This 3 stage puzzle cache introduces some farming history
starting at a display of the "Ridley Stripper".
The display and subsequent waypoint holds the information you
will need to find the cache.
History
John Ridley (1806 - 1887) was an all-rounder - flour-miller,
inventor and preacher. He was born in May 1806 at West Bolden DUR,
arrived 17 Apr 1840 on the Warrior with his wife, Mary nee Pybus
and two daughters. He established himself at Hindmarsh as a flour
miller with the first steam mill at a time when this region of the
Adelaide plains was the cereal growing region of the colony.
He developed a stripper harvester in 1843 and it worked by
sweeping off the heads of wheat with combs and beaters. Essentially
it was a box with a comb mounted in front and a rotating beater
placed behind the comb. As the stripper was pushed through the crop
by horses, the wheat heads were drawn through the comb and then
removed by the beater and collected in the box. The resultant
mixture of grain and chaff was then separated in a small stationary
winnower.
In South Australia’s hot, and dry climate where the grain
ripened on the stalk, the stalk was of little value and thus the
stripper represented a major advance as previously the harvesting
of wheat was done by hand with a sickle, followed by stooking,
drying, stacking and threshing. The other great advantage was the
simplicity of the design which meant that the stripper could be
manufactured easily in small, local engineering workshops.
By 1857, half of the South Australian wheat crop was being
harvested by machine. The significance of Ridley’s contribution to
the colony’s economy cannot be over estimated.
John Ridley returned to England in 1853 although he still
retained ownership of property in South Australia (now known as
Ridleyton). He died in London 25 Nov 1887.
The machine was so impressive he is commemorated by :
- Ridley memorial scholarship at Roseworthy Agricultural
College
- memorial gates to the Royal Agricultural and Horticultural
Society's showground at Wayville
- electoral district of Ridley
- several streets in South Australia and the suburb of Ridleyton
were named after him
Finding the cache
At the listed coordinates is a sign attached to the housing of the
Ridley Stripper display and holds the information you need to find
the second waypoint.
A = last digit of the year the display was
commissioned.
B = A + 1
C = A - 2
Waypoint 2 is at S35 0B.1C3 E138 5C.C83
At the second waypoint is a device made from Ridley Stripper
parts and should really be located elsewhere to be of any
value.
D = last 2 digits on the second to last line in the
memorial text
Now project D meters at D degrees (true) and this will take you
on short walk to an area which was once occupied by something
else.
The cache originally contained log book, pencil, mondo toy, RAM
& bouncy ball.