An Old School Cache Traditional Cache
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Small park in the middle of nowhere.
Doust Park is a small park, 4300square metres, situated on a rise overlooking the Clarence River. It contains several historic trees which mark the site of the Lower Southgate School and residence. A mango tree marks the location of the resident's yards and the School was "just south of the Cypress Pines". Facing the Lawrence road is a concrete and sandstone War Memorial. A new barbeque and concrete block seating have been provided by Council. A sign is erected to the memory of A C Doust who was a Copmanhurst Shire Councillor between 1958 -1977. This park contains the site of one of the earliest public schools on the Lower Clarence. Prior to its construction, in 1877, Lower Southgate School children had been educated at a provisional school conducted in the old Wesleyan Church. Lower Southgate Public School was a one teacher school with a maximum enrolment of 60 students being recorded at the time of the first teacher. This number of students had fallen to 30 by the 1930s. However, the School was active in 1937 celebrating its Diamond Jubilee at an Empire Day picnic. In 1926 the original weatherboard school was demolished and a new timber school built by Mr F. Robinson. When enrolments dropped to 5-6 students in 1947/48 this second school was closed. In the 1950s the school was moved to Maclean Public School. The school residence was bought by Ted Barnier and moved to Lawrence as a house for this family. Copmanhurst Shire Council then turned the site into a public park . The War Memorial, adjacent to the Lower Southgate Wharf and opposite Folley's Butter Factory, was moved to the park in the late 1960s or early 1970s when the Lawrence Road was realigned in 1968. Picnic facilities such as the BBQ have been added in recent years. This memorial was the first permanent memorial of a public character erected to the veterans of WW1 on the Clarence River. It was "uniquely located on the river bank, immediately above the Lower Southgate Wharf and within a few feet of the main Grafton-Lawrence Road". Local residents subscribed funds for the memorial and this was considered "creditable" as there were only about 30 homes in the area. The monument was unveiled by Mrs A. Doust, wife of the President of Copmanhurst Shire on Saturday (near 14/4/1919). Dr. E. Page, Mayor of South Grafton, was also at the opening and spoke of the need for an even greater memorial to the men and suggested the building of the Gorge Dam and the introduction of hydro-electricity. In the late 1960s or early 1970s (the date 1967 has been suggested) when the Lawrence Road was realigned over Kelso's hill the monument was relocated to its current position in Doust Park. The surrounding fence was not rebuilt at the new site. It has been said that Cr Artie Doust and the Grafton RSL Services Club paid for the memorials removal. The memorial and park are closely associated with the Doust family.
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