History of Williamstown - Bonus Lab Cache Williamstown North, Victoria, Australia
By themd on 23-Jun-20. Waypoint GC8V244

Found while making a detour to this area. themd, thank you so much for placing it for everyone to enjoy and highlighting this area.

Enjoyed the labs and fav from me. Here's one to find today.Thank you for placing the cache themd.

Found. Tftc.

Gotta love ad labs with bonus caches. This was another one we collected nice hide tftc

got some of the clues wrong to start with and backtracking was required, but we found it in the end

This one has been a long time in the making.
Completed the Adventure Cache, but didn't record any of the answers, possibly because we were unaware there was a bonus cache or maybe because we were expecting the answers to stay in the journal...who knows.
So, completed the Adventure Cache for a second time, this time keeping note of the answers.
Being a local, N knew where the location of the mass grave was, so the final clue was easily found. Final waypoint solved and cache collected.

TFTC

This bonus took quite a bit of time and required meticulous note taking. However I got the required info eventually .
Many thanks themd

Found by iamapom at 16:51 on 18/6/2023. Thanks to themd for the Mystery. This is Iamapom’s find number 2708. Greetings from Melbourne Australia.

So much to remember whilst doing this AdLab. At the end of a busy caching day we finally pulled all the elements together to find this Bonus. Lots of history to discover along the way. SL at 3.08pm Left: gold eagle pathtag #9974 TFTC themd

After a weekend away taking my niece on her first camping trip, I packed up my base in Anglesea and set off for home. Via Geelong, Williamstown and a few other stops of course.

After a stop in Geelong to have lunch with DonutHoles I set off to Williamstown… or so I thought. Just as I was leaving I heard an announcement on the radio that the Princes Freeway had been closed due a truck rollover and sand being spilled across the entire road.

I quickly got off the freeway before getting stuck and so began a long alternative journey to Williamstown, via a cache or two.

I took a trip around to collect the clues and then arrived at cemetery. I had a little bit of a frustrating adventure here as the online guide suggested graves in different locations to where I needed to be. I eventually made it to where I needed to be and the final numbers fell into place.

The cache was soon found and I was on my way.

Thanks themd for adding this cache to the worldwide collection for us all to enjoy.

----------------------------------------------------------
Big things are continuing to happen! *Are you joining the fun again in 2023?*
[**THE**](https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9MH9M)
[**RUTHERGLEN**](https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9MH9M)
[**EVENT 2022**](https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC9MH9M)
6th / 10th April 2023 – GC9MH9M – Rutherglen – Victoria

Fantastic AdLab which took me on a decent walk around Williamstown. Appreciated the various landmarks and carefully gathered all the clues so time ago. After calculating the co-ords for this cache I left this one alone until today.
I needed a letterbox and there are a couple in the area and so decided to pick this one up today. Easy find and all is in order.

Took a while to find Mr Owen... But did the math and found the last bit too. Thanks!

Williamstown is such a beautiful place. I think I could get used to living here. So many beautiful buildings, it had such a great vibe.
TBS was the one to find this but I did help with solving the puzzle haha
TFTC

We really loved making our way around Williamstown today, learning a lot of history of this port city and obtaining the info required for this bonus. But we confused ourselves with this one but eventually had a thorough read of the description and worked out we actually needed to do some searching at Williamstown Cemetery to be able to correctly calculate the coords. Google was a big help in narrowing down the search for poor Owen Owens and we eventually located his grave. Calculations done and we headed off to gz. A quick find in an obvious location. TFTC and the excellent series.

I did the ad lab for this some time ago now and was very glad I read this bonus cache before hand so I had the correct information to work out where it was. I ran out of time and was not quite in the right place so I just left the find for another day.
In the area again today and stopped by with my smallest geokid and made a nice quick find here. Very interesting history tour though.
Thanks themd for the cache, the adventure, the hunt and the fun.

Woof woof woof

Found with Uncles ahomburg, sedgwickDave, and mum!

Thanks for the caches themd

Date: September 22, 2022 Time: 12:35 PM
Find #13039

With the long weekend upon us and no time to make plans, I headed out for a bit of localish caching with beckNmonts, Manfred Wolfgang and SedgwickDave to see what fun we could have in the Williamstown area.

Took a bit to find what was required at the first waypoint, but once we did, an easy solve and quick find at GZ

Massive thanks go to themd for placing this one.

Big things are continuing to happen! *Are you joining the fun again in 2022?*
[**THE**](http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC8EW40)
[**WHITTLESEA**](http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC8EW40)
[**EVENT 2022**](http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC8EW40)
*19th / 20th November 2022 – GC8EW40 – Whittlesea – Victoria*

Found 12:35 pm
Nice bonus cache not simple or quick to resolve the final coordinates required. But with relief the needed details were finally in hand. I enjoyed this lab cache the most of the local 3 in the area.

TFTC themd

Four of us decided to go caching today, so had to look for an area where we all had some to find. Williamstown it was! Manfred strutted, often leading the way, determined to sniff out a find. It’s a pity we did mostly lab caches today! Mind you, it was so busy, that it would have been difficult to find too many physical caches undetected!

We *may* have not collected clues at the first two stages of this one, but thanks to google for one, and revisiting another, we quickly made up for our error. Next up, was stage 1. Here I worked on the numbers we had, while the boys searched. Once I’d finished calculating what we had, I headed to the information signs and soon found where we needed to head to find the information needed here! Boys! Can’t leave them to find a grave in a graveyard!

Thanks for the cache themd, found after an enjoyable walk doing the labs.

I did the Adlabs a little while ago, but didn't have time to complete the bonus. Plus I missed one of the pieces of information that I needed. So today, while in the area, I found the information I needed, then headed to Wpt1. Found the Person Passed's info, did my calculations, then headed to GZ for a quick find.

Thanks to themd for the adlabs and the bonus.

Out late night caching with Donutholes, SimsFamily and Dromaniax to tick off a few AL and caches in between from Williamtown to Mordialloc.

Log signed and replaced as found.

Thanks for the Bonus Cache
#6,912

We had planned a late night caching trip that was expected to go into early morning with Donutholes, Dromaniax and AusFox; The plans were to start in the Williamstown area and grab the Lab caches that we were yet to find there.
This one was quite challenging in the dark but with persistence we were able to prevail.

Thank you themd for the Lab Series and Bonus

It was decided that AusFox, Sims_family and Dromaniax would do an all nighter and smash out a bunch of Adlabs, trads and some solved mysteries.

It took as us a l while to find WP1 due to being pitch black and using 1 head torch and a couple of phone torches. One we found what we were looking for, the math was worked out quicker than you can say " Bob's your uncle"

Thanks for the cache and the tour around Williamstown.

The call went out who wanted to go caching tonight. Four of us answered the call. Sims_family was our chauffeur in the Ginga Ninja and Ausfox, and Donutholes completed the team.

The aim was to complete a few Adventure Labs and pick up any exciting or nearby caches in a trip that went from Williamstown to Mordialloc and back again.

Having just completed another Adventure Lab and successfully securing the FTF, we retraced our steps to achieve this Adventure Lab and made the calculations to find this cache.

It took us a little while to find the required information in the Cemetery, but it was very dark.

Once we had the information, we made our way to GZ and soon had this cache in hand.

Thank you for the Adventure Lab and Bonus cache themd.

We really enjoyed the different places this A/L took us today. I had a bit of a brain fade trying to work out the final until I realised there was another location to visit. All went smoothly once we collected the missing piece.
This was an interesting and challenging A/L which we really enjoyed. A favourite from us.
Thanks for adding to an enjoyable day out.

Found, the maths tested the brain a bit first thing on a Sunday morning

Found at 13:25
In town to drop off my son this morning and this lab was the focus, as well as the rest of the other caches on the way. It took me longer than I expected but I enjoyed the tour.
Thanks themd for the cache

I enjoyed the adventure lab as I love walking around this historic area. I gathered the clues and headed off to find the bonus. When I got to the cemetery I doubted that I would be able to find the grave, but a couple of photos and some logic narrowed the search area. I was glad when the right grave was located, and from then on it was plain sailing.

Another nice Melbourne afternoon so i headed onto Williamstown after work as I'm close by to find a cache or 2.
Nice and quiet in Willy today as maybe the cool breeze is keeping people indoors.
I havent been down this way for awhile and it is good to see a couple more caches to find and a Lab as well.
After finding the trad I concentrated on doing the Adventure Lab which took me to a couple of places that I haven’t been to before.
Got all the clues and headed off to the first waypoint for this one.
I was a bit confused at first but after using uncle google I found a picture of the headstone and used the background of the photo to get a better idea.
Soon came across both headstones and got the final clue.
Sat down and did the maths and I came up with a plausible set of coords and off I went.
Soon located the cache and added my name to the log.

Thanks themd TFTC

Nice to come back to this cemetery on a lovely day!

Enjoyed this one. Nice collecting clues and locations.

Thanks to themd for the placement, fun and adventure.

Finished off the lab last time we were in the area for orienteering but ran out of time to get to the cache.
Time marches on and here we are back in the neighborhood again.
Found the cache easily and logged.
TFTC

Find number 9626 at 11:16:55 am on Tuesday the 13 July 2021
Left Croydon in the wee hours to drop the geovehicle of for a service in Bundoora and grabbed the loan car and headed south west to grab some lab adventure caches
Enjoyed my journey around Williamstown, a tiny bit windy but no rain. Some of the clues were a little bit challenging but I managed to sort them all out
**Thanks for creating the lab caches and for placing this bonus cache themd**

---
We’re all going to Wangaratta to participate in Victoria’s next Mega!
*Are you coming to join in the fun?*
[**The Wangaratta Event 2021**](https://coord.info/GC8EW45)
*13th & 14th November 2021 - GC8EW45 - Wangaratta - Victoria*

Thanks to themd for this historical tour of Williamstown.
We do enjoy visiting this town by the sea and today was a cold and blowy visit, you really need to see a town in all weather to appreciate the different colours and senses.
We enjoyed the various waypoints of the Adventure Lab and found our way to the listed co-ordinates of the bonus with some numbers ready.
Well we ended up spending quite a while here searching for the required spot.\
We were surprised by where we ended up finding the graves.

A trip to GZ and a find.

Thanks for this bonus and Adventure Lab.

Completed AL last Nov.
Today is good time to come back Williamstown.
Love these suburb.
Heading to waterfront for lunch.
Thanks

I'd done the prerequisites for this one back when the weather was, shall we say, a tad warmer that it is at this time of year. Today though it was pleasant enough to mosie on over here again to see if I could put a smiley in the ledger and sure enough, once at GZ I was soon signing the log at 15:35 after extracting it from its geo-familiar hiding spot.

A very nice little journey around the old home town is certainly worth a fave point as far as I'm concerned.

TNLNSL. Thanks themd.

Decided today was the day to drop back and leave my name in the log after completing the AL a few weeks back. Worked out the clues at home and after grabbing the prerequisite coffee - made my way to GZ where logbook was signed and replaced as found.
**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.*
Thanks for the cache themd. Appreciate your efforts.
- P

*Took*: Nothing
*Left*: Nothing

Cache on!
**#16646**

I completed the ad lab ages ago, but this wasn’t published at the time, a quick find.

Thanks themd for History of Williamstown - Bonus Lab Cache

#1

WoW, did this with hardly any issues. Liked the Adventure & only had one tiny hiccup with the calculations. Enjoyed this one. TFTC!

A couple of us had planned to meet up but unfortunately, one was unable to make it. A nice drive to Williamstown and a few caches were found in the area. Thanks for this bonus cache and the tour. Very interesting.

Today my backyard is starting to change from weed wonderland to a stone courtyard. I needed to get out of the house so I wouldn't be a nuisance. A plan was organised but a last minute cancellation meant a change of plan. So we met at Williamstown and did this Adventure lab. We drove to all but 1 location.
Considering it was supposed to rain, we were pretty lucky. The weather was perfect.
I enjoyed Williamstown. Great housing in this area and the roads are very narrow in places. Lots of quirks.
Thanks for the little tour. Tftc

Welll this was different. Got to WP1 and found that - I wasn't at WP1! In the end I paf'd and found my way there. Found the figure, did the math, and went and found the cache.

I had been out this way on the bike several weeks ago and picked up the lab caches and the required info for this bonus. I was back in the area today umpiring at Williamstown Cricket Club and was running a little early so I was able to swing by here first. A few other cars were parked nearby so I tried to be as subtle as I could. Soon worked out where it was likely to be and made a swift retrieval. Took nothing, left nothing, signed log and visited some trackables. Thanks for the Adventure Lab caches and for this physical bonus cache themd.

Well, this one gave me the runaround, but as an old willy boy, the emphasis being on the "old", running around willy is an OK activity.
During my lifetime I have worked about 30 years in laboratory's, producing everything from synthetic rubber to explosives,. but I still cannot, for the life of me, see why this type of cache is called a lab cache. Nethertheless, this experiment gives you get a favourite from muddy.

16:07
We knew Williamstown was integral to early development in Victoria, the Ad Lab brought it all into perspective.
After completing the fantastic History of Williamstown Ad Lab, we soon found the required resting place, then the collation of information began, a securely hidden cache was soon in hand. FP awarded for a masterly constructed AL and accompanying Bonus cache.

**PS:** The name in the Botanic Gardens is Alfred, not Albert.

Our thanks to 'themd (F=3331 H=8)' for adding this cache to the geo-gameboard.
27806

*This log composed and published using Geocaching Swiss Army Knife (GSAK).*

Found by Mary and David at 13:46. We did these Labs back in early June, and enjoyed a superb tour of Historic Williamstown. Managed FTF too. However, we were too early for this bonus, so made the effort to go there today on our way past to visit friends. You know how Mary loves these places. What history abounds here in many of the inscriptions. We wandered about near the posted coordinates for quite a while without finding Owen. We than consulted an online source (not Google), and soon found Owen some 120m away along with his special neighbour. Some quick calculations and then we were at GZ with the cache in hand. Simply the best, and a FP of course. Our thanks to themd.

TFTC. We had being visiting one daughters in Wheelers Hill. We have another daughter in Newport. Travelling to Newport we detoured to complete the Adventure Lab. I(Hans) spent a lot of time in Williamstown as my father was a boat builder first next to where the RVMYC is located and then opposite Williamstown Station. Both of us have spent a lot of time in Williamstown but it was a pleasure to tour the area once more before heading home to Maryborough. We collected all the information and luckily our arithmetic was correct.

woops almost forgot to log this one, had a great weekend away down Geelong and this one found on the way home. been to this area so many times over the years caching.

Thanks themd for the Lab and the cache.

Omegaman1971
The Omega Empire
@ 7021 finds
Great way to finish a weekend away caching. All the years I have lived in Melbourne I have never been to Williamstown, what a beautiful spot.
Cheers for bringing me here.

This Bonus cache had us going for a bit, but we eventually got our head around what was necessary and all the information was collected as we toured Williamstown on this lovely spring afternoon, enjoying all the history it has to offer.
Once we gathered the final clue we were able to do the easy maths using my thorough note taking lol and coming up with what we hoped was the correct final. We were not certain at first but after making our way there we just knew we were at the correct location especially as the hint made good sense. Very muggly we waited until the coast was clear and then we made the find and added our name to the logbook.
Thanks themd for a great tour of Williamstown and for the placement of this bonus cache.
A favourite point added.

Touring Williamstown today we made this find with some help from the tritonz.
Cheers.

Find #17,495. Robmc and I completed the AdLab back on the 30th of June but at that stage the Bonus Cache had not been published. By the time it was I was back in Beechworth so Rob went and got FTF.

I am finally back in Melbourne for a few days so this was on the list to complete. We and the doggies headed off as the weather was looking mighty threatening. We were surprised to see a large gang of yellow tailed black cockatoos resting and eating in one of the trees near the entrance. They weren't too concerned about us.

Off I went to find Owen Owens and the required information and after a wander through this very interesting old cemetery we headed back to the car where I punched in my new numbers and off to GZ we went.

Man, what a heavy duty magnet that is. Not made for weak older ladies that is for sure but I wrestled it free eventually and added my name to the log book. I was hoping I might have got 3rd after all these months but it seems I have to make do with 5th place.

Thanks for the adventure and the cache.

What a fun day I had with the adventure lab cache and this bonus cache...it’s the first Lab I’ve completed with an attached bonus cache...and what a runaround it gave me...after completing the Lab..I pedalled to the area and arrived at the posted coordinates. I searched all four corners of the junction and realised I was looking in the wrong place for the man in question.
What to do , what to do?...how would I go about finding the correct area.
After googling and downloading an app...I was able to find the resting place.
I did the calculations and took off to GZ....only to be thwarted there...couldn’t find anything.
After messaging the friendly CO who pointed me in the right direction...the treasure was found.
Strange thing was, my coords were correct but my gps still had me 20 metres away.
Thanks so much to themd for this fun day and giving my brain a good workout
A favourite point for the whole experience and being so helpful.
Cheers!

Found by The Empire + H
We did the adventure back before the last lockdown, today we finished the History of Williamstown experience! We needed to check out one of the waypoints from last time again, then headed to the cemetery. We got to the gravesite waypoint, worked out a final location then looked and looked for the cache... nothing. I widened my search area and checked out the hint, quickly found after that. Favourite point added for the complete experience, thanks for the cache themd.
- M

###Published under revised Covid-19 restrictions.###
##Please remember that Covid-19 is a highly contagious and infectious disease and from a Geocaching perspective, local laws/requirements should be complied with and the use of hand sanitizer is recommended.##

Really liked the Adventure Lab cache, and this Bonus cache just topped it off.
We wondered why this location wasn't in the Lab cache, and now we know

Fortunately, I have been here before and had an idea where Owen was situated. The mention of the mass grave just confirmed it.
Collected my information, and sat on someone nearby to do my calculations.
Soon at GZ, and found an empty logbook - Yahoo!

Thanks, Robmc.