And so
we come to the end of our journey, which started 100 years ago ago and ended in 2013!
Why have I produced this work?
I have
been interested in the Warburton district for many decades!
I
was introduced to the town in September 1951 on a school-holiday day bus trip arranged by the YMCA here in
Melbourne, which was one of many excursions available to boys aged 10 to 13, who were members of the YMCA Boys’ Club.
'
We
were taken to the summit of snow-covered Mt Donna Buang, climbed the Lookout Tower, built a snowman, and then had some free
time back in the town before the drive back to Melbourne.
I
had just bought a Kodak 620 Box Brownie Camera, and the very first photos I took at Warburton were on that camera, which is
still in good working order, some 62 years later!
It
was to be six years later, in 1957, before I visited Warburton again. By that time, I was working in the PMG’s Dept
as a Trainee Technician, and with a mate I went to Warby by train and spent the day there wandering around the town and the
River.
In
1959 I got my driver's licence and bought a car, a 1948 Ford Anglia Tourer and in 1960 I took my family to Warby, on the way
through to a trip to the Upper Yarra Reservoir.
In
the mid-1960s I was involved in a Bushwalking Club and did some day hikes to the Warby region.
I
never returned to Warby until 2005, when I completed a series of shorter hikes which included Mt Boobyalla, Mt Donna Buang,
Mt Victoria, Ben Cairn, Mt Littlejoe and the Big Pat’s Creek region.
In
mid-2006, the first sector of the O’Shannassy Aqueduct Trail was opened, and in the years until the present I completed
most of the Trail.
In
the years since the early 2000s, I have travelled extensively throughout the Yarra Ranges National Park.
During
my travels in the Warby area, I had come across artefacts and remains of early sawmilling activity and water systems, and
this present Project brings together many heritage, contemporary maps and drawings, with personal photographs and videos,
depicting the evolution and development of the O'Shannassy System.
During
2012, I made many trips to Warburton, researching the O'Dhannassy System, original mill sites, tramway alignments and
logging inclines, identifying their locations, and what is there now! Several of the small concrete timber tramway bridges
across the O’Shannassy Aqueduct survive, which can be inspected along the O’Shannassy Aqueduct Trail.
Enjoy
your journey in time and space as you wander along the OShannassy Aqueduct Trail!
Comments and feedback from readers would be appreciated!
Bob
Padula
January
2013
Mont Albert, Melbourne
