Corowa might be officially recognised as the Birthplace of Federation but in those heady days leading up to 1901, a small village on the Hawkesbury River also played its part.
In 1891, a Federal Convention was held in Sydney to form a constitution. During a break, Samuel Griffiths. the Queensland Premier, invited some delegates to join him in a cruise to the Hawkesbury on the steamer, Lucinda. They inspected the new railway bridge and, during the cruise, crafted the Australian Constitution, here in the waters near Brooklyn. Thus, Brooklyn became its own self-proclaimed birthplace of Federation.
The listed coordinates will bring you to McKell Park where ten rusty pillars stand, each bearing a large letter from the word FEDERATION. Also on each is a plaque with a one-word title describing an event in the town's history. In the crossword below, enter each title word into the space identified by its pillar's letter. Note that while there are two Es in FEDERATION, and hence two pillars bearing an E, the title words on those plaques are different lengths so there shouldn't be any ambiguity, just take care to count the letters before writing them into E-down and E-across.
With the puzzle completed, match the letters in the decimal minutes below to those in the green squares and read off the corresponding numerals.
S 33° 32.NMH E 151° 13.RFH
The cache, painted federation green of course, is located near Federation Lookout on the upper level of the park. There's parking on both levels with connecting steps near the pillars, but parking is often at a premium in Brooklyn, particularly at weekends and during school holidays, so you'll probably just have to park wherever you can and walk from there. Hawkesbury River station is close by so another option is to come by train, with an hourly service from Sydney and the Central Coast / Newcastle.
When finding the cache, swear the Oath and Affirmation on page 31 of the Constitution contained therein and add your geoname to the list of signatories.
Congratulations to 4Rods, the first to affirm their oath.