B&W (T) Tragowel Station Tragowel, Victoria, Australia
By
WazzaAndWenches on 20-Aug-10. Waypoint GA2290
Cache Details
| Difficulty: | |
| Terrain: | |
| Type: | Burke and Wills |
| Container: | Regular |
| Coordinates: | S35° 48.920' E143° 57.169' (WGS 84) |
| 54H 766786E 6032508N (UTM) | |
| Elevation: | 80 m |
| Local Government Area: | Gannawarra |
/143.952817,-35.815333,14/400x200?access_token=pk.eyJ1IjoiY2F1Z2h0YXR3b3JrIiwiYSI6ImNqa2l4ZzNzMDE5bjgzdm1sZGpuODF1Mm0ifQ.q8YMzVyzDJJlJHHV8EMjwQ)
Description
The Victorian Exploring Expedition of 1860, usually known as the Burke and Wills expedition, stands as a landmark in Australian history. They succeeded in crossing the continent form South to North, at the cost of several lives. These geocaches mark important points associated with the Expedition.
Robert O’Hara Burke was a former soldier and police superintendant in country Victoria when he was selected to lead the Expedition. Their goal was to explore the unknown areas north of Cooper’s Creek with a view to finding a route to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Along the way, they were to conduct a full scientific survey, and identify good grazing land. If Melbourne were to establish an outpost on the North coast, it could also serve one day as the landing point for a transcontinental telegraph link.
The Expedition left Royal Park on the 20th of August 1860, with 19 men, 26 camels, 24 horses, six wagons and 21 tons of supplies. Many of these supplies were left along the way as Burke progressively streamlined the party, obsessed with the idea of beating rival explorer John Macdouall Stuart to the north coast. Burke came within kilometres of the open sea along the Gulf of Carpentaria with a small group of four men after a punishing journey across unforgiving country. He returned after four months to the depot site at Cooper’s Creek to find the relief party had left that very morning, burying a small cache of supplies near a tree marked with the word DIG. Burke and Wills died by the banks of the Cooper. Of the four men to reach the Gulf country, only John King survived.
The scientific goals of the expedition were greatly curtailed by Burke’s haste, and much of the land they traversed is marginal grazing country at best. The eventual telegraph line followed Stuart’s route from Adelaide to Darwin. Nevertheless, the bravery and persistence shown by the members of the expedition has ensured their names live on even today.
Sunday-Monday, 2–3/9/1860. Camp 12
Inspired by the journals of Dr. Ludwig Becker the official diarist and naturalist of the expedition.
Twenty miles through rain brought them to the homestead of Abraham Booth and John Holloway on the Loddon River, then five miles from Kerang (but now eight, for a new Kerang developed three miles downstream from the old). Burke decided to remain at this camp, Tragowel (a native name), for two days on account of the soaking they had suffered.
When the Expedition arrived here in the evening they were wet, tired and cold. Landells gave the camels ‘tidy doses of rum to warm them’ and Beckler noted ‘the Expedition members took the stimulant with rather more enthusiasm than the camels !’
Burke, Landells and Becker slept at the Holloways. Burke passed the time playing the piano. This piano is now at the Tyntynder Homestead, the property of Mr. Rothwell Holloway, a grandson of John Holloway. Most of the men slept in the large kitchen. Becker recorded as ‘a curious fact’ the method adopted by Landells to dry his sodden boots (filling them with burning charcoals), and he regretted that McDonough killed a large carpet snake (‘not a venomous animal’) that emerged from a log on the kitchen fire around which the men were sitting.
Burke, when leaving Tragowel, had been presented by his hostess, Mrs. Jane Holloway, with a bundle of religious tracts to sustain him amid the dangers and difficulties that lay ahead. These he acknowledged with ‘a pretty speech.’ The housekeeper Mary Fraser was presented with a book of Longfellow poetry.
The present homestead was built in 1922 on part of the same sandhill that provided the site of the explorers' camp. A ‘hut of logs for travellers and strangers’, built in 1861, disintegrated only in recent years; although there are a number of interesting old buildings at Tragowel, none have survived from the time when the expedition rested there in 1860.
Logs
A nice place to pull off the road on the way home today.
A shame about all the trash littered about the area.
Not much here, a lone flood marker, some old picnic tables, a sign and the nearby GC cache.
Stretched the legs and continued on south.
Thanks for the B&W cache WazzaAndWenches.
A shame about all the trash littered about the area.
Not much here, a lone flood marker, some old picnic tables, a sign and the nearby GC cache.
Stretched the legs and continued on south.
Thanks for the B&W cache WazzaAndWenches.
Rated: for Overall Experience
I'd passed by this one and its GC neighbour while on my way up to yesterday's bushwalk as it was getting rather late even though the area was empty. That had me worried that the rest area might be muggle central on the way home. 
With that thought in mind, it became a bit of a priority this morning but thankfully no-one was around when I arrived and I soon had the stash in hand at 10:05.
TNLNSL. Thanks The Morris.
With that thought in mind, it became a bit of a priority this morning but thankfully no-one was around when I arrived and I soon had the stash in hand at 10:05.TNLNSL. Thanks The Morris.
Rated: for Overall Experience
Made a detour when heading into Kerang to find this one.
Quickly had cache in hand glad no snakes about yet.
Signed and replaced. TFTC.
Quickly had cache in hand glad no snakes about yet.
Signed and replaced. TFTC.
Rated: for Overall Experience
This was another Burk & Wills cache we had hoped to find today. It was very hot for us Tasmanians this afternoon so we drew lots to see who would remain in the airconditioned car and who would brave the heat, flies and other possible nasties.
Mr Y'stassie won so Mrs Y'stassie headed off towards gz. A circuit of the area was needed before she found a way in. As the vegetation was quite long she returned to the car for a walking pole. She then felt confident enough to thump her way to the hide where she used the pole to firstly remove the cover then to extract the cache. The container appeared to have been wet but had dried out and the contents were OK. No cache guardians were present so the container was returned to its hiding spot and covered.
Thanks for another cache in this series The Morris. This area was certainly very, very dry today.
Mr Y'stassie won so Mrs Y'stassie headed off towards gz. A circuit of the area was needed before she found a way in. As the vegetation was quite long she returned to the car for a walking pole. She then felt confident enough to thump her way to the hide where she used the pole to firstly remove the cover then to extract the cache. The container appeared to have been wet but had dried out and the contents were OK. No cache guardians were present so the container was returned to its hiding spot and covered.
Thanks for another cache in this series The Morris. This area was certainly very, very dry today.
We are currently touring Victoria with our geovan in tow, using geocaching as a guide. We have visited many amazing locations through geocaching and today our journey followed in the footsteps of Burke and Wills - bringing us to your cache B&W (T) Tragowel Station.
Many thanks The Morris for publishing this cache for our enjoyment and adding to our geocaching experience today.
Cache and contents were in good condition.
Tassie Trekkers are now a locationless geocache we have published a 'Geocacher cache' - Travelling Trekkers GA10932 - so if you spot us in your area sign our log book and receive a code word to earn yourself a
We were one of the lucky teams to receive a pathtag from Geocaching Australia for publishing a "Geocacher Cache" - thanks Geocaching Australia. We are on our way to the Alexandra Event which is happening on the eighteenth to the nineteenth of November 2017 hope to see you there.
Have you joined a clan? Enhance your geocaching experience by joining a clan and being a part of the Dragon Zone. Choose a team
Gold - Griffin, Green - Phoenix, 
Blue - Cerberus or Orange - Minotaur. Earn trophies and rise through the ranks from Dragon Fodder to Ruler of the Universe. **********This lengthy log is because we are currently working towards a Dragon Zone trophy for "I write treatises for a living" - Average 150 or more words per valid dragonZone geocache find log or did not find log excluding geocaches that you own. Slowly getting there**********
Rated: for Overall Experience
#GA1085 - 07:40; Day 2 of the Melbourne Mega Mission with Sol de lune, now enroute from Kerang to Anglesea. A nice early start had us back out amongst the mozzies, even at such an early hour. Evidence of recent flooding had us a little concerned, but we located the cache safe and sound in its hiding spot. Log signed and we were off again, shooing mozzies from inside the geomobile as we went. TFTC The Morris
Rated: for Overall Experience
Day 2 on the way to the Surf Coast Mega with LuckyL10n and we came the long way to grab a few GCA caches....
First B&W of the day and once again the mozzies tried to talk us out of making the find...however we persisted and were soon rewarded with the find. Have to say the log was signed quickly and we were out of there.
Thanks The Morris.....great to visit another B&W area and cross another one off the list.
First B&W of the day and once again the mozzies tried to talk us out of making the find...however we persisted and were soon rewarded with the find. Have to say the log was signed quickly and we were out of there.
Thanks The Morris.....great to visit another B&W area and cross another one off the list.
Rated: for Overall Experience
A quick find on a fairly warm afternoon. We're being very snake wary but haven't seen any yet thankfully. Surprised this one hasn't been logged for so long. TFTC
Out and about with geoh whilst he travels to a job in bahram. Sun made it difficult to see phone screen so just followed cache trail. I tftc cheers
Day two of our Swan Hill and District cache raid...
We were getting closer to home and decided to take a detour to grab a GCA cache then a couple of GC caches further along the road.
This was a quick find well away from the passing high speed traffic. The Wench was most impressed with the purple log book and the purple pen - her favorite color.
Thanks The Morris.
We were getting closer to home and decided to take a detour to grab a GCA cache then a couple of GC caches further along the road.
This was a quick find well away from the passing high speed traffic. The Wench was most impressed with the purple log book and the purple pen - her favorite color.
Thanks The Morris.
On way to Swan Hill for work business.
Found it just before heavy rain start pour heavy crazy.
Thanks Morris for B&W cache
Found it just before heavy rain start pour heavy crazy.
Thanks Morris for B&W cache
Rated: for Overall Experience
30/3/11 Called by today on way to nearby virtual. Area still wet, and very long grass and thistles.
18/9/11 found today.cache secure. SL
18/9/11 found today.cache secure. SL
Rated: for Overall Experience
This cache appears to have been MIA for some 3 months now, so it is being archived to stop it appearing in the cache search lists.
If the owner can confirm it is in place or decides to replace the cache, this listing can be reactived by placing an "unarchived" log against it.
If the owner can confirm it is in place or decides to replace the cache, this listing can be reactived by placing an "unarchived" log against it.
Very pleased indeed - couldn't understand how it could have gone missing unless it had been washed away. We are going up this weekend to check on some of our others that have been effected by the flooding
Wow, it IS there! I'm so pleased, particularly after trying twice. It just wasn't a good day (or two) when I was there. Not sure when I'll be back that way, but hopefully not too long.
Found 9.45am
On our way up to Mildura we decided to stop and have a look for this one but having noticed that pwags had not been able to find it we were not too hopefull. Walked along the edge of the swap towards GZ and as the numbers came down we could see a likely object that may hide the cache, after about 10 mins we were starting to struggle so walked away to to let the GPSr show the way in again but it still pointed to the same object. We persisted and prodded around and we suddenly came up with the cache. we are very happy to have found this one (and I guess The Morris will be too).
If you try for this one use the aeroguard
After all that we TNLNSL
Thanks the Morris for the challenge and a great addition to the B&W series.
On our way up to Mildura we decided to stop and have a look for this one but having noticed that pwags had not been able to find it we were not too hopefull. Walked along the edge of the swap towards GZ and as the numbers came down we could see a likely object that may hide the cache, after about 10 mins we were starting to struggle so walked away to to let the GPSr show the way in again but it still pointed to the same object. We persisted and prodded around and we suddenly came up with the cache. we are very happy to have found this one (and I guess The Morris will be too).
If you try for this one use the aeroguard
After all that we TNLNSL
Thanks the Morris for the challenge and a great addition to the B&W series.
Rated: for Overall Experience
After a massive two days on the southern leg of the Burke and Wills expedition, this was our only DNF, alongside 32 B&W finds. We attempted this one on our way north yesterday, then again today heading south back to Melbourne. We spent a good 30 minutes looking in all of the likely places, and we're now convinced that it's not there. I can't believe that this location would get many muggles, so very strange. Maybe we just weren't looking closely enough? We'll be watching this one, and will have to return sometime soon.
10.00am
Found by Roma and Max.
What a difference some moisture makes, with bird life now plentiful
It was also nice to see the camel signage recognizing the significance of this location, at long last.
We found another quality hide which we come to expect from your team.
Cheers,
from Romax.
Found by Roma and Max.
What a difference some moisture makes, with bird life now plentiful
It was also nice to see the camel signage recognizing the significance of this location, at long last.
We found another quality hide which we come to expect from your team.
Cheers,
from Romax.
Rated: for Overall Experience
first to find.
spent weekend doing some B&W caches and birdwatching.
thanks to all put these Burke and Wills caches together
spent weekend doing some B&W caches and birdwatching.
thanks to all put these Burke and Wills caches together
Rated: for Overall Experience
