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The History
Cussen Park is a bushland style park encompassing 33 ha of
wetlands, woodlands and open space on the Northern outskirts of the
town of Tatura in Northern Victoria. The land, which forms
the Park is surrounded by industrial, residential and irrigated
farm land.
The Park has been formed from the reclamation of wastelands by
the Tatura community working closely with Council and
Government Agencies. It now forms a valuable community asset for
the Township of Tatura, providing educational opportunities,
passive recreation and significant habitat for indigenous plants
and animals. The Park is used to biologically treat Tatura's
urban stormwater, preventing poor quality water being passed onto
the wetlands and farms downstream.
Cussen Park has a largely untapped eco-tourism potential,
containing constructed wetlands, bird hides, observation decks and
well developed paths and signs allowing people to closely observe
many bird species otherwise not possible.
The Tatura township lies over the original drainage lines
of what is known as the East Mosquito depression. This is a natural
drainage line, which meets up with larger Mosquito depression. The
placement of Tatura in this spot was presumably a means of
allowing drainage of urban stormwater and sullage in the absence of
drainage system when Tatura was first created in the 1870's.
In 1983 a small section was developed as Parkland and the area
was named "Cussen Park" in honour of the first Rodney Shire
President Martin Cussen.
In 1993, the then Rodney Shire decided to rezone the area that
now forms the Park for residential development to solve the problem
of the eyesore and generate money for the Council. Numerous
objections were received to the proposal from residents in
Tatura.
A public meeting was held and overwhelming support from the
community was received for the development of a bushland Park on
the site. A committee known as the Cussen Park Advisory
Committee was formed.
In 1994 a detailed proposal for the Park was prepared with
Council funding. The Plan integrated a bushland park with open
space and stormwater treatment facility was adopted by Council. The
Plan known as "Future Use and Development of Cussen Park", included
a design for the Park and its features and identified an area in
the North East of the Park that could be set aside for residential
sub-division. A Committee called the "Cussen Park Committee of
Management" was formed.
In January 1995 works began on developing the Park to the Plan.
Works included Working bees and large scale earthmoving to cover
open tips, create islands and place structures to allow water
levels in the lakes to be manipulated. Considerable "in kind"
contributions by were made by community members with help from
sponsorship by service organisations, Council and other
agencies.
The Cache
The above coordinates will take you to the entrance of the park
where you will find some information on the boards under the
pergola. Answer the following question:
What was the Eastern Section of the Park once used as:
A. The 1912 Dairy Exhibition -(A=7)
B. The former site of the 'School for Children that swear' -
(A=4).
C. A Refuse Tip - (A=8)
D. The 1964 Beatles Concert - (A=2)
At the following coordinates you will need to take note of the
information plaques at each of the trees. These will give you the
final coordinates for the actual cache location. The plaques look
like these:
Tree 1 (S36 25.882 E145 13.437)
Is a Peppermint Box (B=2)
Is a Grey Box (B=3)
Is a River Teatree (B=0)
Tree 2 (S36 25.770 E145 13.489)
Is a Cootamundra Wattle (C=7)
Is a Red Flowering Gum (C=2)
Is a Swamp Oak (C=5)
Tree 3 (S36 25.729 E145 13.544)
Is a Swamp Oak (D=5)
Is a Spotted Gum (D=1)
Is a Peppercorn Tree (D=0)
Tree 4 (S36 25.751 E145 13.596)
Is a Swamp Oak (E=5)
Is a Grey Box (E=0)
Is a River Tea Tree (E=3)
Tree 5 (S36 25.743 E145 13.572)
Is a Swamp Oak (F=0)
Is a Cootamundra Wattle (F=2)
Is a Peppercorn Tree (F=6)
The Cache can be found at:
S 36 25.ABC
E 145 13.DEF
The cache container is a small 800ml container. Please try and
replace the cache as found to avoid it being accidentally stumbled
upon by non geocachers.
Contents include log book, pencil, pencil sharpener and small
swaps if you so desire. There are also a couple of scratchies for
the FTF. Good luck!
As usual take care as there maybe snakes about.
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