Stick that in ya pipe and smoke it New South Wales, Australia
By C○3 ♀ Ɛ○<<○3 on 05-Feb-22. Waypoint GA26224

Tobacco farming first started in Australia in 1818 in NSW near Sydney and the Hunter Valley. It then exteneded into QLD and Vic in the 1850s. Tobacco farming in NSW was later concentrated to the far north between Tenterfield and Ashford. Tobacco farming reached it's peak in the 1970s with around 16000 tonnes sold annually.

Due to tobacco being cheaper to import, in 1965 manufacturing companies by law were made to have at least 50% Australian leaf content in their products, and in 1977 this was raised to a minimum of 57%. However, in December 1994 this "Local Leaf Content Scheme" was reviewed and abolished. This meant the manufacturers of tobacco products were no longer forced to use Australian leaf, but could import the much cheaper tobacco from countries like China. In 1994 just before this decision was made there were around 600 tobacco growers in Australia, 4% of these were in this part of NSW. In early 1995 the state governments created finacial incentives and other support for growers to exit the industry. In just 1 year the number of tobacco growers fell to 366 with none left growing in NSW at all. It would appear the 4% of growers in NSW in 1994 was already much lower than previously, as an article in 1981 states "Seventy-five percent of tobacco growers in the border area west of Tenterfield to Texas have walked off their farms over the past ten years and share farming of tobacco [in NSW] is almost non-existent. You can find an image in the gallery of this article as well as photos of tobacco growing in the area from a poster in the Mingoola Hall.

As you drive through the area along the Bruxner Way between Ashord and Tenterfield you will see a number of old tobacco leaf drying barns standing tall in the grassy fields and looking like they've seen better days. Orignally they were made from locally felled timbers and the drying done with wood fires. Over time concrete barns were built and oil fires were used. Here is a good example of both styles one directly in front of the other. About 120m Northwest of the given coordinates you will see a group of tall sheds. The 2 at the back are made of wood and the 2 at the front are made of cement. These were all once used to dry tobacco leaves before being shipped to the tobacco manufacturers.

At the given coordinates you will find a sign on the fence. Turn each letter into a number. If double digit, add the two digits to make one new one. For example Z=26=8.

The cache can be found at S29 00.(2nd letter)(1st letter + 5th letter)(5th letter) E151 35.(7th letter)(6th letter)(2nd letter - 5th letter).

Disclaimer: I don't pretend to have good cache hides. I just like to hide caches near a point of interest (to me at least). I don't have the patience to create cool cache hides. haha.

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