Imagine that you bought 10 acres of land and 5 years later the land was worth 1/8th of what you paid!!
This is what happened to many people in Blackburn in the late 1880âs-90âs. People bought land as an investment as a result of a number of developments around this time including the naming of the area as Blackburn (1883), a new Post Office (1876), a new railway (1882), and a new lake (1889) all helping to inflate the prices. The Depression then occurred (1892) and people went back to working their land which was no longer worthwhile as an investment. One of the uses made of this land was as Orchards. The number of acres of land being cultivated in the City of Nunawading rose from 1665 acres in 1894 to 2519 in 1898. Of this a large percentage was Orchards.
This first waypoint takes you to the site of GMelbâs ancestorâs APPLE ORCHARDS and this AVENUE is named after GMelbâs Grandfather! The site you are standing on was a 7 acre Orchard owned by Fred Hone (GMelbâs Grandfather) from 1918. Apples and other fruit were a major source of work and income for the people of the City of Nunawading. Businesses included the Blue Moon Fruit Co-operative and the Blackburn Coolstore. From 1852 the Honesâ had owned and worked Orchards throughout the City of Nunawading. The subdivision of this Orchard in 1950 ended 98 years of Orchards in the City of Nunawading owned by the Hone family!! Hone Avenue and School Road were created when the site was sub-divided.
From the street sign at this waypoint you will need to find the following information using the 6 letters on the street sign. Convert the 6 letters to numbers using the numerical value (eg A=1, B=2).Â
A = 3rd letter value - 1st letter value
B = 1st letter value + 5th letter valueÂ
C = 5th letter value x 2
D = 4th letter value + 5th letter value
E = 4th letter value
F = 5th letter value - 1
Your next waypoint is South 37 49.ABCÂ East 145 09.DEF
Fred Hone and his older brother Walter spent their childhood not far from this location. This spot was a common swimming and recreation area for everyone in the district. Built to make the area more desirable, it included boats for hire and a kiosk. Sadly Walter drowned whilst playing here in 1895 at the age of 12!
From this waypoint you will need to find the following information
G = Number of letters in the second word of the company name Blackburn âGâ Town Estate
H and J = Adult Deaf Society purchased 70 acres of land including the lake in 19HJ
K = By 197K the National Trust had classified the area as a Significant Landscape
L = The second digit in the phone number of where to get the Heritage Trail brochures
M = The number of letters in the name of the the city minus 5
The final waypoint (cache) is located at
S 37 49.GHJ
E 145 09.KLMÂ and is an easy stroll away.
The trees will no doubt play havoc with your GPSr here however the cache should be a pretty easy find! The 2 litre cache container includes a little First to Find Prize (see photo) and various other swaps and will have plenty of room for TBâs once the FTF Pack is claimed. Make sure you take time to enjoy the full surroundings whilst here!! Itâs a lovely place for a picnic lunch!! When we placed the cache the water level was the highest we have ever seen it with many usual sitting spots UNDER WATER!! (Nov 09)