Day 3 – Gunning to Wombeyan Caves
The next morning we had a slow start before stopping off at the dump point then continuing back to the Hume Highway and on to Goulburn.
Goulburn is one of those places that we have always driven by on the highway or stopped in only to get fuel and something to eat before continuing our journey. We’d never really taken any time to explore the town. So this day we did.
We spent the morning in Goulburn with a first stop at Bunnings to get a few things. The Bunnings in Goulburn is much bigger than the one in Griffith and we spent longer than neccessary just browsing. They even have a cafe in the store!
Next stop was the to the Garroorigang Historic Homestead but as we drove in a fellow came out to greet us and said he had a bus of 45 people coming in shortly for a tour and would we be able to return after 1.30pm. That was no problem for us so we headed back into town and went to the Visitors Centre. Here we did the usual and talked to the guide about what there is to see in Goulburn. We found out there is a wier on the Wollondilly River and near that is the Historic Waterworks Museuam. That sounded worth a look.
The Goulburn Historic Waterworks Museum is well worth a visit and showcases the ingenuity of the Victorian era. The beautiful brick and sandstaone building houses the steam engines that pumped water up to a reservoir that supplied the town with water.
Before 1886 residents of Goulburn would have collected water in tanks or wells, or purchased water from a water carter. The town was growing so the Rivers and Harbours Board had the waterworks constructed next to the Wollondilly River at Rocky Point. The pump was powered by a steam operated beam engine and the water was pumped up to a reservoir then gravity fed to the residents.
The Waterworks were extended in 1897 and again in 1918 and continued to supply water to Goulburn right up to 1977.
The original Appleby Bros steam engine was built in 1883 and is one of four that were installed in pump houses around NSW. It is now the only Applby Bros Beam Engine left in the world and has been lovingly restores and kept in working condition by a dedicated team of volunteers.
Just up the hill from the pump house stand the Fireman’s Cottage. This was built to provide accomodation for the fireman and his family as the fireman was on duty 24/7 because the boiler ran 24/7 and had to be constantly observed and attended to. Now there is a gorgeous cottage garden around the Fireman’s Cottage maintained by volunteers.
We arrived at the Waterworks just as a tour was being given to a group of historic car owners so we tagged along. It was a great tour and we were very impressed at the loving care that’s been shown to the engines and the lovely gardens. We found out that the volunteers hold regular ‘steaming’ days where the engines are fired up so people can see them in action. That would be great to watch.
After a very informative tour at the Waterworks we headed back to Garroorigang Homestead and pulled up in their carpark to make our lunch. Rich decided he’d had enough history for one day and chose to stay back in their carpark motorhome and read his book (have a nap).
Garroorigang began life as The Mulwaree Inn and was built by Charles Thomas in 1857. It was made with locally made bricks and beautiful cedar joinery throughout. The Inn had 12 rooms as well as a brick stable block out the back in the courtyard. There is an 1850’s hand pump over a brick lined well in the middle of the courtyard. The inn was perfectly situated to passing traffic on the way to the goldfields at Araluen. Ben Hall and his gang were once very unwelcome guests.
The Mulwaree Inn only lasted 7 years because of dwindling traffic due to the petering out of gold and the imminent arrival of the railway. The inn was bought by Samuel Harborne Belcher who was an English teacher looking to set up a school. Samuel Belcher and his wife moved to Goulburn in 1862. In 1868 he purchased Garroorigang and the 200 acres around it as a home for his family and for the school. He converted the stables into a classroom, which can still be viewed today, and built a dormitory for the boys (now gone). At its height the school was home to 30 boys, mostly sons of established pioneering families. Famous alumni of the school are the Impressionist painter John Peter Russell, test cricketer H H Massie and the Mort brothers of Goldsborough Mort fame. Some 300 boys were students over the years until the school closed in 1883.
During the time of the school Samuel Harborne Belcher and his wife converted the inn into a gracious gentlemen’s residence. The bar and parlour were converted into a classic Victorian drawing room complete with grand piano and fabulous Victorian furniture. You can still see the trapdoor that led to the original cellar below the bar in one corner of the drawing room.
When Belcher died in 1920 Garroorigang passed to his son Stuart. Stuart had married Annie Jane Hume, the step daughter of Andrew Hamilton Hume. Andrew Hamilton was a nephew of the famous explorer Hamilton Hume. Stuart and Annie moved to Garroorigang in 1920 where they expanded the gardens and cherished the home.
Andrew Hamilton Hume died in 1947 and Annie asked her nephew Stuart Hamilton Hume to move his family to Garroorigang. Stuart Snr and his wife were passionate about preserving the home but as a lived-in home, not a museum. Their son Stuart and his wife Anna now live in the home and along with Stuart’s sister Jenny run tours of the home
I spent the next hour with the Stuart and Anna. What a great tour! It is fascinating to tour an historic house with one of the descendants who grew up and still lives in the house. Stuart and Anna pointed out tapestries that his mother had made when she was in her nineties. She lived until she was 100. Imagine having the ability to sew tapestries at that age. Her eyesight must have been very good!
The house is full of historic Victorian and colonial furniture and bric a brac collected by a long line of Humes. Silverware, crystal, tons of family photos and favourite pieces of furniture. The house is still used by the extended family for large celebrations.
Stuart Hume himself had an interesting career with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and there were many photos throughout the house from his long career as a diplomat.
I was fascinated to find a small picture on the wall in the hall of the house at Frankfield near Gunning. This house was built by Francis Rawdon Hume in 1870 and is now owned by the Walmsley family. My cousin Ann married Greg Walmsley and has called Frankfield home for many years.
I spent about an hour with Stuart and Anna before making my way back to the motorhome where Rich had enjoyed a bit of a read and a nap.
After all that history it was time to get back on the road and we headed northwards towards Taralga. What beautiful countryside it is around there. Lush green rolling hills everywhere. I can see why it appealed to the early English settlers.
It started raining as we arrived in the little village of Taralga but we decided to carry on to Wombeyan Caves.
It rained on the way down the mountain into the beautiful valley. The road down the mountains is great from the turnoff after Taralga. Then we hit roadworks and road became gravel. It was very smooth gravel though and we could see that the roadworks with ongoing. We eventually passed by the road crew vehicles but as it was Sunday they were all still.
Back on the tar again and the roadworks became much steeper, narrower and winding. In some places down the mounting it was a single lane. We prayed we wouldn’t meet a truck going back up! At the bottom the valley opens up and what a gorgeous spot it is.
It was still waiting while we tried to find a campsite that had a fire pit but the storm had killed our Starlink and we couldn’t check which sites were booked. We took a chance and settled on one site and wouldn’t you know it? Five minutes later a ute pulls in and he had that site booked for two nights!
We moved further down and when the rain eased up I tried Starlink again and it worked! Yay. I was able to book us site for two nights.
Then the rain stopped and we were able to go for a walk. We met some people camped in their Explorer motorhome and invited them to join us at our fire. Allan and Amanda came across and we enjoyed a few hours sitting around a lovely campfire.
We decided to call it a night and lucky we did because Allan and Amanda had to walk back across the campground to return to their motorhome and not long after they left the sky became very ominous and we could see lightning. Then the thunder started rolling in.
Of course that bloody Murphy was at work again and as I was washing up our dinner dishes the gas ran out. So out in the cold I went with my headlight torch on to change the gas bottle. This is my job because Richard can’t fit under the slide out when it is out whereas I am so much closer to the ground and can crawl under easily. Gas bottle changed and I came back inside to finish the dishes and then heavens opened up. We had thunder and lightning and very heavy rain. It’s a cozy feeling being inside with the sound of thunder and heavy rain on the roof.
