dawn

And cycle off to take lots of photos

 

The buildings are falling into decline, but were constructed as complete structures, not just facades, with the interiors also being used for shooting

 

The Hotel being a bit more up-market than the saloon, and still with a couple of props on location.

 

 

 

 

 

  I whiled away some hours wandering around and through the set, then took off to satisfy yearns for caches, bridges, cemeteries...more on that next post.