Just six of us fronted up for the walk to the London Bridge Arch and the old homestead on Sunday 29 June.
Despite freezing temperatures earlier in the week, it was a beautiful clear day, even withstanding the earlier morning cold.
We had a very interesting start to the day even before reaching the walk. Turning on to the dirt road John, Janet and I spotted a fox trotting down the side of the road but as it turned to go into the bushes, we saw that it was carrying a very large stick in its mouth. We would be pleased if anyone can enlighten us about why a fox would be carrying a stick. Unfortunately, it went into the bushes and while we could see it, we were not able to get a photo.
Our second exotic of the day was a large fallow deer that Sandra had spotted before we arrived.
Pretty soon we began adding to our bird list with Magpies, Noisy Miners and a large mixed feeding flock that included several species of Thornbills as well as Flame Robins, with kangaroos resting in the sun nearby. At least one had a joey in its pouch.
The shortest route to the arch, which goes over the arch, had been closed for rehabilitation and I can’t say I was displeased as walking down the rocky path in frosty conditions could be a bit hazardous. I’ve visited the arch about three previous times so this was my first time taking the longer track.
Lindsay found a newly deceased rabbit that Elin said was still warm. Don Fletcher suggested that it may have been due to calicivirus and we had also discussed that possibility. Nearby, we saw the first of three wombats. This one was out in the open near its burrow, then avoiding its visitors, moved down the slope to hide under the blackberry brambles. There were quite a few brambles but as Elin pointed out, they cannot be sprayed close to the creek.
Crossing the creek, we found a second wombat sunning itself just inside the entrance to its burrow. On our return it had lain down to sleep in the sun.
While usually nocturnal it seems our Wombats like to come out to warm up on these cold, frosty days and who can blame them.
At the London Bridge Arch, a couple of kids were busily smashing the ice floe covering a pool of water in the creek, while Elin elected to visit the large cave on the other side of the creek.
The London Bridge arch has an interesting history.
It was an Aboriginal guide who first pointed it out. In June 1823, Captain Mark John Currie was passing through on a mission to find ideal land for settlement when his team came across “a natural bridge of one perfect Saxon arch, under which the water passed”. It is still a little-known attraction.
About 20 years after Currie, an Irishman, John McNamara, bought the natural stone arch and 30 acres of surrounding land for 30 pounds, making it one of the first properties in the region. He, his wife, and their 13 children owned London Bridge until 1920. After a few changes of hands, the Commonwealth resumed control in 1973 to protect the Googong Dam catchment.
But there’s a darker history too.
In January 1874, Queanbeyan Police sergeant Martin Brennan stumbled across a veritable catacomb containing many hundreds of human bones and skulls, centuries old, crammed into caves near the arch. These were carried away by the bagful and pronounced by three surgeons, including the coroner, to be the skeletons of the Aborigines of former times. The arch may have been a sacred burial site for the local tribes.
The following year, more human bones were found in a nearby cave, this time European. But by the time the coroner came out to investigate, most of them had mysteriously vanished. Rumour has it they may have been the victims of bushrangers. But given they were buried in the Queanbeyan Pioneer Cemetery and promptly washed away by floodwaters, the bones remain a mystery.
Subsequent archaeological digs have turned up plenty of extinct native rats, mice and small marsupials.
We by-passed a second crossing of the creek, taking a side track to the old McNamara homestead giving us a walk through dry open forest with many shrubs, a completely different environment from the open grasslands we had just traversed.
Inspecting the field of limestone rocks near the homestead looking for fossils we found the ultimate wombat mansion. Dug underneath a roof of limestone, the hillock of newly excavated dirt looked like it had be excavated by a backhoe.
Elin, our youngest committee member had been excited looking for bones the whole trip and was elated to find a whole Wombat jaw that she carefully put together.
It was then just 50 m to the homestead. On my first visit many years ago you could access the homestead and surrounding buildings but it was now fenced off for protection with only a couple of out buildings accessible.
We again saw Scarlet Robins and a large flock of Yellow-rumped Thornbills before heading back across the creek to the woolshed. Just across the creek we found our third Wombat of the day grazing on the hillside. Perhaps disturbed by us he decided to leave but headed down to the creek where I was able to photograph him taking a long drink.
It was getting late but our trip was not yet over.
From here we headed to Tin Hut Dam. Despite visiting the London Bridge Arch several times, I was not aware of this dam. There are several bird hides from which to view the bird life. The Queanbeyan River outflow from Googong Dam is just off to the east.
There were many ducks on the dam but the light was in the wrong direction.
After a quick look, Sandra, Lindsay and Elin headed home while John, Janet and I took our lunch and headed around the western side of the dam to a hide that would give us better light on the birds.
About 50 metres from the hide was a seat out in the sun where we sat to eat our late lunch, before heading to the hide just in time to see a number of birds traversing the dam just in front of us allowing us to see that they were mainly hard-head ducks.
Among the birds present were also Grey Teals, Pacific Black Ducks, White-faced Herons, Grebes and a few Black-fronted Dotterels as well as a Flame Robin, Rosellas and a small flock of Superb Fairy Wrens.
Thanks to John for a very enjoyable outing.
– Alison Milton
BIRD LIST
London Bridge Arch walk:
Australian Magpie – 14
Australian Raven – 5
Brown Thornbill – 1
Crimson Rosella – 17
Eastern Rosella – 2
Eastern Yellow Robin – 1 heard
Eurasian Coot – 2
Flame Robin – 1 Male
Golden Whistler – 1 Heard
Grey Butcherbird – 2
Grey Shrikethrush – 1
Laughing Kookaburra – 4
Little Raven – 8
Noisy Miner – 7
Red-browed Firetail – 20 estimated
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo – 1
Superb Fairywren – 9
Scarlet Robin – 6 three pairs, widely separated
Weebill – 4
Welcome Swallow – 1
White-eared Honeyeater – 3
White-throated Treecreeper – 2 heard
White-winged Chough – 5
Yellow-rumped Thornbill – 15 large group at old homestead
Tin Shed Dam:
Australasian Grebe – 2
Australian Magpie – 3
Black-fronted Dotterel – 3
Crimson Rosella – 6
Grey Shrikethrush – 1
Grey Teal – 2
Hardhead –11
Laughing Kookaburra – 1
Little Black Cormorant – 1
Magpie-lark – 3
Masked Lapwing – 8
Pacific Black Duck – 6
White-faced Heron – 2
– Sandra Henderson