Lost in the Bush 150 Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This cache was placed during the “Lost in the Bush” 150th anniversary in August 2014 and commemorates the actions of Isaac, Jane and Frank who were lost in the vicinity for 9 days before being found by Aboriginal trackers and a large search party.
The Lost in the Bush story: On Friday morning 12th August 1864, Isaac (9), Jane (7), and Frank (3½) were sent by their mother to cut and collect broom bush from a patch about a mile from their hut. After gathering the brush they mistakenly walked in the opposite direction and became lost in the vast swathes of heath that covered the area. Their father and station hands searched for them that night and through Saturday. By Sunday more than 36 men were on a systematic but unsuccessful search. It was on the Monday that 2 searchers found their tracks, which the party followed until rain on Tuesday night obliterated the tracks. When they still could not detect any trace on Thursday, a man rode to Mt Elgin station 30 miles away to obtain Aboriginal trackers. He returned with 3 trackers on the Friday evening just after the tracks had been rediscovered. The search resumed on Saturday, augmented by the assistance of the trackers. It was approaching sunset on Sunday 20th, when their father riding ahead of the search party found the children asleep under a clump of saplings. Weak and emaciated, the children had been lost for nine days and eight nights, having walked approximately 100kms through the bush.
The children later in 1864 (State Library of Victoria)
The cache is situated beside the track on the old railway alignment (there is no need to enter/cross any paddocks). The railway to Carpolac was established to service the grain silos in the west of the Wimmera. The line from Horsham branched at Natimuk East, and opened to Goroke in 1894 and reached its terminus at Carpolac in 1927. The line closed in 1986. The railway siding was close to the old sheepwash of Spring Hill and was originally named Nurcoung, but in memory of the Lost in the Bush incident, it was renamed Duffholme. It was a ‘no-one in charge stopping place’ for the rail-motor. Only a few rail spikes remain at the site on the western side of where the railway alignment crosses the Duffholme Road.
Duffholme Siding in 1971 (Neville Gee)
There is a nearby multi-cache which relates to the same historical story. For the full story the book “Lost!: a true tale of the bush” by Stephanie Owen Reeder is a good version. The cache is now a round green plastic 600ml container with some swaps and a pen.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Qba'g ybbx qbja, ng nccebkvzngryl nqhyg urnq urvtug.
Treasures
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