Birthplace of the Ashes - Virtual Rewards 4.0 Virtual Cache

To support Victoria's first ever Block Party the event mascot Muggle the Puggle has been busy placing caches for you to find with the support of geocachers across Victoria. This Virtual Cache credit from Virtual Rewards 4.0 was very kindly donated by wespro. Thanks wespro!

LOGGING TASK:

REQUIRED: Take a picture at GZ of the Clocktower and attach it to your 'Found It' log. Your picture must include:

A) The Clocktower, and

B) Yourself, showing us your best cricket batting or bowling pose, or if you prefer not to be in the photo then your caching name.

Your name can be on a token, a shirt or even written (legibly) on a scrap of paper. All we ask is that your caching name can be read and that it is part of the original photo.

No group logging photos please, there is no need to save logbook space here. If you are caching in a group and would like to attach a group shot, feel free to include this in addition to your individual logging requirement photo. Non compliant logs risk being deleted.

The Rotary Club of Sunbury Clocktower was designed by Richard Peterson and depicts a cricket ball (the clock) crashing into a set of stumps. It was presented to the citizens of Sunbury on January 14, 1995 as recognition of Sunbury being the birthplace of 'The Ashes'

SUNBURY - BIRTHPLACE OF THE ASHES

The Ashes Urn is one of the most iconic trophies in world sport. With a history dating back to the late 1880's, the Urn is bragging rights to the victor of the Biennial Test Match Cricket series between Australia & England. It is not officially considered the trophy for the series, however since the 1990's a Waterford Crystal replica of the original Urn is presented to the winners. The original Urn lives permanently in the Marylebone Cricket Club Museum at Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London.

But the birthplace of this little trophy is commonly considered to the a lot closer to home. Rupertswood Mansion in the late 1880's was the home of Sir William Clarke and Janet, Lady Clarke. The former being the President of the Melbourne Cricket Club, and the latter believed to be ultimately responsible for the creation, and original presentation of 'The Urn'. Rupertswood also has a large set of stumps depicting it as the birthplace of the Ashes. This location has been marked as a Waypoint if you would like to check it out.

England was defeated on home soil by Australia earlier in 1882 with the British weekly newspaper 'The Sporting Times' printing a mock obituary lamenting the death of English Cricket, the first reference to 'The Ashes'. Lady Clarke is believed to have jokingly presented Ivo Bligh (Captain of the visiting English team) with the urn with reference to their defeat earlier in the year after Bligh was reported to have said prior to the commencement of their tour that he would bring back "The Ashes of English Cricket". The small urn is believed to possibly be a perfume bottle, originally purchase by Lady Clarke at an Egyptian Bazaar. It is said to contain the ashes of burnt cricket bails, although an alternate version of events is that the urn actually contains the ashes of a burnt veil belonging to Florence Morphy. Morphy was the governess for the Clarke Family. She would later marry Bligh and together they became Lord and Lady Darnley when Bligh inherited the Earldom of Darnley.

The next Ashes series is due to commence in Australia on November 21. The 5 test series over the 2025/2026 summer season will conclude with the 5th test commencing in Sydney on January 4, 2026. 

The Ashes results to date:

Source: Wikipedia