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It's the Pits!

menu_book picture_as_pdf bookPaul Millgate Vince Murtagh Bushwalk Australia New South Wales Brisbane Waters NP
Issue_21_February_2017-24

The Pit

We’ve re-discovered the long-lost Pindar brother’s Ochre Pit on our walk into the Brisbane Waters National Park on Tuesday, 25 October 2016. We had very little information as to its exact location nor what an abandoned Ochre Mining Pit would now look like after 100 years.

It's the Pits!

Paul Millgate and Vince Murtagh

24 | BWA February 2017


The out of print Dunphy sketch map of the Brisbane Waters National Park area shows that on a spur a little west of Pindar Cave, there was “ML4”, a mining lease for an old ochre mine”. The Ochre Pit was reportedly mined by the Pindar brothers before their internment, as possible enemy aliens at the start of World War One. Research suggests that after WWI the Pindar brothers never returned to the area to resume mining at the site. Ochre is an earth pigment of iron oxide, used in those days for decorative purposes by both the Aboriginals and early NSW settlers. There are only 17 known Aboriginal ochre pits in NSW.

The Ochre Pit was then accidentally sighted back in 1983 by a party of walkers from the Sydney Bushwalking Club (SBW). The SBW October1983 magazine details that walk. The magazine article notes that the Pit was dug into the side of a spur and measured approximately “20 metres by 4 metres” and that there was also a "wrought iron core extractor" nearby as well as evidence of fencing a bit further west.

The motivation to re-find for the Ochre Pit came from Jim Smith, Phil Gough and Vince Murtagh. An initial attempt by the latter two, with friends, was aborted because of dense untracked scrub on both the ridges and gullies near Pindar Cave, and no water beyond the cave.

Our October 2016 exploratory walk’s aim was to locate the Pit again. Would it be still in its original undisturbed condition? Our expectation was that it would be now heavily overgrown and entombed in thick scrub!

Our party was just three walkers, members of both the Catholic Bushwalking Club (CBC) and National Parks Association (NPA) comprising Paul and Jane Millgate and Vince Murtagh. We took a scenic train trip to Wondabyne railway station, north of Sydney and then walked to Pindar Cave, about two hours of walking from Wondabyne on a well-formed track.

Immediately after we left Pindar Cave we encountered the dreaded dense Pindar scrub. There were no paths to follow where we were heading as we bush bashed our way through the untracked scrub. It was hot, tiring and thirsty work.

Our aim over the next two days was to explore each of the seven potential spurs, searching until we found the Ochre Pit. We navigated our way to our first targeted spur, selected by Paul after a close reading of the old SBW article. Luckily, within minutes of exploring that particular spur, we noticed a strange, densely overgrown feature.

Paul Millgate alongside the core extractor after they have brushed all the leaf litter away to see exactly how long it wasJane Millgate

The Ochre Pit was ... accidentally sighted back in 1983 ...

BWA February 2017 | 25


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This strange feature appeared to be the “20 metres by 4 metres” sized pit as per the SBW 1983 report! Albeit very overgrown with trees and full of many years of leaf and branch debris but how to be sure?

The 1983 SBW article referred to a “wrought iron core extractor which could extend to 6 metres”, supposedly near the site. We looked but we couldn't find it. Then something underfoot felt wrong. Looking down, there was the core extractor lying under our feet!! Covered in decades of leaf mulch, barely discernible and rusting, just as it had been left abandoned back in 1914!

Well, we were elated! We had found the Ochre Pit! Close by we found the Pit’s tailings and there was evidence of another large pit to the west of the main pit. We didn't see however, any evidence of the fencing mentioned in the 1983 SBW article. During our next trips to the site we will explore around it a lot more.

Back at our Pindar Cave base camp, the cool dripping water was refreshing nectar. It was a great day out! We felt a sense of achievement and elation. The re-discovery of the Ochre Pit was a closure for those who had inspired us to extend ourselves and find another dimension to the Pindar area.

We joked and enjoyed a leisurely dinner and looked forward to the easy walk out the next morning.

The Ochre Pit is a site well worth preserving. We left it undisturbed so that those who also “re-discover” it can enjoy its pristine state. The actual Ochre Pit location is not exactly where the 1983 SBW article stated. We advised NPWS of its exact GPS location should they wish to follow up.

ReferencesMaps: Gunderman 1:25,000; Dunphy sketch Brisbane Water NP Kariong sectionSydney Bush Walkers (SBW) article October 1983. (Frank Woodgate)Catholic Bushwalking Club (CBC) member Philip Gough - personal communication

Patonga-Kariong Section of Proposed Hawkesbury River National ParkMyles Dunphy sketch map circa 1954

26 | BWA February 2017