Round and round they go, and have done such in Australia for almost 2 centuries.
Yes I’m talking about the Windmill – an Aussie Icon seen all over Australia.
Windmill – Aussie Icon
This is one of a planned series of great Aussie Icon hunts. Travelling around Australia you undoubtedly see windmills: Dead ones, Rusted ones, High ones, Spinning ones, Coloured ones, Huge ones, all seen along the roadside, adjacent farm houses, along river banks, in gullies, in country town parks, in museums, in fact wherever…
This series of geocaches is designed to help you when travelling around Australia, by breaking up the trip, and to discover a bit of a history lesson as you seek windmills in locations with a written history of the windmill and/or local region adjacent.
With each of these trips, I’ll be giving the actual coordinates of some of the relevant windmills along the route – you then have to visit them enroute and determine the vital statistics and any other required info at the location. This will then be put into a formula to determine the final location of the cache. All windmills are accessible by car (no bush bashing required), they are all just a few metres off the highway, or in the centre of towns you will pass through, eg town parks. If there is limited access (to the base of the windmill) due to the time of day a park closes, I’ll mention that for the relevant windmill. All can be easily seen from road though.
Street view could be useful .........
Use that (& your time machine) and all is revealed, 100%.
In many of the windmills, you will be required to count the number of blades on the fan. This will be difficult to impossible depending on the strength of the wind.
Therefore, a digital camera IS ESSENTIAL.
Also, if you live in Hobart, when
you come back to Canberra, you can track down "Great Aussie Icon
Hunt # 6" – Hobart to Canberra
GC2TR8Z - Great Aussie Icon Hunt # 6
Finally, as with all windmills, from time to time a blade may fall off and you may see the windmill before it is replaced. So, count how many blades should be there. (unless told otherwise).
These two caches, when on the mainland, take you through the Gippsland and Cann river regions of Victoria and Bombala & Cooma in NSW.
Now onto this particular geocache:
CANBERRA to HOBART
Windmill A
S35º 23.214 E 149º 10.040
Number of windmills 200m North = AA. Number of Longitudinal rails in grid = AB. Number of Transverse rails in grid = AC. (do not include the earth anchorage ones).
Windmill A1
S35º 17.598 E149º 07.262
A Simplex windmill from Kenya station in central Queensland (110km Nth of Longreach) was relocated here in 2011. This Simplex windmill was made by the Intercolonial Boring Company in Brisbane in the 1920s. It provided water for stock on Kenya station.
The windmill is now part of the National Museum’s National Historical Collection. It was donated by John and Pamela Seccombe and taken apart on Kenya before being moved to Canberra – from Kenya station.
The windmill formed (& still does form) part of the National Museum’s National Historical Collection. It was dismantled in the museum in late 2023 due to the space being used for a further mezzanine level of displays. However, you can locate the windmill online by appropriate searching.
Number of blades = D1. D2 = 3rd digit in the number of kilometres it travelled. DA = D1-D2. D3 = number of metres high. D4 = 4th digit in the final year the windmill provided stock with water. DB = D3-D4.
Windmill A2
A “Trachycarpus Fortunei” tree was planted here - S35º 17.210 E149º 04.189.
Do your research!
On what day was it planted here? Day/Month/Year.
EA = Day PLUS 1.
EB = 3rd digit in year.
The person who planted the tree has many names, look at the one starting with “H”. Numeric value of the 2nd letter = EC.
Windmill B
S36º 10.403 E149º 09.563
Number of blades = BA. Number on tail = BB. If Comet, BC = 1, if Bryan Colac, BC = 2, if Southern Cross, BC = 3.
Location of next windmill
S 36º (BB-BC) (AB) . (BC-AA) (BA-BB-1) (8)
E 149º (AA) (AC-AB) . (BB-BC) (BC-3) (2)
Windmill C
Number of blades = CA. Number of “Add on” steps = CB. Number of cows = CC.
Location of next windmill
S 3 (CB)º (AB) (BA-CB-2) . (CC-1) (AA+CA) (6)
E 14 (BB-1)º (CB-AA-1) (AB-CC) . (CB-BC) (CB-2) (2)
Windmill D
For DA, DB see windmill A1 above.
Checksums: DA+DB+EA+EB+EC=28.
Location of next windmill
S 4 (CB+AA-1-EA-CC)º (CB-AA-1-DB) (AC+EB) . (CB-1) (CB-3) (0)
E 14 (DA-BA+CB-1)º (CC-BC+EC) (CB-2) . (CC-AA+EA) (DA-15) (5)
Windmill E
For EA, EB, EC see windmill A2 above.
Windmill F
Number of blades = FA. Number of sets of steps = FB.
Location of next windmill
S 4 (BC-EC-EB)º (DA-BA) (AC-2) . (FA-AC-AB) (BB) (8)
E 14 (AC-2+FB)º (FB-CA) (FB+EC+EA) . (AC-CB) (CC) (7)
Windmill G
“In appreciation of the warm welcome extended to those ?”. Number of letters in the ? word, divided by 2 = GA.
“2? November 1987”. GB=?
“On the ? day of October 1988”. GC=?.
If you put three of these windmills in a row, how high would the water be lifted in metres. Answer = JA.
“Mills of this type were first built in 163?”. JB=?
“ from the plans of a mill at ….. Utrecht”. Number of vowels in the missing word = HB
HA = “numeric value” of the 5th letter of the middle name of JANNETIE’s husband.
Location of next windmill
S 4 (CB-DB-1)º (AC-GA-1) (AC-GB+1) . (FA-GA-CB+EB+1-3) (GA-CA+HB-2-6) (7)
E 14 (AC-GC)º (FB+EC-EB) (CC+GC+4) . (CB-GC+EC-1+2) (GB+DB) (3-4) (1)
Windmill H
Beautiful mural Burnt down. See windmill G for H's numbers.
Windmill I
The windmill with blades still largely intact: The fan has an octagon profile. Number of blades in each segment = Q. (Don’t forget the cardinal rule, count blades which should be there if 1 or 2 or so happen to be temporarily missing). IA = Q+5. IB=Q-1. In the nearby building, a flood came through here in the 20th Century. What year? (Last 2 digits) Year plus 2 = IC. ID = Number of radial spokes x 2.
Windmill J
JA. JB. (From Windmill G)
Location of next windmill
S 4 (ID-IC+CA+1)º (HB-AA) (JA+CC-EA) . (HB) (IA-IB+GC) (2)
E 147º (GC+FB) (JA+AC-JB) . (ID-IC+GA) (IC-HA+JB) (7)
Windmill K
Number of blades = KA. Daytime colour of blades = ??. Numeric value of first letter of the colour ?? = KB. (eg, if Amber, A=1, thus KB=1)
Windmill L
S42º 53.011 E147º 19.942
Look up, very high, and to the East – You see some vertical axis windmills.
Number of windmills divided by 2 = LA. Total Number of blades divided by 2 = LB.
(Number of windmills is divisible by 4)
Windmill M
S 42º 46.930. E 147º 33.968
Total Number of blades = MA. Number of windmills = MB.
If MA+MB is not divisible by 6, add one more identical windmill so that MA+MB is divisible by 6.
Location of next windmill
S 42º (MA-AC) (LB-GA) . (LB-IB+FB) (KA) (8)
E 147º (MA-CB) (LA) . (KB-EC) (MB+MA-CC) (8)
Windmill N
Number of Large blades above district = NA. Distance to Hobart = NB miles.
Location of next windmill
S 42º (NA-EA) (CB) . (NB-ID-MA-2) (MB) (7)
E 147º (NA/2) (HB-GA) . (LB-MA+JB) (MA-LA) (3)
Windmill O
Number of Large blades = OA. OB = Number of fins on 1 large blade (not including the structural members. OB is divisible by 6)
On the small windmill on the same structure, number of blades = PA. The WHOLE roof of this structure resembles a; (a) if pyramid, PB=12, (b) if onion PB=14, (c) if dome PB=16, (d) if parabola PB=18.
Location of next windmill
S 42º (PA-BB) (PB-HB) . (OB-ID-NA) (HB-MB+GC) (2)
E 147º (PB-LB) (PA-MB) . (PB-LB) (MA-PA) (4)
Windmill Q
Number of blades = QA.
Location of next windmill
S 4 (QA-ID+PB+1)º (AC-KA) (QA-PB) . (AC-KA) (QA-MA-1) (3)
E 147º (PB-IB-1) (KB-JB) . (MA-CB) (PB-PA) (2)
Windmill R
Number of blades = RA. Man playing a ??. RB = 1 if a trumpet, RB = 2 if a violin, RB = 3 if a saxophone, RB = 4 if a flute. Each blade has 3 longitudinal members. How many transverse (cross) members does each blade have? Multiply this number by 6 to get RC.
Location of next windmill
S 4 (MB-KB)º (RA-LA) (PB-HB-JB) . (RC-NB-1) (CC) (8)
E 147º (RA-GA) (PA-RB+OA-JB) . (CB-CA+GC-EB) (QA-PB-1) (1)
Windmill S
Number of blades = SA. You are on which hill? Picture of 1YY4. SB = 3rd digit of the year. SC = from London. SD = The Eagle.
Location of next windmill
S 4 (NA-MB)º (OB-SD-1) (SC-DB-1) . (IB-PA) (SB) (8)
E 147º (SA-LA) (SC-KA) . (MA-SA+1) (SB-EC) (8)
Windmill T
Number of large blades = TA. Number of small blades = TB. Maria died TC June.
Location of next windmill
S 4 (TC-SC)º (MA-PA+1) (TB-HB+4) . (TC-LB+SA+1) (SB+FB) (8)
E 14 (TC-CB+1)º (OB-SD-3) (SD-IC-1) . (TA-CA-AA+5) (DB-MB+2) (8)
Windmill U
A nearby brass plaque has 14 lines of text. Number of letters in first word of last line = UA. There are two number digits, subtract the smaller from the larger = UB. UC = number of vowels in the last line.
Cache is located at:
S 35º NP.QRS
E 149º VW.XYZ
Where
N = (DA+BA-OB+CB+GB)
P = (SD-ID+HB-TC+UC-EA+CB-KA)
Q = (PB+UA-AA-IA+NA)
R = (MA-GA-GB+PA-OA-RB)
S = (IC-HA+CA+FB+RA-7)
V = (BC-SA+RB-MB)
W = (RC-NB+KA+UB-JB-BB+UB)
X = (QA+DB-CC-SC-EC+LA)
Y = (SB+TA+TB-IB+AB+LA+EB-JA-GC)
Z = (FA+GC-AC-LB+HB-JB)
Finally, as with all windmills, from time to time a blade may fall off and you may see the windmill before it is replaced. So, count how many blades should be there. (unless told otherwise).