Mona Lisa Traditional Cache
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Mona-"the town that nearly was"
The 16 mile post was the only railway siding in the Hundred of Ninnes on the Kadina/Barunga Railway and this had no name when the railways went through in 1881.The 16 mile siding ("it was only really 15 1/4 miles from Kadina) did not have a name until 1885 when the first chairman of the District Council of Ninnes,Mr H.D.O'Halloran ,suggested it be named Mona after his wife. In March 1885 the farmers of the area held a public match of stump-jumping implements near the 16 mile siding.From this simple event held at that location in that year a much larger event evolved and is now refered to as the York Penninsula Field Days. The railways upgraded the siding in 1886 putting in a platform that cost about 100pounds. The town of Mona was declared on the 17th of December 1885 and 24 allotments were surveyed of which 14 were sold primarily to trades people from Kadina in 1886. A plan was submitted to the Ninnes Council for an up-to-date hotel of 12-15 rooms to accommodate the general public.Mona was an important centre at this time, and a move was made to build a new Council Chambers there at a later date. In the Kadina and Wallaroo Times,October 1886, it was stated that the government laid out the town of Mona "to gratify the desire of one man".This statement was probably close to the truth as H.D.O'Halloran's land-owning partner was the son of a former Governor of South Australia. At the end of 1886, all business had transfered to Bute as this was the most central position for a hotel, with a church and school already established in the town, thus the development of Mona ceased except as a wheat loading site.. Over the years the ownership of allotments in Mona lapsed, as they became worthless parts of deceased estates, by 1977 the Bute Council had not recieved rates from the allotments for 30 years.As Mona was officially a town, its area of scrub remained untouched as farm land surrounding was cleared, so in May 1977 Mona (the town) ceased to exist and became a much valued conservation area with many fine trees,and bushes and birdlife that have been lost elsewhere. At the cache location you will find the Mona railway siding sign,what remains of the ticket office/waiting room and a old well that is fenced off,but do be careful as it is of light construction and you may stumble in ( although the well is now almost filled in),there is still a dam in the shunting yards (fenced off) and some remains of the two elevated tanks that held water for the steam engines.Please be careful and I would suggest that you try not to do this in the dark. There really is some wonderful plant life left at this site, so if you happen to see any Bridal Creeper on the site please feel free to pull it up and dispose of this weed in a bin at Bute or elsewhere.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
7.62zz
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