As well as providing much needed employment for the tens of thousands of returning soldiers, sailors and airman, it was felt that soldier settlement could help slow the continuing population drift to the cities (still an issue 100 years later). In Victoria, 1.1 million hectares of farmland was cut up into smaller holdings after WW1 and distributed to more than 11,000 returned servicemen. The scheme has been largely described as a failure as the returned servicemen were allocated blocks of land without having established their ability to manage a farm. The size of the properties and quality of the land was also a factor.
The Soldier Settlement Scheme was refined After World War II. Blocks were bigger, more carefully selected and roads, housing and fences were supplied to prospective settlers. This geocache is the memorial which commemorates the establishment of the Ardachy Estate Soldier Settlement after the Second World War.
Turn to the west and you will see the Soldier Settler block were this geocache owner was raised. You will also notice that, sadly, Blue Gum plantations have swallowed up many of these Soldier Settler farms in the area.
Harvesting of the Blue Gum plantations caused a large bushfire immediately south west of this site in the summer of 2014. The home on the road to Branxholme, less than a kilometre from this cache, was only saved by the efforts of local volunteer firefighters supported by aircraft dropping fire retardant.
If you are travelling in country Victoria over summer, check the Fire Danger Rating, keep an eye out for smoke and listen to local radio for emergency warnings. You play an important role in keeping you and your family safe from bush and grassfires.