The listed coordinates are bogus, however they do correspond to the student village of the current children of Deakin.
Cache history
Land was at a premium during the Great Cache Boom of 2018-19, and this ultimately spelled the end for the original Deakin's Children cache. Luckily, a new parcel of land revealed itself, and the Children moved into new digs.
Puzzle
All the information you need to solve this puzzle is contained within the following paragraph:
For some children growing up in Burwood last century ‘home’ was a dormitory or cottage. Juveniles shared living space in an institutional setting. Queues for many things could be long, as seen in the picture of children on their way to church. In this area bounded by the Burwood Highway, Warrigal Road, Canterbury Road and Elgar Road, no fewer than four children’s homes were established. The homes included the Burwood Boy’s Home in 1896, Kildonan in 1937, the Orana Peace Memorial Homes in 1952, and Allambie in 1960. Subjected to much change over the years, these homes have since closed and the land has been redeveloped. The buildings on this site are now owned by Deakin University.
S37 50.SDE E145 06.JQA
Click here to check your correct/partially correct solution:
NOTE: You must pass the geochecker to obtain the final cache combination. Be aware, the combination lock on the large storage box is NOT the lock you are after!
***CONGRATULATIONS to n0w0rries and sog12 on the joint FTF***
“Gone but not forgotten”
In memory of other caches that were once also here:
GCF56B Easter Bunny 2003
April 9, 2003 - December 21, 2003
GCHCVP "No Bunny Rabbit Hare?"
December 27, 2003 - November 25, 2006
GCYGPE Dog Gone It
September 25, 2006 - August 22, 2012
GC2MQ0Z Kooyongkoot Creek
January 21, 2011 - July 18, 2012
GC39ACB Where dogs meet
December 17, 2011 - November 17, 2012
GC4EWTF Give It A Rest!
July 26, 2013 - October 28, 2015
GC7GCTQ Deakin's Children
December 26, 2017 - February 18, 2019
Puzzle Solving Tips
Life inside and outside geocaching presents puzzles to solve all the time. Whether you are successful or not depends a lot on your mindset and staying power. This is something I feel quite strongly about. Don’t be put off by others’ experiences or attitudes - solutions are always “obvious” in hindsight. Persisting despite floundering in the unknown until that “aha” moment arrives can take time, but you can get there! And the journey there is actually the whole point. Two things that will help you are your mindset and gumption.
1. Fixed or growth mindset?
Do you think you might have a fixed mindset? This can hamper your puzzle-solving ability.
The idea that people are smart or dumb is wrong, these are examples of fixed mindsets - that ability is fixed and cannot change. Such ideas take hold when we or others have been praised for our talents and not our efforts. A fixed mindset holds back those who are both capable and challenged puzzle solvers. If things can’t change, then why try? If you, for example, have been labelled as smart, then taking risks and making mistakes can (wrongly) feel like failure, and jeopardise your self esteem. It’s very easy to then get defensive. Conversely, being labelled as dumb means you may not even realise the amazing progress you can achieve with persistence.
Please remember it’s OK to make mistakes - let’s savour and celebrate them! Mistakes are learning opportunities and the brain makes new connections when they occur. People are neither smart nor dumb, but rather can be hardworking, bold or determined. It is possible for all of us to change and grow. We can all learn anything given enough time. This is known as a growth mindset. The reality of geocaching and life is that puzzle solving takes time and requires a positive attitude and persistence despite the challenges.
Here’s a great quote from Michael Jordan:
”I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
To achieve a growth mindset risks must be taken and mistakes made. This is the path to becoming a successful puzzle solver.
2. Gumption and not missing the obvious
I also wanted to share a passage from one of my favourite books that's quite relevant - "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert M Pirsig. It's a very thoughtful book and has a lot to say about the problem-solving process. One aspect of this is the idea of staying power, or gumption:
"... filled with gumption ... you often see it in people who return from long, quiet fishing trips ... Gumption is the psychic gasoline that keeps the whole thing going. If you haven’t got it there’s no way the motorcycle can possibly be fixed. But if you have got it and know how to keep it there’s absolutely no way in this whole world that motorcycle can keep from getting fixed. It’s bound to happen. Therefore the thing that must be monitored at all times and preserved before anything else is the gumption ...
... one gumption trap to watch out for is premature diagnosis - when you’re sure you know what the trouble is, and then when it isn’t, you’re stuck. Then you’ve got to find some new clues, but before you can find them you’ve got to clear your head of old opinions. If you’re plagued with value rigidity you can fail to see the real answer even when it’s staring you right in the face because you can’t see the new answer’s importance."