Quercus Cache
A secluded little area in the Prince of Wales Park. Some players of the game may be familiar with this place as it once hosted one of the late Kinkell1 geocaches called Silo? (GC3QE17). A curious structure that highlights a time where agriculture was a little closer to town. Thankfully with the recent installation of an expanded carpark for the sports facility here the Silo was allowed to remain.
The following is an exerpt from Kinkell1's original geocache listing:
Well it's taken a bit of research to find out anything about the structure. The person I talked to at Ballarat Council, who attends the gym here 3 times a week, knew nothing, not even that the structure was here but will get back to me. Ballarat Information Centre didn't know of its existence. Staff working inside the "Y" didn't know the "tower" was there, but asked around. One person knew of it and thought she may know what it was and would get back to me. Thank you Deb and Stephen for your information!
I found out from them that the structure was not a water tower as we first thought, and which is obvious once you go around it, but in fact the silo was one of 2 built as part of the schools new agricultural focus soon after the "High School" moved from Ballarat CBD in 1910 to its current location on the corner of Sturt and Gillies Street .
Further questions around town have discovered that all the land between the high school, the assylum and the golf course was farm land for the school and the assylum. For many years the assylum was self sufficient and at one stage in more recent years the silo was used for cow fodder for the assylums dairy farm. As I find out more I will add to the information.
Both the school and the silo are Heritage listed.
Copied from Victorian Heritage Database
http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/#detail_places;125280
Silo (c.1913)
The concrete silo constructed c. 1913 is the only remaining structure of the Ballarat Agricultural High School farm which was conducted from 1910 to 1927. It predates the re-building of the main building (1916) and is the earliest intact structure remaining on the farm site. A photograph taken in 1913 show two silos and a large shed north of the school buildings. Only one concrete silo (c.1913) remains on land now returned to the Ballarat City Council for recreational purposes. Although this has been separated from the school grounds since the reversion of the farm land to the Council, it is a remnant which demonstrates directly the Agricultural School period (1910-27) and as such is historically significant at a State level.
The GZ is located a short walk away from the Silo in a peaceful stand of Oak Trees. Whilst the cache is off the walking trail you will need to be mindful of muggles that can creep up on you easily.