Essington Mystery Cache
Ngaambul: No response from the owner within the time requested and as per the original note this cache has been archived. If you wish to replace it please submit a new cache via this link.
Ministro - Matt
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This cache is not located at the listed co-ordinates!
The listed co-ordinates are those of Port Kembla No. 3 Blast Furnace built by Australian Iron and Steel in 1952.
This is the third of a 6 cache series commemorating the Port Kembla Blast Furnaces. The full series will take finders to locations where six historical blast furnaces operated in NSW. These enterprises met with varying degrees of success.
This cache is not located at the listed co-ordinates!
The listed co-ordinates are those of Port Kembla No. 3 Blast Furnace built by Australian Iron and Steel in 1952.
This is the third of a 6 cache series commemorating the Port Kembla Blast Furnaces. The full series will take finders to locations where six historical blast furnaces operated in NSW. These enterprises met with varying degrees of success.
Blast Furnaces are sometimes known by the name of the person who first lit them. No. 3 Furnace at Port Kembla was first lit on August 27th, 1952 by Essington Lewis and at that time was the largest blast furnace in the British Empire.
Essington Lewis was a giant of Australian industry and was Managing Director of BHP Pty.Ltd. from 1926 to 1950 and then Chairman of the company until his death in 1961. He purchased the first commercially produced Holden car in 1948.
The combined production of all 6 furnaces that have operated at Port Kembla has quite recently passed the 200,000,000 tonnes mark. No3 Furnace’s contribution was 19,176,204 tonnes produced over 10391 operating days in 5 campaigns. The furnace last operated in August 1982 – being a victim of the deep recession suffered by the Australian economy at that time.
The No3 Blast Furnace furnace has since been demolished and nothing remains.
To complete this cache I had intended your journey to take you to just north of Bookham, which is on the Hume Highway a few kilometers west of Yass. However, only those interested in the history need travel that far.
Safe parking can be found about 200m north of the yellow marker post located at S34 47.014 E148 38.275
At the Bogolong site, the ruins of a blast furnace built in 1874 can still be seen. A total of nine pigs of iron were produced from the furnace. The first five were produced on March 31st. Production was abruptly halted when the locally sourced firebricks failed. A second attempt on May 20th produced a further four pigs with a repeat of the refractory failure. Abandonment followed.
Within less than one hundred meters of the furnace is hidden a container which holds a photocopied chapter from “Australia’s Age of Iron” written by Ian Jack and Aedeen Cremin telling the history of the Bogolong furnace.
Please spend a few minutes reflecting on the failed endeavour. The container is at S34 46.972 E148 38.274.
The furnace is located on private property but the container is public access. This container IS NOT the cache.
Unfortunately the furnace has become quite overgrown by blackberries in recent years and the wooden lintels have rotted. The photos contained in the photocopied information give the best available understanding of the construction. Please respect the fact that the furnace is on private property.
To find the actual cache go to
S 34 27.ABC
E 150 53.DEF
Let X = the average daily tonnage produced by No 3 Blast Furnace (rounded down) + 7
ABC = X/2
Let Y = total production of the furnace in tonnes + 436
DEF = Y/19568
Finders should note the three digits on the back of the small photograph of the Bogolong furnace which is in the cache. These provide digits for the east coordinates of the cache commemorating No 5 Blast Furnace, "Lady McLennan".
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ab uvagf