Australia's Oldest Ebenezer, New South Wales, Australia
By phlphotos on 26-Jan-21. Waypoint GC89249

Very nice old church that I had no idea existed. TFTC.

On a road trip from Queensland and stopping at a friends in Ebenezer. Today was the 2nd time visiting the church and having a lovely Devonshire tea as visited last year as well. Off to Cessnock tomorrow. TFTC phlphotos

Thanks for this cache very interesting area, have lived around here for years and never visited the areaI see that they serve scones and tea on certain days will definitely have to come back and try them TFTC

We picked a beautiful winter's day to explore this lovely part of the country. We have been here several times for geocaching and it never disappoints. Thanks phlphotos for setting up this Virtual and bringing us back here.

Hello phlphotos thank you for the cacheA lovely old church.I was lucky to have a history lesson from one of the church members.I found this cache during our Newcastle 2024 trip to see the grandchildren.Found on Saturday, 27 April 2024 at 1546**TFTC**

TFTC smile19886 out and about on a Sunny day on my way to Wollongong for my grandson wedding who is a Dunstan. In a round about way picking up LGAs on the way signed as GS1947 on small logs FP Answers sent to CO I was here before this Virtual and found my Husband relations Dunstan Thank you phlphotos for placing this cache for our enjoyment

What a beautiful place. Thanks for bringing me here. Answers sent

A nice virtual in a quiet part of the world.

Out for a weekend in and around the Colo River with The Rats and Hoojar to find plenty of caches- a fair bit of legwork needed beforehand though. Some enjoyable country.This place is really well kept- which is great to see.TFTC!

After finishing up with our aim of the Kayak series down the Colo, Rats, Steeba and I had a bit more time in the afternoon to cache before we needed to be home.We targetted some more caches in the area, some of which included chalenges that I do not yet qualify for.It was a stinking hot afternoon, and I was pretty fried by the time the afternoon thunderstorm hit.Cheers

Staying at nearby Tizzana winery b&b (excellent, btw) and came here for Devonshire morning tea . A quick find, posted answers and now to enjoy sconesyum!TFTC, cheers Wal & Claudette

We are on another short (three day) caching holiday in North Western Sydney, staying for two nights in a park cabin at the Ingenia Holidays Avina BIG4 Holiday Park at Vineyard. Hoping to collect some previously solved Mystery/Puzzle caches, complete some Adventure Labs, and accumulate enough cache finds for this month’s "Wheel of Challenges" easy & hard souvenir chase. Photos will be uploaded to some (most) logs on our return to home base.

Today (day 2) we explored the areas around Wilberforce, Ebenezer, and Sackville. Completed a five stage Adventure Lab, as well as a couple of random Adventure Lab stages (waypoints), and collected numerous Traditional caches, a previously solved Mystery/Puzzle cache, a MultiCache, and a Virtual cache. This was the 9th of 31 finds for the day (day 2), and 29th find of the holiday.

After collecting a random Adventure Lab stage (waypoint) in Wilberforce we next arrived at this Virtual cache at Australia's oldest church in Ebenezer. We last visited this church in April 2019 and did all of the caches that were here at that time, but this new Virtual cache provided the perfect excuse for a return visit.

Gathered all of the required information, took a team selfie photo with the church in the background, and then strolled around the lovely historic site and took some more photos. Our answers to the questions have been sent to the CO for approval. TFTVC phlphotos.

Find #6346

Answers sent to CO.

Was heading out here to explore so happy to find there was a cache here. So much history in the cemetery including some restored plaques and headstones.
If they are open for Devonshire teas - make sure you stop and have some!!! Best scones I've had in a long time!

Thanks for the cache

Out for a drive and needed a virtual to assist in the hard souvenir for the latest challenge.
Only Teddy the pooch wanted to go with me but hey, anywhere outside the house and he’s in.
Really impressed with caretakers work in restoring the graves, the immaculate lawns the frangipani on the LHS of the entry and the Camelia in full flower on the RHS of entry, both close to the church.
What a pleasant afternoon to spend some time here. I followed up this with the AL walk and bus stop 10 down the road while out here.
Thanks Philphotos, quite a lovely set up virtual

This cache was found today and brings our overall cache find tally to 12765.

This was a bit of a challenge to locate the required plaques especially in the dark! Eventually got there though. Answers have been sent via the message centre.

Thanks phlphotos for the cache.

Visited the church to find this Virtual cache.
A very interesting place to visit and I had a look around the cemetery as well. It was nice to see plaques attached to many of the gravestones, with the information that is becoming difficult to read replicated on them.
I even found an older grave than the one that the website says is the oldest, it is dated 1812.
Thanks for highlighting this old building that I otherwise would not have known about. TFTC

Wow it's a very interesting history about Australia's oldest church so thank you phlphotos for bringing me here. Favourite from me!

Found this one with SciFiRulz TFTC:)

Answers sent to owner. Enjoyed to walking around the oldest church and cemetery. Thanks for organising the virtual..

I found it but very hard to work out

Enjoyed wandered this area.
Many times, we have been there.
Thank you for organising the virtual.
FP as well

Answers sent to owner. Took me a while to locate answe to q1 as i didnt look far enough away from gate. As leaving another couple cachers turned up.

pineapplegoldy and MotherGoldy are on their first holiday together, on a trip we've named "Almost Went to Sydney"

We are heading to Ebenezer for a tour of where the 80's TV show "A Country Practice" was filmed.

Today was the day of the tour, which took us around Ebenezer, Windsor, Wilberforce and Pitt Town.

The tour started at this church so I got the opportunity to do the cache before setting off.

A very cool place for a virtual.

Unfortunately the sign at the bread put has been badly weathered so hopefully my answer is correct.

I remember that the CO's "G'day from the Hawkesbury" in Adelaide was one of my first events so it's cool to be here now.

A favourite point!

Thanks phlphotos for this virtual cache, which brings Goldy's total find count to 3071 on the 6th of May 2023.


CITO's are a brilliant way to help keep our community area's clean. The Earth is our playing field and we need to protect it!

Always be sure to cache the "leave no trace" way!


**South Australia is the place be for GCA1DNA - February 29th, 2024 in Adelaide! Hope to see you at The Great Leap Forward!**

#1608
This was the 4th of 11 finds for the day. After completing the nearby AL waypoint for Sackville Ferry, blackdiamondrun and myself wearing driving back towards our home and decided to stop here for a quick break and to complete this virtual. I remembered being here for a stop during a georally held a few years ago but blackdiamondrun had not been here before. We checked the questions we had to ask after having a little look around the grounds and unfortunately, we had some difficulty determining how far to look for the answer for Question 1. We decided to check out the brick oven at the back and blackdiamondrun was amazed at the Great Flood marker on the small building. I found the plaque with the appropriate image but unfortunately, it is so faded that it is difficult to work out the answer. Once we agreed on a particular answer, we walked back to the gate and proceeded to look more closely for the answer to Question 1 and we found it. Such plaques on graves seem to stand out so much compared with the older sandstone ones. TFTV.

Visited the site to take a break from the gardening at home. Wandered around to the two way point to gather information need then took a selfie to claim a find.

Details sent to CO

Cool church but images are faded. Answers sent. TFTV

Rain stopped when getting answers. Very historic spot. Thanks for leading me here.

Found with The Booos

Found after the celebration event.

Finally managing to log this virtual which we had collected the information for soon after it was published. Fantastic location surrounded by history and overlooking the Hawkesbury River...some of the early funeral processions arriving by the River must have been a sight to see. Thanks for the virtual phlphotos and congratulations on your Virtual Reward - awarding a FP for this one.

The following TBs came through for the mileage : Bob geoMinion, Dave geoMinion, Evil geoMinion, Jerry geoMinion, Larry geoMinion, Mary Hyde's Treasure, Stuart geoMinion, teamMerlin's 7 Deadly Ducks Tag (Lust), Vanlith The Youngling, Hidden Creatures Geocoin TB, teamMerlin's Football, Merlin's Steed, Volkswagen Kafer Racer, Will's first TB, The EMU 2017, Tinky on tour., Carrot the unicorn, Bobby, Memory Lane Geocoin, Booty McBootface #2, Captain Jack Hewitt - The Leaky Bin Bags, 15 Years of Geocaching Geocoin, 1999 DODGE

Thanks for bringing me here to this historic site. ( answers sent). TFTC

Found it

#18538 @1235
I needed to pick my son up from Sydney airport, so took the day off work to target some specific caches in NW Sydney before heading to the airport. I enjoyed the wander here. Answers submitted. TFTC.

TFTC! Lovely little spot.

It was a beautiful spring day and there was a Mazda MX5 club meet happening at the oldest church on the day I chose to explore the area. The modern vehicles were unusual to see in the old grounds but they seemed to be respectful and appreciative of their surroundings.
I spent quite a while here reading the old tombstones and learning about the people who started the church here. Thanks so much phlphotos for putting your virtual here, great work!

Been here quite a few times now so it was just a better if finding the answers. Almost looks like they have a cafe set up here now. Tftc

I have visited this beautiful sandstone church many times, mainly because of geocaching. I really ought to come have lunch here sometime, too.

After the event at the winery I decided to pick up this virtual on the way home again. When I arrived the area next to the road opposite the church was filled with caravans and trailer homes. I suspect this was temporary accommodation for flood victims.

The parking area was full of motorbikes. I was wondering whether I had stumbled on a biker gang meeting (all of them reformed and going to church, haha!). However, it was a group of motorbike enthusiasts on a breakfast run.

I was almost tempted to give this cache a miss because I initially wasn't getting a data signal and couldn't download the cache page to see what my tasks were. However, very similar to Microsoft products, closing the app and then starting it again solved that problem and I soon had my tasks listed.

The group of bikers didn't pay any attention to me while I looked for the information at the bread oven, and once I ventured a bit further afield near the entrance I found the plaque with the information. A quick photo of a pretty feature and I was ready for logging a find.

#6523- Out caching early with a beautiful deep red sunrise with thomo31 on this wonderful international geocaching day. Very hopeful that the world record will fall today. After doing the metro AL, it was time to head to the Tizzana event. Stopped at the church on the way, a place I've been to many times including a friend of mine's wedding. Such a beautiful, historic spot. Collected the info, pics taken. Info related to the CO in person at the nearby event.The road was lined with caravans being dried out from the most recent of floods. So sad for the locals. Thanks for bringing me back.

Under beautiful skies I made the most of my day off work to bag a plethora of caches in the Windsor / Colo area. It was one of those days where I drove past more caches than I found, but I went with specific mindset of finding caches that helped improve my D/T rating.

Thanks to all the CO's for your hides, I had a great day either in the bush or by the river.
A beautiful old building and surrounding gardens and cemetry

TFTC

Found after a near by event, met the CO at site and confirmed the answers. TFTC

Found It!
Nice little spot with some interesting history. I found the answer to the first question without too much trouble and then after a lot of wandering around I finally found photograph 2 and answered the other question.
TFTC

Great spot for a virtual. I've been here many times before. It's a wonderful piece of our early history.

Our last find for the day after spending the time climbing trees and attending the event nearby. As it was dark, we had some difficulty finding the necessary plaques, but the CO was with us and was able to lead us to the right places. Some interesting history here. TFTV

OCW EverestHigh and Brewmaker. Visited this cache after seeing phlphotos at an event at Tizzana Winery, and saw the CO a second time at the virtual location. Enjoyed the guided tour. Worth an FP for an interesting virtual cache. TFTVC phlphotos!

Great to visit this cache after Team Merlin's CCE Event at Tizzana Winery. OCW MaxAdventurer and Brewmaker. We had just seen the CO at the Event, then he appeared here at his own cache. Thanks for the guided tour. TFTE phlphotos

Suetrefoil has sent in the answers and photos for our group at Ebenezer. TFTC

On a coach trip to Windsor and surrounds enjoyed visiting Ebenezer Church where we had a very interesting talk from 'Tom' about it's history.

Lovely old church and interesting grave yard
TFTC
SueTrefoil sent answers and photo

Great spot SueTrefoil to send answers

Today we visited Ebenezer. After the ALs had expired, we still looked for the answers to this cache.

Thank you for showing this interesting place

Ok, confirmation received, now a legal smiley. waiting on a response from the CO, a note will do. Been here at Ebenezer Church so many times I have lost count. This might be the second cache for me here, and I had one or two down Swallow Track. Thanks phlpotos

I have been out here numerous times on the motorbike with one of the ancestors from this area.
Today I was in the area and met the CO before heading here for a quick tour. Answers have been submitted and accepted by the CO. Gets a favourite.
SL TFTC

Today I led a bird watching walk around Wilberforce and Ebenezer. The weather was really good and we walked along the Swallow Reach track. This was our first time back in this area since the floods earlier in the year and the damage is still very evident.
There were plenty of birds which was good for the group.
Another of our stops was at Australia's Oldest where I left the group having morning tea and walked around the church completing this Virtual Cache.

I always like coming here its a beautiful spot and the history and walking tracks are a bonus.

Now I've sent my answers to the CO but I think the answer to question 1 should be the funeral held on 17-4-2021, the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral. That was impressive and unusual!

I love colonial history but this cache showed me something I've never noticed here before!
If you can teach me something about the history of our pioneers you are worthy of a favourite point!

TFTC # 4558

#9801 17:35
Today was a road trip around the Hawkesbury area. An ambitious list of caches to find as I set myself a target of reaching 10,000 finds by year end. Covid-19 lockdown put a spanner in the works and I now have only two months to find the remaining 200+ caches. So rather than interesting caches, I had to schedule a day in the car and go for quantity, rather than quality.

Great little church which I visited before for other geocaches. Lots of histroy here and very charming sandstone buildings. After a walk around the answers were collected and send to the CO.

This is 58 of 61 finds today. TFTC!

Found with Crafty Dusty and the geopooch Pippa on our road trip within the confines of Greater Sydney. Beautiful old church! Pic of sandstone and sandstone coloured pooch attached:)

Got out for a bit of a walk out of the house today luckily this area is nice and close to home so we had somewhere to explore. Thanks for this one I haven’t logged a virtual on here for quite some time.

Sorry forgot the photo

Out on a walk to get some air and the nearby adventure lab. Thought we would have a look around the fabulous church grounds to see if we could come up with the answers and…… yay!! Thanks for the outing

TFTC An interesting place that we have visited a number of times..

Streak Day #2878 - Stopped by with Dave8153 to gather the information and sent answers to CO, have always liked this church as its old sandstone buildings are just beautiful. TFTV

#8054 (7 of 13 today - including 7 Lab Caches)

After a few calendar finds today, and thought I'd clean up a few new offerings past Windsor. But first I could grab a Pitt Town multi that had escaped me on my last visit.

Found everything I went for - including those ALs and the bonus for one of them - the other is AWOL.
###END OF CUT AND PASTE SECTION###
First I finished off the *Macquarie Five Towns* Lab Cache, by finding:
#8053 Wilberforce

Now where is that bonus?

Then continued on to here - all the while watching my phone coverage - for a look at this new Virtual.

Quickly grabbed the required info - and a happy snap - at a very familiar location.
Gets a favourite for the history, of course.

And my answers have been sent to the CO.

Now for the nearby AL...

TFTV

28 May 2021
This is find number: 5364
Streak Day: 1989

Found today with Snoopy1976, stopped by here and found required information which has been sent off to the CO. Thank for bringing us to this location.

Thanks to phlphotos for placing and maintaining this cache.

TFTC

I joined Fitzy_1965 & MinnieK for a trip to Sydney to drop in on another Celebration Event. This time in the Hawksbury. We used up the rest of the day doing a series of Challenge caches near Penrith, including a bonus First to Find, and then some of the EG caches surrounding the event location. A long but exhiklerating day of caching.

It was fun wandering around this area. MinnieK sent our answers.

Thanks for the cache phlphotos

32521.18 TNLN
Visited: World Traveling Gold GC A#6 & 2007 May Signal A#91

**Albida**

Headed Sydney way with fitzy_1965 and albida33 today.

We had seen the community celebration event a few weeks ago. I was keen to get to Ebenezer as my Australian family roots come from there so made plans to head north today. After a foggy start, it turned out to be a rather warm day compared to Canberra and surrounds lately.

On our way through Ebenezer, we decided to start doing this series of caches. My Ancestry Family Reunion is held in Ebenezer at the Church every 5 yrs. It got postponed from last year and has just been postponed again so nice to come up here regardless. My descendants, on my Australian side, were on the Neptune which was part of the Second Fleet. They are buried at Ebenezer and Wilberforce cemeteries.

We caught up with the CO at the community celebration event and were given the all clear to log after he verified our answers.

Thanks for bringing us here today.

24,757. Found with minniek and albida33 during a run up to the Ebenezer region for a Community Celebration Event.

When we spotted another Community Celebration Event being held up at a Winery in the Ebenezer region, we decided to head up that way for a full day of caching. A foggy start from Goulburn had us soon burn through for what was a lovely day to be outside. After finishing off a bunch of challenge caches along The Northern Road - including a surprise first to find - we started doing the EG-Q series and other bonus caches along the way. This Virtual was high on our must do caches list. Such an interesting area with those beautiful buildings and old graves. We gathered the required info and took some photos. As we saw the CO at the Community Celebration Event (it was his event after all) we confirmed our answers and permission to log was granted.

Thanks phlphotos !! Favourite Point !

Cache find #4000

After attending the Hawkesbury's First Cache - Community Celebration Event, I headed to Australia's Oldest Church. I have been here many times to do caches, and to birdwatch.
A perfect Virtual cache for our 4000th find. Found the required info and took the photo, then a bit of Birdwatching before heading home
Thanks for the Virtual phlphotos

Arrived before the event at Tizzana's to find Snoopy and Dave out the front. A team effort was the go as we discussed geocaching and other addictions. TFTC

Out with oldmorty on our way back to Sydney.
We had a lovely time wandering around the churchyard and cemetery.
Thanks phlphotos for bringing us here

After completing a nearby Adventure Lab frazeydaze and I checked out this Virtual Cache before heading home. We thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the old cemetery and taking in a bit of history. We were also introduced to the resident baby brown snake by the churches ground keeper. Answers have been forwarded to the CO. TFTVC phlphotos.

It’s a lovely place to come back to on a beautiful day. We missed out on the lunch at the church ladies were giving the community groups. However we were not disappointed. TFTC. Answers sent.

#5046

I'm always on the lookout to collect virtuals and this historic spot has been on my list to re-visit for some time. Teamed up with Tardis0061 after a CITO at Richmond to do a loop and pick up a few caches on the way. Like others, we didn't immediately spot the first plaque, so proceeded to the second task which was quickly in hand. Took the requested photo on the way back to the entrance and broadened our search. Sure enough, Tardis stumbled upon the required info.

TFTC phlphotos

Full log to follow

We're camping at Wisemans Ferry for a few days and today I'm on a caching excursion to Ebenezer and back via a somewhat circuitous route on both sides of the river.

I'm blown away that this is the oldest surviving church in Australia. I recall being here previously but the historical significance of the place obviously passed me by then. Thanks for bringing me back here phlphotos and for the opportunity to take a closer look around than I did last time. Fave point awarded with thanks.

After a bit of bush walking this morning with ilook4geo we stopped here to find this cache. There was no problem and the info on the plaque for question 1 made for interesting reading. Located the info for question 2 and both answers have been sent to the CO. We have been here before and it is always a pleasure to visit this interesting historical place which is so well kept. Thanks go to phlphotos for giving us a reason to come back again.

Nice to visit Australia's oldest church again but with a different focus this time. Info found, answers sent. Thanks for bringing us back for another visit.

#4219

Nice to see a virtual recognising this piece of our history. It's always enjoyable to come here for a visit.

#1,035
Out today with Calypso62 to complete some AL's and pick up some Traditionals along the way.
This was the 12th and final of the day.
Answers sent to CO.
TFTC

Seeing this unlogged this morning I headed out in the rain thinking the afternoon's sport would be canceled so was hopeful of doing a lot more. On arrival, no logs so figured **FTF** was up for grabs. I spent a long time trying to find the plaque but used my other left in the end. Some interesting bits of history but also a little concerning to see part of my name on so many of the sites. All answers submitted plus photos. TFTC

I spent forty minutes exploring the church struggling with the first waypoint.

But it is a pretty spot to explore.

Luckily Team Merlin came and helped me with the information required.

TFTC.

Fantastic virtual. What a beautiful place, very nice grounds and a historical building. TFTC

Published