Located close to the road from Tharwa to Adaminaby, this cache
takes you to Brayshaws Hut in the very south of Namadgi National
Park and the ACT. As a member of the Kosciuszko Huts Association I
would like to showcase the great work by KHA to restore this
homestead from the neglected and vandalised structure it had become
by the 1990s.
Brayshaws was built at the turn of the century, using largely
local materials of timber poles, split slabs and stone. David
Brayshaw lived there for a number of years, until his death by an
unfortunate accident. The building was then occupied by the Curtis
family, who made a number of modifications including fibro and
timber additions. They also built a shearing shed in 1936-7, now
gone.
In the early 1990s KHA campaigned to restore the deteriorating
building. When the project was approved, volunteers removed the
unsightly and by now badly damaged fibro cladding. Over several
years a huge effort when into rebuilding the frame, stabilising the
slabs and keeping the remnants of newspaper that once lined the
draughty walls. Namadgi National Park staff got involved to solve
chronic drainage problems, by installing a rubble drain uphill from
the hut. With the assistance of an ACT grant, a stonemason was
engaged for the demanding job of rebuilding the chimney. Inside an
outline on the wall near the chimney indicates where a telephone
was once mounted with connections to local regions. Across the road
about 100m into the bush are the remains of the Tin Dish school, a
very small structure of which only the stones of the fireplace
remain.
The road is negotiable by 2WD vehicles and varies in condition
from very good to reasonable, depending on when it was last graded.
Allow about one hour from Woden, give or take depending on the
weather (and the driver!)
Take note: this is not a FTF dash at night or early morning
unless you want kangaroo smeared across your windscreen and
paintwork. Kangaroos and wallabies can be thick along this road,
even before the gravel section. Take your time, have a look around
Brayshaws and enjoy the excursion. There are at least two easy
caches within easy reach of the road on the way down here.
To find the cache, read the sign at the posted coordinates, then
wander across to the hut. To calculate the new coordinates answer
these questions:
A = how many children did David have?
B = how many years did David live here?
C = number of chimneys
D = number of panes each window, divided by two
To calculate the new south coordinates, multiply B by 3 and
subtract from the south decimals. East is 148° 59.CAD.