A Point to Settle Mystery Cache

A cache designed to take you on a short tour of discovery and to make you slow down a bit and enjoy the scenery.  If you have children, they may enjoy looking for the information and of course there is a wonderful playground with great play equipment that they can play on while the grown-ups work out the final co-ords, seated at one of the nearby picnic tables.

Settlement Point

• Is this where the settlement of Port Macquarie was first established in 1821 under the command of Captain Allman? (416)
• Maybe this is where Surveyor General John Oxley “…pitched our tent upon a beautiful point of land…”[1] on 8 October 1818 after travelling for 12 weeks over exceedingly difficult country to arrive at this very spot? (354)
• Or maybe it is where Governor Lachlan Macquarie had instructed Captain Allman to establish a crop farm to feed the fledgling settlement and make it self sufficient as soon as possible? (142)

One of the above 3 “points” is the correct answer and the relevant code is needed to open the cache container.

Today Settlement Point shows no evidence of its origins; however it does have a beautiful park and another interesting feature - it is a Centenarian Tree Dedication park!  Port Macquarie-Hastings Council conducts tree dedication ceremonies for permanent local residents that reach the age of 100.  A designated tree is complemented by a plaque with the centenarian's name and birth date and placed at the base of the tree.

There are currently 13 plaques around this park (see list below) which is quite outstanding for a relatively small community – must be the water!  However what is even more outstanding is that there are 5 other parks in the region with another 55 of ‘em and surprise, surprise – most are women.  Men account for just 16% of the total centenarians that have been dedicated.

Here is the list in alphabetical order of the plaques that are in this park:

Edith “Sally” Sarah Priscilla Aitken

Daphne Dorothy Burley

Beryl May Doak

Maria Idolicia Gallardo

Herbert Golding

William (Bill) Griffiths

Dulcie Madge Guest

Thelma Evelyn Muller

Marjory Bridget Nolan

Florence May Taylor

Roland ‘Bud’ John Tiley

Laura May Whybin

Florence Daisy Wilson

To find the cache what you first need to do is find the date of birth of the following people (and we hope you are familiar with the term “synonym”) and then obtain the values for A, B, C, D, E & F:

1. A “sweet visitor” where: A = 8^th digit;  E = 4^th digit.
2. A “stout plant” (who by the way died on her 100^th birthday!) where: B = 4^th digit;  F = 2^nd digit.
3. A “victorious and questionable receptacle” where: C = 8^th digit + 3^rd digit + 5^th digit; D = 3^rd digit.

Note:  You should have 8 digits for each date, so include a zero if the number is less than 10 – eg  8 March 1904 = 08031904.

The cache is located not far into the bush at S31° 24.ABC,  E152° 54.DEF. The container is slightly larger than an Eclipse tin, has no pen and holds 2 Pathtags as swaps.

Replacing the lid on the container
When replacing the lid, line up the tabs, one on top of the other and then start screwing the base onto the lid.

[1] Extract from JOURNALS OF TWO EXPEDITIONS INTO THE INTERIOR OF NEW SOUTH WALES, BY ORDER OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT IN THE YEARS 1817-18.

BY JOHN OXLEY