A tribute to those unsung pioneers, without whom the land would be undivided and the cattle strayed. The mute definers of boundaries, the silent police of property: I salute --The ubiquitous Split Jarrah Fence Posts!
You see them all over the countryside; some still in use, others overgrown in the scrub, marking the line of extinct properties. Some just there with no obvious reason for being there...
Jarrah is tough stuff, a hardwood with straight grain that could be split with wedges and mallet to form almost indestructible and amazingly termite proof fence posts. The early Settlers soon had the Southwest divided up with thousands of these sturdy posts.
I've set this celebration on the Denmark Historic Rail Trail. A huge amount of jarrah and karri timber was freighted out of these forests along this track, so where better? Officially you can only access this trail by foot, horse or bike. But there is a sneaky vehicular way in for the lazy. Drive through the new Springdale Beach Estate (off South Coast Highway 400 metres East of Denmark-Mt Barker Road turnoff) and find the new road at the back of the estate heading South. There is a carpark at (34°58.117'S 117°23.271'E ) Ground Zero is but a short (< 200 metre) walk. Keep to the tracks.
Here you will find the remains of an old jetty, Shelter Hut #3, concrete benches dating back to 1934, ... and one Old Lone Fence Post with a Secret in its heart.
The cache is a small capsule containing a scroll and an itty-bitty stub of pencil. Might be a good idea to take your own pen.
Cheers, and Good Hunting, roymerc
By the way, if you are interested in hoofing it down the Trail, here's a useful URL: http://www.rainbowcoast.com.au/areas/denmark/railbridge.htm
IMPORTANT!: I've had a request from the Shire to tell all geocachers NOT TO DRIVE VEHICLES ON THE TRAIL! If this persists I will have to remove this cache and all the BYOB caches. Please don't be the idiot who kills these popular caches!