Oakdale Traditional Cache
The Booos: time to let this one go
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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In the 1850s Oakdale was only a location along the road from The Oaks to the settlements in Burragorang Valley.
In 1865 the fist reported settlers at Oakdale were Henry Longhurst and Robert & Patrick Martin. They had engaged in felling trees in the dense forest area to provided timber for the 'corduroy' road (lashing logs together to make traffic easier in wet weather) and sleepers for the new railways heading inland.
As land was cleared, small family farms where established and by 1870 there were sufficient families to warrant a school, which was built by the local parents. This was replaced in 1885 by a state school, which is opposite the existing school after the original was burned down by a bush fire.
The gazetted date for the village is unknown but is assumed to be after the establishment of the Post office at the state school, whose teacher was also the postmaster. Oakdale remained a quite backwater village along the increasingly busy Burragorang road.
In the late 1890s communication with the outside world improved with the introduction of coaches and a regular mail service. When the Clinton and Fox families opened up their coal mines during the depression of the1930s offering employment to those hit by hard times and production increased during world war two, which saw most the local men employed in some way by the mines.
New property attracted other settlers who lived in the village and worked in the mines with many more arriving after 1945.
After the last mine closed most miners either moved on or found other work and today there are no mines in the area, most farms are modern hobby farms and most residence commute to large towns for work.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
fznyy pbagnvare uvqqra orarngu onex.
Treasures
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