Boundary Track Traditional Cache

A cache for the history not the view.

This cache was placed by 1st Higgins Junior Guides as part of the 2013 Centenary of Canberra ACT Scouting the Boundary Activity. The girls were excited to find a cache at the beginning and end of their segment and decided to hide one along the tracks to encourage others to experience the history of this place.  The cache is located a short journey down the railway line and across a small overpass bridge. Take care with young children on the bridge as there are one or two small holes. It can be safely crossed (we had 13 kids with us). The cache is a Mega Camo Bison with logbook and pencil and room for very small TB or swaps.

But, before you walk down the line, take the time to grab 'The Wrong side of the track' cache and look out into the paddocks at the starting point. Here you will see some amazing stone structures dispersed across open land. This is the last remnants of a planned suburb called Environa and which has been described in some historical references as Canberra's Stonehenge.

Environa was a failed real estate development on the border of the ACT and New South Wales . It has long been abandoned, however the original street designs (which echo the circles, hexagons and triangle layouts by Walter Burley Griffin for nearby Canberra) can still be seen on local maps and online sources such as Google Maps.^[1]  The land itself was originally a subdivision of the grazing property known as Hill Station. It lies just east of the Queanbeyan-Cooma railway line as it goes past the industrial estate of Hume, ACT.

Henry Ferdinand Halloran, an enterprising realtor bought the property at auction in 1924 and began planning the future city. Halloran emphasised the future promise of the region, with the closest freehold (Torrens title) land to the federal territory.^[2] 

Plans for the northern part of the subdivision, called Canberra Freehold Estate, included space for offices, shops, a hospital, and theatres. Some of the street names were Rue de Paris, Piazza di Roma and Tokio Dori. On the southern part of the estate, Halloran built stone monuments. These included an arch at the entrance, rows of stone pillars along the entrance route, and a statue ofHenry Parkes on a tall column. Bandstands were built, which had corrugated iron roof supported by tree trunks, and a platform. The main top-mast off HMAS Sydney was erected, but rotted at the base and collapsed. This was later moved to Jervis Bay.^[3]

No blocks were ever sold and the planned development never went ahead with the Great Depressionkilling off the project. The Queanbeyan Council resumed the land to the north, because of unpaid rates, and it later became part of South Queanbeyan. Henry Halloran died in 1953 after 84 years of life and the property at Environa was inherited by his daughter Mrs David Larcombe. A house was built there in 1971.^[3]

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environa,_New_South_Wales

For further info: Visit the National Trust of Australia as they do arrange tours to visit the estate area which is still owned by the descendents of Halloran.

Also check out this info from Tim the Yowie Man http://www.smh.com.au/travel/blogs/yowie-man/ode-to-old-stones-20120624-20w8d.html