Bush trip: the town
Jan. 13th, 2011 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xenithI should get this done and move onto something else.
Continuing the account of our trip to the Long March Dam site. The background is in the earlier posts, although as a quick summary, work on the dam started about about 1840 using probationary labour, with the intention of providing irrigation for farms in the Midlands, but was abandoned a few years later due to economic and political factors. The site consists of a partially completed dam, an abandoned sandstone quarry and the nearby settlement that housed the workers.
Part 1 - Arriving
Part 2 - Dam & Quarry
And so we move onto the town... except there is a slight detour on the way.
That's a lonely bush grave.
SACRED
To the Memory
Of
Thomas Collins Age 36
Who was unfortunately killed
Dec 4 1843
By the falling of a stone
Whilst working on the
Long Marsh
Dam
(If I read it right, it's bit worn in places.)
And there's the town.
Or maybe you can see it better there.
Among the trees are the remains of paths, boundary walls and chimneys.
Not sure exactly what made up the settlement. Barracks for the workers, obviously. Cottages for the supervisors/officers. Hospital. Laundry & cookhouse Storerooms. Forge/smithy?
There is a copy of the plans of the original settlement here
but if you can make sense of it you're doing better than me.
The chimneys are the most noticeable features.
Close-up.
The lighting is a bit strange, and the camera has picked up on it. It's sort of green, like in a forest with a denser canopy, but also clear. On my computer anyway, it makes some of the photos look like they're over sharpened.
A brick pile.
Some of the other poked around looking for arrow markings and thumb prints. They said they found some, but I didn't see any.
It's rather weird to casually look into the bush, and then have the ruins of a building resolve in front of you.
Although also frustrating because you have no idea what the remains actually are.
As we were about to leave, this caused some interest.
This is the front bit. It's the only sandstone in the settlement area, that I saw.
This is the back bit. Purpose? It makes me think of water. Well? Laundry? Or cook house?
Hading back now. That's what you call a path cut through the bush.
Back in the vehicles, leaving was uneventful, until we got to the bridge, which was out. But that's not a problem...
...there's an alternative route.
The vehicle behind us followed. The others thought better of it.
And we've finally escaped
Lots of recently shorn (white!) sheep, and the back of Ross is looking very green for a change.
To the left is the track we came along, and beyond that, the end of the forest we were wandering around in.
Continuing the account of our trip to the Long March Dam site. The background is in the earlier posts, although as a quick summary, work on the dam started about about 1840 using probationary labour, with the intention of providing irrigation for farms in the Midlands, but was abandoned a few years later due to economic and political factors. The site consists of a partially completed dam, an abandoned sandstone quarry and the nearby settlement that housed the workers.
Part 1 - Arriving
Part 2 - Dam & Quarry
And so we move onto the town... except there is a slight detour on the way.
That's a lonely bush grave.
SACRED
To the Memory
Of
Thomas Collins Age 36
Who was unfortunately killed
Dec 4 1843
By the falling of a stone
Whilst working on the
Long Marsh
Dam
(If I read it right, it's bit worn in places.)
And there's the town.
Or maybe you can see it better there.
Among the trees are the remains of paths, boundary walls and chimneys.
Not sure exactly what made up the settlement. Barracks for the workers, obviously. Cottages for the supervisors/officers. Hospital. Laundry & cookhouse Storerooms. Forge/smithy?
There is a copy of the plans of the original settlement here
but if you can make sense of it you're doing better than me.
The chimneys are the most noticeable features.
Close-up.
The lighting is a bit strange, and the camera has picked up on it. It's sort of green, like in a forest with a denser canopy, but also clear. On my computer anyway, it makes some of the photos look like they're over sharpened.
A brick pile.
Some of the other poked around looking for arrow markings and thumb prints. They said they found some, but I didn't see any.
It's rather weird to casually look into the bush, and then have the ruins of a building resolve in front of you.
Although also frustrating because you have no idea what the remains actually are.
As we were about to leave, this caused some interest.
This is the front bit. It's the only sandstone in the settlement area, that I saw.
This is the back bit. Purpose? It makes me think of water. Well? Laundry? Or cook house?
Hading back now. That's what you call a path cut through the bush.
Back in the vehicles, leaving was uneventful, until we got to the bridge, which was out. But that's not a problem...
...there's an alternative route.
The vehicle behind us followed. The others thought better of it.
And we've finally escaped
Lots of recently shorn (white!) sheep, and the back of Ross is looking very green for a change.
To the left is the track we came along, and beyond that, the end of the forest we were wandering around in.
