Rowville POW camp Rowville, Victoria, Australia
By Pinkpiggy7 on 21-Apr-14. Waypoint GC533PV

A nice and simple multi, at GZ the cache took a bit to find but is all good hereTravelling around Victoria with Freddo for a week finding caches as we go. With two challenges on our radar we were in full force. All logs signed with our names or F+g98 for the smaller caches. Thanks for the cache

Cache was found after a short search. Thanks for the fun. Cleaning up Victoria with gridge98. We are on a mission this week. Completing twenty finds in Mexican local government areas is the challenge. Another find with the correct criteria. It is in Victoria and we have not accumulated twenty finds in this local government area.Today was the day to find this cache. Today is Saturn's day the nineteenth day of the octavus month of the Roman calendar in the wonderful year of twenty twenty four. We found your cache container and added some inky stuff to the paper sheet or note pad you have supplied for a log book or scroll. The cache container and log book or scroll were in good condition. It was a bit windy today. It was so windy today.With the log signed and the cache replaced it was time to leave. Onwards to the next cache. Woot, that is not to far.I would like to show my respect and acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the Land, and their continuing connection to it. I wish to pay my respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures; and to Elders past, present and emerging.I will apologize right now, because everything from here on is here solely for the purpose of padding the word count and winning that one hundred word diamond badge again. Somebody moved the goal posts. So many caches to find. So many caches to log. We find them, sign them and replace them.This particular geocache was found using one of the following GPS enabled devices, Garmin GPSr, Montana 680t, Oregon 650 or Dakota 20 and an Apple iPhone 11 using the marvelous Cachly app. Waypoints and paperless geocaching were downloaded via GSAK 9. Log prepared, checked and submitted using GSAK publish logs macro.Warning, this hobby can be addictive. It can lead to exercise, meeting new people and finding interesting places you might not have known existed otherwise. Beware: you may have fun. Apologies for the generic part of the cache log. We do apologise for the generic logs. Thanks to all the cache owner for placing this cache here for our enjoyment.Thanks for the cache. Merci la cache. Danke fr den Cache. Gracias por el cach. Bedankt voor de cache. Kiitos ktkst. Terima kasih untuk cache. Hvala cache. Nga mihi mo te keteroki. Dankie vir die kas. Ksznm a rejtst. Vdaka za cache. Dzieki za cache. Takk for at cache. Obrigado por isso cache. Dky za ke. Aciu u ta talpykla. Paldies par o cache. Aith selle eest cache. Tack fr att Cache. Tak for denne Cache. nbellek iin tesekkrler. Ksznjk, hogy a cache. Graas para o cache. Dankon pro la kasmemorone. Dank fr de csch. Eskerrik asko cache horrengatik. Na gode da wannan cache. Zikomo chifukwa cha cache.I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Blockheads Unite in 2025.

We are adventuring today, and the cars took us to this reserve for a swing. After the obligatory swing, I checked for local geocaches, and this multi was ot. After gathering the required information, I headed to GZ, but it was just a sea of grass. Not having been found in four months will do that I guess. Fortunately my geosenses were working today and I was able to retrieve a very dry and healthy looking cache.

Love a quick multi that can be completed on foot. A short stroll through a nice park to collect the required information. Was interesting read at initial site. Some quick calculations and a pleasant stroll to the final location. A quick find. TFTC

A fun new location for us, didnt know we had POW camps in vic. Coordinates were spot on and as the park is quiet it was fairly easy to roam around without muggles. We had to have a few attempts with finding the coordinates but got there in the end.

Great park with some interesting history.Never would have known this park was here.Thanks for leading us here!

Catching up with good friend we decided to take a wander around this little slice of history Thanx for the Adventure Pinkpiggy7 Stay Dirty 20754:46pmSmokeyBearOG

Following the fun Giff event, I managed to pick up a stray, aka SmokeyBearOG it had been a while between caching together, and I needed a multi for the day. So SMOG suggested this cache. I had only recently become aware of these POW camps in Victoria, it was interesting to learn about another one. Questions were answered calculations done, with a short stroll to GZ where this cache was located and signed.

We are collecting LGAs around Melbourne today and appreciate the short walk and leg stretch on this interesting site. Thanks for bringing us here.

This cache has been a bit of an odd out one for us for a bit, one of the only caches in Rowville that we didn't have a smiley on. We decided to change that this afternoon, with a quick dash out to grab this one after school pickup. Information was gathered relatively quickly, with the cache found once the GPS honed us in. Tftc Pinkpiggy7

After a previous DNF we had to come back and try this one again.

After collecting our info and making sure all is right we made our way to the cache and soon it was I our hands. TFTC

I recalculated the coordinates for the new location and was very pleased to find this cache. So much history here.

Returned here today on Anzac Day which seemed to be appropriate.
Easy find. Thank you for the POW information, and for replacing the cache Pinkpiggy7.

I never knew this was here, thanks for bringing me here. Relatively easy to figure out and cache found quite quickly although dogs on other side of fence getting twitchy! In great condition with nice new log book. TFTC

Updated formula as cache has been relocated about 15 metres. This cache remains a sistema as mentioned on the cache page since publication.

Updated formula as cache has been relocated about 15 metres. This cache remains a sistema as mentioned on the cache page since publication.

Disabling, I have retrieved the random mint tin throw down. And placed a new cache in a new hide. Will update puzzle and co-ords shortly. Please no random mint tins,

Out with pinnacle333, we searched here to no avail

There is a lot of maintenance work going on in this park. with workmen and diggers and trucks, I ignored the “Footpath Closed” signs, and went cross country to sort out the coordinates and find this cache. There is some interesting history here.

Catching up on logs..
Out with echidna44. We searched and searched, but couldn't find anything. Will have to return, now that cache has been updated!!

Multi mission calls so here I am at quite an interesting spot. It’s also a surprise and a reminder of those times. In Melbs again to visit fam and spend time with good ol mum who lives nearby. This whole area was paddocks and orchards in the 60’s when we lived out this way so good to see a few areas of bush have escaped the burban takeover and been set aside. TFTC AND THE FUN Afave for interest!

Out with my daughter for her birthday. i have been wanting to check out this one for a while being interested in the POW camp. It seems its was more of the training/settlement camp. Interesting walk with the trail provided. Easy multi and find. Thanks for bringing me here Pinkpiggy7

I had no idea about the history of this location and Rowville is the last place I would think of as holding a POW camp. Fascinating - tftc

A lovely winters day in Melbourne enticed me outdoors.
I must say that Geocaching is an amazing hobby, it takes me to places and history that I would never know about other wise.
Thanks for the cache Pinkpiggy7

After doing the calculations twice I eventually got the right answer, and soon had the cache in hand.

I don’t remember how I stumbled on this little park online, and of course my first thought was to check for a cache, and of course PP7 had taken care of it
The dog and I stopped by on our way home a few days later to nice little park with a very interesting history. There’d been a recent controlled burn so it was a bit whiffy and not very pretty at the original coordinates, but thankfully GZ was safe and sound and we made a quick find in peace. There was a loud bird with an unusual call on the way but we couldn’t see it, might have to pop back for another look.

Thanks Pinkpiggy7 for another fun walk in a park.

I needed to come over to this side of Melbourne for a little maintenance on one of my caches... and as I needed a "non Trad" cache today for the ** The Non-Traditional Calendar Challenge **, I was able to combine both needs in the one trip out.

There was no one around as I wandered around this bush reserve looking for answers and a cache. A nice, simple find with an interesting story behind it. I never knew that we had POW camps around Melbourne... but I suppose they had to be somewhere!

Thanks **Pinkpiggy7** for the cache... I also took the Trackable that had been resting here.

Out trying to pick up a few multis in order to climb the peak quickly. It was a fun little multi…TFTC! Dropped off a trackable!

Back in the game

To many people are finding our caches in breach of lockdown provisions, disabling until things are open again.

Nice one with the kids

Found @13:30 #7821
Attempted this cache back in May 2016, man that was quite some tine ago. So back today to avenge that DNF and now its a smiley at last, yes!! [^] Surprised how I remembered parts of the area espically GZ. A quick find where I had expected it to way back then. Another nice bushland area and history too.

Today was day 2 of lockdown 5.0 #goearlygohard

TFTC Pinkpiggy7

Found it TFTC

We found ourselves in the approximate area and decided to give this one a go.
We were greeted by a very nice bushland area and and interesting piece of history as well.
Cache was found in good condition.
Thanks Pinkpiggy7 for showing us this place.
Chiefton!!!

The things you learn while geocaching. We had never heard of a POW camp in Rowville, so it was interesting to read about the history of this area as we made our way to GZ. Nice quick find thanks to spot on coordinates, with a little unloved too as a bonus.

Thanks for a great multi Pinkpiggy7.

Enabling caches again

Disabling due to the current situation

Hating to admit defeat here but sat lock rubbish on this cloudy morning. Have had a 20 minute search poking about the concrete and surrounds but alas unable to locate the elusive hiding spot. TFTH

Trying to clean up my DNF
Found your cache today. Pinkpiggy7, thanks for placing it.

Had a nice walk around the park and had fun working out the clues TFTC

Found it! Interesting place to visit. A camp started the month after I was born! Tftc.

Found it.... lucky I had to geokids with me... I wasn’t gonna put my hand there.

Collected the info required after doing the same at the Circle of Life nearby. In good condition.

The park was empty today, which is surprising given the lovely weather. Love a fast factual multi. Thank you PP7. Cache was found in great condition.

Had a quick walk before head to shopping at Stud Rd plaza. Puzzle solved. Found it. Thanks Pinkpiggy7 for the multi

Find 2111
Thanks so much for the history research and making us aware of this Park. At posted cords got the info and made the calls. A short walk and some more ruins. Cache was discovered and log signed. Now back safe again.
Thanks Pinkpiggy7

I do enjoy how I learn a lot about different areas when caching. I certainly didn't know the history of this area until I was looking for the information at the posted WP. Interesting to see the remains of the POW camp too whilst hearing all the different birds and animals nearby. Managed to miss the cache on my first pass but then found it nicely tucked away. TFTC

Thanks Pinkpiggy7 for the cache. I knew about the prisoner of war camp in Rowville but didn’t realise there was anything remaining remaining in the area .. thanks for bringing us here

Two multis in a row that I’ve got the coordinates right the first time. And a good history lesson is well. Well done Piggies.

A funny thing happened on the way to this hide...
After collecting the other nearby multi, a new gadget cache popped up in Churchill NP.
Whilst I do love a good multi, I simply cannot resist the temptation of a firsttofind.
So on that day, the search here was abandoned and the shiny prize was soon mine.
Returning today with +Wife to complete our research and the cache was soon discovered.
Thank you for highlighting this historic area Pinkpiggy7.
Most definitely a favorite!

As MontsII said he would come caching today, I decided it was time we did this cache, knowing he would like the subject matter. We walked away from stage one with him telling me how good geocaching is, as he would never have known there was a POW camp here. At GZ we made a quick find, thanks to, as he claims, his finely tuned eye. Haha. Thanks for a great multi and highlighting this area Pinkpiggy7

One little park plus two simple multi’s makes one happy cacher.

Initially thought the POW was a reference to sound effects when Batman fought the baddies “bang”, “thwack” etc. but apparently not.

Had no idea that Melbourne had housed these POWs. Thanks for the little history lesson and for the walk.

Another one down for today. This was a nice easy one and I was surprised by the history of the area.

RSC SBAT crew cracked the code and found it!

Out and about tonight, grabbing some caches in the cool night air! This park was really dark tonight, but I managed to collect the info and make my way to GZ. After checking a few locations I had the cache in hand - nice hiding spot! TFTC!

Day 3 of Multi March, now to be honest the real reason to do this was to force me to finally find 100 multi caches...... it seems as if I had been rather slack with the cache type but now I finally reached this little milestone.
Well today I am headed up to my Girlfriend's (whom I have brought into caching and she loves it) 21st party, thus being in a relatively untouched area I thought that I would leave a couple hours early and find a couple caches. So this littke reserve was first off the bat and the site where i would find my 100th multi. With a coffee frappe in hand I made my way and did the maths for both the caches before heading out. This was done first and after a little hunting and looking around i noticed the trademark sistema blue. Soon the cache log was signed, thabks for the cache and the milestone

Interesting about Rowville POW camp here.
Image that!
Poor Italian guy was shot before freedom!
Thanks Pinkpiggy7 for bring me here and cache.

I am very happy to turn this frown into a smile. I had this cache on my watch list waiting to it to be looked at. Today is the day that it had been replaced. Great news I’m coming pass here today. Thanks heaps for replacing.

I was in the area this morning and decided to check it after the recent dnf.. it was missing now replaced.

The weather was so freezy and bit of raining today with crank1 that we managed catch up the caches for the day. Been sorted with maths and searched for half hour to find this cache. No luck to find. Will come back later.

Accompanied with Kangas11
Had worked out with maths
Can't find any caches today
DNF for us

Thanks for teaching me something I knew nothing about that happen till I came here.
I had no luck with this find but felt I had the numbers right and was in the right location. I was expecting it to be as easy as the other one in this park. I will put this on my watch list and come back after it has been found by someone or checked by the CO.
Thanks anyway. As they say "I'll be back!!"

Awesomr! Had no idea and lived here for years.

I never knew anything like this happened around here. I read the plaque and the cache description, I'm so grateful it's been relatively peaceful in my lifetime.
The puzzle was straightforward and thankfully I found it right away, unlike leafotwind before me. Thanks for the cache and for highlighting this area.

Well, after completing the mystery month challenge I thought I might try and close some loops. One of those loops is the Cluedo series whose final and last unlocated multi (for me) are located relatively nearby. Spying these two multis in the same area and quite close to the main targets of the drive down proved irresistible.
Co-ords were calculated easily but the search, lord, the search. I finally listened to myself after a good 15 minutes and went off to find Circle of Life. That done, I returned here and applied KISS and making a fairly educated guess about the CO's view on hiding I decided to make one last attempt at finding what was proving to be an elusive cache.
After moving this and shifting that....success.
Thanks for drawing the community's attention to what this reserve once was. I had heard of a POW camp in Rowville and now, as a result of caching can say I saw the remnants with my own eyes. I also noted at just how relaxed the residents seem to be about fences and property borders. I've never seen anything quite like it - you can literally step over some demarcating rubble into the backyard of a good half dozen properties bordering the reserve.

Out with Yorsys today cleaning up some more local caches. A lot of these have been out for 4 years or more and The Swaggies still had not got around to finding them. I had heard of a POW camp in Rowville but I thought it was over Police paddocks way and not here!. So it was an interesting walk to the starting point and also down to GZ although we did take the most direct route and we forgot our anti snake sticks as well. Once at GZ we noted the other structures and then proceded to locate the cache which was in good condition. An interesting outing here today.
TFTC Pinkpiggy7

Out with the Swaggies to clear out some old caches. Find 1424 at 1 February 2017 12:03 PM

Had to do this one too of course! Thoroughly enjoyed my meander in this bushland. Great history! TFTC

When I first saw this cache listing I had presumed it was in a much bigger park in the area, but on further investigation realised this was not the case. In the interests of avoiding unnecessary UV exposure - especially on a hot and caching-unfriendly day like today - I managed to research this camp and come up with some probable GZ coordinates at home (knowing if I stuffed up I could still gather the information the proper way on site) Luckily for me - because by now it was a scorcher! - my research paid off and I was soon at GZ where the cache was uncovered I dropped off a trackable that I picked up at the Surf Coast (Mega) Event last weekend - TFTC

#259 - 12.40pm
It's amazing what history can be found in the most innocuous of locations. It's quite eerie seeing evidence of a war (from over 70 years ago) so close to home.
Gosh, they don't make concrete like that anymore!
Thanks Pinkpiggy7, for reminding me of how lucky we are to live in this time of relative peace.

Great little hike. Tftc

Interesting that there was a camp here. TFTC. Learnt something new today

10:03 AM #2003
Finally got back to turn this dnf into a smiley. Thanks for replacing.
Took TB.

Found @2:29 PM #2138 And after a morning of gardening and solving puzzles for a future trip Ahomburg and i thought we would get out in some fresh air and pokemon and grab some more 10km zone caches
Thakyou so much for replacing this so fast Pinkpiggy
A great little walk and an awesome pokemon area
Tftc and a fav from me

Replaced cache as it was definitely missing...

4:32 PM
Searched for half an hour with no luck today. Will be back.

Came to this awesome little area today to pick up the couple of multis in this park and loved the area and picked up the other multi but this one was no where to be found. Looked everywhere and widened the search to no success. Will keep a watch on this and come back when it is confirmed to be there
Thanks anyway...

Well gave this one a good search but no luck. I suspect that the previous finder may of hidden this too good. Coordinates calculated brought me to an obvious spot but even expanding the grid to 20m with no success. There is signs of recent works by the council which may have affected the cache. Will watch for now. Great history, no idea it was here. Thanks for the hunt anyway.

Worked out the coordinates to this quite easily and did the short walk to GZ. I think my coordinates were a little out as I had to search outside the immediate area for this one. After a few minutes the cache was discovered and Miss Piggy let out a squeal. Great to discover some of the history of this area. Thanks for placing this cache in this location. TFTC

Nice one with geowifey. TFTC

Spending a nice afternoon with my GeoHubby, visiting and exploring places close to home.
Tftc and thanks for the history

An interesting find in a historical place I hadn't even known existed...

This was a very interesting cache never know we had a POW camp here thanks for bringing us here and teaching us some local history

With Zedaycee and Angelique Anja.

Learned something very interesting about this area. Didn't know we had POW camps here in Vic. TFTC

Just grabbing a few multis in this park this afternoon with Omegaman1971 and the things you discover while out caching. This one was a great hidden gem to visit and after working out the final wp it was a easy walk to the gz and we found the cache container in the open but untouched, we signed the log and rehid it a little better, thanks Pinkpiggy7 for the cache and for showing us this piece of local history.

omegaman1971
Wow never knew about the history here. Very interesting information and a big thanks to Co for bringing us here.
Also always love a easy multi cache. Favorite point for the history. But found cache sitting out in the open. Have Placed back in obvious location.
Cheers for the cache

dropped off a TB while ago

TFTC
Love the sounds of the frogs.
I learned a thing or two about the history if this area that i had no idea about. Cheers

Great park. Bring down the kids! Thanks for bringing us here.

A little piece of history that was new to us. We had not idea that there had been a POW camp in Rowville. Quick find. TFTC

I certainly didn't know about this aspect to this site's history until I glimpsed the title of this multi on the map a little while back. I knew I'd have to visit some day. Can't say I've taken this much interest in 'ablution blocks' and/or aging irrigation channels, etc, before but this *was* all genuinely interesting. The data collection and calculation was straightforward, although I think I did substitute a wrong digit initially. The cache was ultimately found with no issues and I found myself looking around further after that. Thanks Pinkpiggy7!

TFTC. Thanks for this bit of history. I never realised that there was a POW camp this close to Melbourne. Found the information easily and a short walk to find the final co-ords.
Easy find.

While in the area we picked this cache up on the way through. An excellent multi and this is why we love geocaching as it brings you to places like this to see the history of the local area, thankyou.

Thanks for placing and maintaining this cache for our enjoyment.

A nice easy multi using the genre just how it should be - showing us something that we never would have otherwise known about. Cache is in good order thanks Pinkpiggy7.

Log didn't save :/ had to revisit my old photos to see what day I was out here TFTC!

14/11/2015, 08:44
Find #2344

My day started around 5:30am as I headed out with the goal of finding at least ten different types of geocache in a single day. This was to be my multi for the day. This is a cache that I'd been wanting to do for a very long time because of the history of this area, a history that I knew nothing about. Finding the information was quick and I soon had a set of co-ords for GZ. A short time later, I was signing the log.

Thank-you to Pinkpiggy7 for placing this geocache

Tftc

Tftc

Out on the hunt while this crap weather sets in hitting a few mulitis and whatever else comes along the way with andy707.