This cache is located at the Third Quarantine Cemetery at North Head, Manly. It is one of three caches placed along the former Gunner’s Walk. The whole walk is 2.7km long. It starts at the Gatehouse Visitor Centre at North Head Sanctuary.
Download this Visitor Guide to familiarise yourself with the area and learn a bit of history too. This guide used to be available at the Visitor's Centre and it shows the route of the Gunner's Walk. You can also download it in jpg form from links provided below but, unfortunately, they aren't great resolution so you'll need very good eyesight to use them.
Parking at the Visitor Centre is free. To get there, drive up Darley Road past Manly Hospital and through the Parkhill Arch. Continue driving a short distance and turn left at Gunner Road, where you’ll see the “Welcome to North Head” sign.
While walking to the geozone, trust your GPS. There used to be signs for the “Gunner’s Walk”, but they have been removed since the cache was first placed.The cemetery is open between 8:30am and 5:00pm. It is closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and Total Fire Ban Days.
The views of Sydney harbour and the city at the geozone are absolutely stunning so you'll want to take photos.
* Please stick to the paths. You do not need to rummage through the bushes to find this cache. You probably want to avoid the bushes and tall grasses since ticks can be a problem - as is the case in many bush areas in Sydney!
Waypoint One: S 33° 49.050 E 151° 17.682
To get the co-ordinates for Waypoint Two, figure out the following information:
What was the last year that people were buried in this graveyard? 19AB
Approx. C41 people were buried in this graveyard.
The fourth person on the list of people whose graves can no longer be identified died in month number D.
AB + C = EF.
Waypoint Two: S 33° 49.0FF E 151° 17.68D
To get the co-ordinates for Waypoint Three, figure out the following information:
The person buried in this grave was G years old when they died.
They died on April H.
H + 1 = I.
Waypoint Three: S 33° 49.07G E 151° 17.6HI
To get the co-ordinates for Waypoint Four, figure out the following information:
The person buried in this grave died on the MJth day of the month.
They died in the year 191K.
They died in the Lth month.
L – M = N.
Waypoint Four: S 33° 49.0JK E 151 17.6NM
Please Note: This is not the grave of the person born in Canton. (Sorry if the co-ordinates happen to lead you this way!)
To get the co-ordinates for Waypoint Five, figure out the following information:
The person buried in this grave was PQ years old when they died.
They died on the R5th.
P x R = S.
The difference between S and Q is T.
T – 1 = U.
Waypoint Five: S 33° 49.05U E 151° 17.6S2
The cache is a 685ml sistema container and contains five dollars for the first-to-find. Please replace the cache exactly where you found it (unless someone else didn’t do this and it is in the open).
Muggles aren’t usually a problem at the cemetery, with most of them peering into it and saying “Oh. That’s the cemetery” in a disappointed voice. (At least that’s been our experience!) The cemetery is a very interesting place and hopefully now that this cache is placed it will have more visitors to enjoy it’s beauty and history.
Please contact us if the cache is in need of maintenance and we will fix the problem soon. Please report DNF. No spoilers please.
Congratulations to Freshie Finders for being the first-to-find!
History of the Area
This cache is placed in memory of all the people buried in the Third Quarantine Cemetery. These people died at the Quarantine Station between 1881 and 1919. They died from smallpox, scarlet fever, Spanish influenza and bubonic plague.
This is the third of three cemeteries full of people who died at the Quarantine Station. The First Quarantine Cemetery (used from 1837 to 1853) was placed in the middle of a hill on a part where it sloped down. It was demolished after the staff at the Quarantine Station realised that the dead peoples’ body odours and sicknesses were coming into the soil and then draining into a sewage pipe which lead to the beach.
The Second Quarantine Cemetery (used from 1853 to 1881) was located behind the “Healthy Accommodation” at the Quarantine Station. Since it wasn’t very healthy for people to be exposed to dead and diseased bodies all the time, the Third Quarantine Cemetery was built – this time further away from the Quarantine Station itself.
What happened at the Quarantine Station?
The Quarantine Station was established at North Head since it was the first safe anchorage point inside the Heads. At the time it was built, it was a safe distance and isolated from the centre Sydney.
From the 1830’s to 1984, any ships coming to Sydney with suspected contagious disease had to stop and offload the crew and passengers at the Quarantine Station. People living in Sydney who were suspected to have a contagious disease were also taken to the Quarantine Station. In addition, anyone who had been near these people in the last 17 days had to go there. This included any doctors or nurses treating them. People had to stay at the Quarantine Station for an average of 40 days. Uninfected people were then allowed to settle in Australia.
When passengers from England came to Australia to start a better life, they were strictly separated into three separate groups: first class, second class and third class. Most people were in third class since it was the most affordable. The people in second or first class were terribly rich, with only four people sharing a room on the ship in second class and two people sharing a room in first class. In third class, eight people had to share a room in the ship.
When the passengers finally got to Australia, the tiny amount of luggage that they were allowed to keep with them during their stay in the Quarantine Station had to be wheeled on a railway line and then stored in a room where it was steam cleaned. The luggage was shoved in a small tunnel, the door was locked and steam was applied. When the steaming had finished, a door on the other side of the tunnel was opened and the luggage was taken out. Steam cleaning luggage made clothes and blankets shrink. It also damaged paper, books and photographs.
While this process was happening to their luggage, passengers who were not yet displaying any signs of the contagious disease were marched to the shower block and separated into lines of women and men. If they moved an inch or said a word, a harsh voice yelled at them. The passengers were shoved into the shower block, which even for first class was horrible, and told to step into a shower.
The shower blocks consisted of three separate sections. First there was an area for the passengers to strip off all their clothes. Then they stepped into the shower area. The water in the showers was filled with carbolic acid, which peels off a whole layer of skin. The Quarantine Station officials made sure that people showered all of their body by peering through peepholes and yelling if they didn’t.
After the shower, the passengers went to a third area to put their steam-cleaned clothes back on. After the steaming, these clothes had usually become way too small.
For the first class passengers, there were private cubicles with doors in each of the three sections. For second class passengers, there were individual cubicles without doors. However, the third class passengers had no privacy at all. They had to strip off, shower and get dressed as a group.
At the time, it was believed that showering with carbolic acid was an effective method of treating the contagious diseases. However, it was later discovered that this treatment actually made it more likely for a person to become infected.
If passengers on board the ship were displaying signs of illness when they got off the ship, they were taken straight to the hospital rooms. Most of the sick people got better with the help of the nurses there, but some were not so lucky.
In the hospital rooms, the staff washed the entire place with disinfectant regularly to try to stop the spread of germs and changed the bedding often as well. They were even more careful disinfecting themselves before and after seeing a patient.
The people in third class took turns doing chores such as firing ovens, washing dishes, cleaning clothes, and preparing, serving and cleaning up after meals. There was a pulley system that brought food from the ground level to the mess hall (dining room) which the people in third class also took turns pulling.
The people in second class had lovely wide balconies they could stand on. Since there was no refrigeration, their food was stored between two brick walls.
The people in first class got huge rooms and fresh meals cooked for them each day. They were also provided with games and other items to keep them entertained. Their furniture was polished and their sinks (which they were lucky to have) were cleaned. There were special smoking rooms for men and sitting rooms for women. The first class members also had beautiful views from their comfortable verandas.
In addition to all these luxuries, there was a sweet little beach that was reserved for the people in first class. They could relax, fish and entertain themselves there. The only problem (which they weren’t initially aware of) was that run-off water from the First Quarantine Cemetery flowed into a drain located next to the beach.
The staff at the Quarantine Station included doctors, nurses, administrators, chefs, cleaners and a gravedigger! They all had their special jobs to do and were busy at most times. The staff could not leave the Quarantine Station and socialise with the rest of the residents of Sydney when there was a ship in quarantine. They had to stay there because they too were at risk of being infected and spreading the disease far and wide with other people who would not otherwise be exposed to it. Unfortunately, many staff did become infected and even died while working there.
When any patients died, they weren’t given a proper burial because no one wanted to catch their disease. They were just quickly buried and then left, with no ceremony or anything.