Below is a selection of posts written by Valerie Lhuede (1923-2024), the former owner of most of Yerranderie. These were published on her former website, yerranderie.com, over the years. They demonstrate her great vision, the challenges the town faced, and then gradual acceptance of the need to pass Yerranderie on to other caretakers.
My Vision
My ambition for Yerranderie is that it should be known as one of the uniquely beautiful and special places of the world. It has a good start. It is situated on an old volcano, bordering the rugged Kanangra/Boyd Wilderness, already listed as World Heritage. The National Trust and the Heritage Commission have classified the mines as a Historic Silver Mining Area. It is a private wildlife sanctuary, with mobs of marsupials.
In 1959, all residents had to leave because access through the Burragorang Valley was cut with the building of the Warragamba Dam and the creation of huge Lake Burragorang. Now it is isolated, serene, and scenically spectacular – just what the city-weary traveller needs. Accommodation is basic but comfortable. It is not a five star resort. Emphasis is on self-help but whatever your outdoor desires may be, Yerranderie will provide. Caretakers take care of you in Private Town and ensure you enjoy your rest and recreation.
So, history buffs, adventure freaks, outdoor enthusiasts, eco-tourists, Yerranderie is for you. Special interest groups such as educationalists, social clubs, flora and fauna experts, geology gurus, nature lovers, bushwalkers, small conferencees (who want to get away from it all) come to Yerranderie. (Or if you are just a few friends or a family, you will enjoy the peace of the mountains.) Wake to the birdcalls of the lyrebirds and magpie. If you are energetic, you can climb the Peak before breakfast, walk to the waterholes for a picnic lunch, fossick on the mines, take a tour, learn the stories and. then watch the pink hour when sunset turns the blue mountain backdrop of the Yerranderie Amphitheatre to gold, pink and then mauve. If you are a spiritual or poetic type, you will be inspired. The animals and birds are magical as evening draws on. Then you will sleep the sleep of the super-satisfied.
Welcome to Yerranderie
The artificial isolation of Yerranderie, caused by the construction of Warragamba Dam, is a very mixed blessing. It gives us the peace and solitude that many people desire. The opposite side of the coin is that although we are so close to Sydney, (100K in a straight line from the GPO), the route for conventional cars is via Oberon and takes a good 5 hours from the centre of Sydney. The problem is that you cannot get there in a straight line unless you fly, which you can do from Camden as we have a tiny private airstrip. There are 4W/D tracks through Wombeyan and Jenolan Caves.
Our “Ghost Town” is the “Closest Outback to Sydney”. This is literally true. We have all the history of a pioneer silver-lead mining area and are classified by the National Trust and Heritage Commission as part of Australia’s National Estate.
Yerranderie was mined from the turn of the century and is set in a truly beautiful volcanic area adjacent to the most rugged part of the Blue Mountains – the Kanangra-Boyd Wilderness Area. In addition, there is the extraordinarily scenic Lake Burragorang, which the driving public does not see, it being protected by the Sydney Catchment Authority. However, 10 times a year the National Parks and Wildlife Service conducts a tour group of 4 W/D’s through the very picturesque prohibited area. They are allowed to travel from The Oaks to Yerranderie, and return, under escort. Otherwise, the route is via the historic Oberon/Colong Stock Route, a 104K trip from Oberon. This is a winding mountain road with glimpses of the Wilderness to the north but strangely the road does not have any steep grades. It does have many twists and turns as it winds its way back towards Sydney over the Great Divide. The first half of the road is bitumen in pine forest country, and then it becomes a mountain dirt track with some creek crossings. Finally, it completes a spiral along the rim of the ancient Yerranderie Volcano, source of the rich silver-lead-copper-zinc-iron and a little bit of gold, which was won from 1891 till 1930 when the mines succumbed to the doldrums of the Great Depression.
In today’s Yerranderie, Private town has been restored and we have a small museum in the old shops near the camping area. The Post Office is now a lodge, accommodating 30 people in comfortable surroundings. Emphasis is on friendly service but there are no frills. Slippery Norris’ Cottage has 6 beds and the Bank Room 3. The caretaker advises visitors about the area, which is a private sanctuary. Kangaroos and wallabies graze on the village green. Goannas and wombats share the campsites with the visitors. You may hear a lyrebird, see a bowerbird and feed the king parrots and mountain lowries. They are tame enough to eat from your hand.
We conduct tours through the Museum, the Native Art Gallery in the restored Bakehouse and Mrs Barnes’ Boarding House – an original slab hut with furniture and artefacts of the period.
Yerranderie is full of history and I am writing a book on our first explorer, Ensign Luis Barrallier, a Frenchman, who tried to cross the Blue Mountains in 1802, very early in our white history. Barrallier wrote a journal describing the local Gun-dun-gurra Aborigines. The last of their tribe was William Russell or Werriberri who, with his friend, Billy King, found silver in Yerranderie in 1871. Their myths and legends are recorded and we have a collection of photographs from the early mining days.
The Peak dominates the town and the walk to its summit is a challenge for adventurous climbers. There are mines to fossick on and bushwalks to suit all grades. Don’t forget to bring your camera, binoculars and walking boots. We’d love you to visit us with your family, social or small convention group. Please book first. See you soon.
News Update September 2005
Dear Friends of Yerranderie
There is much to tell you of the last year’s doings.
WEATHER – No, the drought is not over, (remember we are in the non-catchment area) but we have had an inch of rain in the last two weeks (September 1 to September 14) so the green grass is back again, and the blossom is out for spring. I hope it is a good omen.
THE TELSTRA TOWER – The best news is that Telstra has (after ten years’ gestation) erected the tower, so Yerranderie will enter the twenty-first century at last! We must congratulate Telstra for its really mammoth effort in erecting the tower. It is a light and lacy structure set against The Peak and made almost invisible by a screen of trees. The cables are underground. This has been a difficult task as the rocks in Yerranderie are extremely hard and the trenchers have struck them in many places, unfortunately producing no silver! Indeed it is costing a small fortune by machinery having to be imported from Melbourne, while some of the linesmen and technicians come from Queensland. Some of the loose, excess boulders were used to shore up the north-western end of the airstrip – thank you, Telstra.
MINE REHABILITATION – There has been a wonderful spirit of co-operation amongst all the workers of both Telstra and the Department of Mineral Resources (now the Department of Primary Industry). While working on the mine rehabilitation, the Department needed soil for restoration. Soil is at a premium in Yerranderie so they cleaned out the dam above Private Town, getting rid of the reeds which had been choking it, making the dam much bigger and thus were able to use the recovered soil.
NEW BLOOD – There are several new property owners in both Government Town and Quigtown. Welcome to you all. Peter Stratton of Quigtown had an idea that there should be a Memorial to the soldiers of both World Wars. Again, the Department of Mineral Resources came to the party and supplied a large rock upon which we hope to erect a plaque.
LAND CARE – Over the past few years, the Land Care Group, under the auspices of the Wollondilly Shire Council, has worked solidly towards eradicating Berberis and other noxious weeds in Yerranderie. Also, through John Fry a former caretaker of Private Town, a group of Australian Conservation Volunteers stayed at the Post Office Lodge in September and helped with the project and also continued their ongoing work on The Peak Track. Many thanks to these volunteers, a great many of whom come from overseas.
VAL’S BOOK – My book on Barrallier and the early Cartographers is, after twenty years, nearly finished. I went to Bathurst last week to arrange for a map of the adjacent World Heritage Area to be drawn up. This will show the “Ghosts Mountains”, named after Barrallier’s guides and will be included in the book. Don’t hold your breath but I am up to the final proof reading.
YERRANDERIE’S FUTURE – At the age of 82, I am still not sure what will happen to Yerranderie when I am gone. But I am now seriously trying to organise its future before I shuffle off. I would like it to go to a University or other organisation for Environmental Education and Resources. If anyone has any brilliant ideas, please let me know.
THE CARETAKERS OF YERRANDERIE – Martyn Jones and I have just done a trip north distributing our leaflets and letting the Tourist Information Offices know about our Yerranderie Village Project. Please tell your friends to look at our website and, of course, come and visit us. The road is better these days and there is more bitumen on the Taralga Road.
We hope to see you soon – Cheers from Val
News update September 2006
Dear Members and friends of Yerranderie,
Re: date of A.G.M.
The last newsletter gave the proposed date of the A.G.M. as Sunday the 8th October 2006. We were thinking that this was the long weekend-but now discover it is 1st October. We have decided to leave the 8th as the A.G.M. date but realise there may not be a quorum. If not, the A.G.M. will be postponed to later in the year.
NEWS: YERRANDERIE HISTORIC SITE?
There is much to tell you. At present through Mr. Bob Debus, Minister for the Environment, the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute has been in touch with Val Lhuedé regarding her donating Tonalli’s land to the D.E.C. (Department of Environment and Conservation). Then there would be the possibility of Yerranderie becoming the future Resource and Visitors Centre for the B.M.W.H.I. (Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute). It is proposed that Yerranderie, both Tonalli’s (Val’s) private land and the land owned by the National Parks/ Catchment Authority in Yerranderie be given the title of “Historic Site” (or similar “Heritage Area”) and the whole added to the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, presently adjoining it. If you have any ideas about such a proposal and an appropriate name – let me know.
Should the idea be implemented Val would be making a donation worth over one million dollars to the State government. In return the government through the B.M.W.H.I. would agree to look after the Historic Site and Conservation Area in perpetuity. While negotiations are going on such other institutions as the Australian Catholic University and Newington College have expressed interest.
If the B.M.W.H.I. takes on the administration these and other educational and conservation bodies could also be involved and use the site for their own purposes.
The B.M.W.H.I. is still young and is run by Dr. John Merson. He has ideas which are in line with Val’s own for Yerranderie’s future, so she is hopeful the proposal will proceed.
THE BOOK “YERRANDERIE IS MY DREAMING”
Val has been writing a book “Yerranderie is my Dreaming” for many years. It does seem to be getting closer to finality!
It is the story of Ensign Francis Luis Barrallier and his French friends from the Baudin/Peron expedition of 1802. it is profusely illustrated in colour with maps and the pictures of the day, notably those of William Bradley and Nicolas-Martin Petit.
It imagines the first contact the Burragorang aborigines had with white people – from their own point of view.
It will be 344 pages long but as it is not printed yet the price is not known.
It will be a limited edition of 1000 copies.
If you are interested in obtaining a copy please let Val know 02 99298350 or Box 420 P.O. MILSON’S POINT 1565
Cheers,
Val
News Update December 2006
Season’s Greetings from Yerranderie and Val.
The weather:
The past year has been a difficult one. So far our rainfall has been about half the old average and it doesn’t look as though it is going to get much better. Bushfires on Lacey’s Tableland (the high wilderness area north of Yerranderie) attracted up to fourteen helicopters at a time buzzing in and out of the airstrip. ‘Elvis’ dipped into Lake Burragorang and lifted a tonne of water at a time to pour on the inferno. The flames began to fall into the Tonalli River but luckily the wind changed and therefore the fire did not cross to the Yerranderie side. But everything is dry, dry, dry. Thanks to the fire-fighters, there is now a bulldozed firebreak around most of the area, but alas no back burn was possible. So we are still vulnerable to lightning strikes. We did get rain last December and January without which we would be in dire straits indeed. Keep saying your prayers and keep your fingers crossed.
The politics and the future:
Early in the year I asked Bob Debus, our Minister for the Environment for help in finding a way of ensuring Yerranderie’s future when I fall off the twig. I had offered Tonalli P/L as a donation to the Australian Catholic University. Alas they felt the Yerranderie Project would be too costly for them to maintain. Mr Debus was of the opinion that National Parks and Wildlife should take it over. Bob Conroy, from the Department of Environment and Conservation contacted me and has offered to make it a Historic Site under section 6 of the NP&WL Act, and administer it under the auspices of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute. Dr John Merson is the Executive Director, but there appears to be no actual legal or formal connection between the two as far as I can see. Although I am willing to donate Private Town and Environs to a suitable group, I am not so happy at the thought that the NP&WLS might eventually take it over. My fear is the policy of the Service in allowing donations to fall to pieces on the grounds that the Government of the day does not have enough money to keep them going or, alternately, that the ‘Green Lobby’ want to return them to ‘Wilderness’. So I am now also considering an approach by Newington College. This school is prepared to establish a Trust for the educational use of the area. I have also had other offers and will keep you posted.
The Book – Yerranderie is my Dreaming:
I had hoped to have my book printed this year – 2006 – but had not realised what a task I had taken on. However, the manuscript has now been sent to the graphic artist and will, I hope, proceed quickly to the publisher. I still don’t know how much it will cost but if anyone is interested perhaps they could let me know and I will put them on the list. It will be 344 pages long, soft cover and a limited edition of 1000 copies. The story is that of the explorations of the French, Barrallier in particular, and is illustrated with original pictures in colour of our early Aborigines, particularly those of Yerran and Derri by Nicolas Martin Petit of 1802.
Happy Christmas to all and better weather in the New Year from Val.
News Update June 2007
100 years marks some memorable events in the history of Yerranderie.
Imagine the year 1907 – silver has just been discovered and the environment is pock marked with mine dumps. Harold Clyde Manning has prepared a plan of the subdivision of his land for a township. Then out of the blue the Government steps in and resumes the area for a Government Mining Town to a depth of 50 feet hence Government Town.
Joseph Quig has subdivided his land and sold it at auction sale, the present Quig Town.
Harold is taking the Government to law to get his subdivision back again. Meanwhile he has given permission to local businessmen to build on his Private land – hence Private Town.
The rudimentary buildings are beginning to present a more modern face to the world. The building to be known as the Post Office was built of Baltic pine. The present Lodge is now 100 years old. The Catholic Church had its foundation stone laid in 1907. The population climbed towards the 2000 mark. With some of the richest silver ore in Australia being mined at Yerranderie and carted by horse team to Camden and from there by train to the smelters of Broken Hill Proprietary at Newcastle and Wollongong Yerranderie had become a boom town.
Dear Friends
Since the last bulletin much has happened in Yerranderie.
No, I haven’t given it to National Parks nor have I decided yet where it should go. As you may remember when I approached Mr Debus for help I told him I wished to have a trust established for the future administration of Yerranderie. I still have that hope. The Department of the Environment and Newington College are both contenders.
Meanwhile, I have been concentrating hard on the completion of my book “Yerranderie is My Dreaming, and, guess what. It is finally finished.
Val
News update July 2007
After many days, I am able to let you know that my book, ‘YERRANDERIE IS MY DREAMING’ will be available for sale in August. In fact the first 100 copies arrived in time for my 84th birthday on July 1st. For this to happen, they were rushed out by air from Singapore. They arrived only 4 days before the party, and were a great success.
All were sold. We are now awaiting the next 900, which will be coming by sea. They are worth waiting for. YIMD is a limited edition, numbered and signed by the author, so it is advisable to get your order in now. (Form herewith).
As you can see from the flyer, which is a facsimile of the front and inside covers, it is a beautifully presented book. It has illustrations in colour and black and white. My great niece, Kristen Lhuedé, is a graphic artist of note and I think you will agree she has done a great job in putting together the material I have gathered over the years. Another niece, Margaret, and her husband, Philip Salem, escorted me to France twenty years ago to obtain permission to reproduce the pictures of Nicolas-Martin Petit and Charles-Alexandre Lesueur of the Baudin-Péron Expedition sent out by Napoleon in 1800. The original sketches of the Aborigines were executed in Sydney in 1802 and some have never been published here before. It is quite a coup to be allowed to reproduce them 200 years later with the Barrallier story.
I think I can say there is no similar or comparable book on the market.
I have written it with our immigrant population in mind. Because most did not learn any Australian history at school, they will find YIMD an easy way to assimilate the drama of the first fifty years of the colony, without any dry and dull text books.
I have woven together the lives of the original owners of our land with those of the early navigators who came to explore and exploit. Ensign Francis Luis Barrallier, a Frenchman in the English Army, was able to see the three different points of view, that of the French, the English and the Aboriginal people he met. He touches them all.
Yerranderie friends will of course be especially interested.
May I wish you all – Good Reading!
Val
The peak of eco-tourism
THE PEAK OF ECO-TOURISM
The essential heart of Yerranderie lies in its great geological age and the events which have shaped its unique landscape.
Some 500 million years ago, warm seas covered the area leaving the corals which still form the Silurian limestone belt bordering the Yerranderie Amphitheatre to the West. The amphitheatre takes its circular shape of sandstone cliffs originally stemming from the Yerranderie Volcano, which boiled and bubbled for some 100 million years from 400 to 300 million years ago. It marked the Northern end of the Bindook Caldera, now the Bindook Porphyry.
The original volcano was not a high mountain but more like a huge pie. The piecrust eventually caved in leaving a rim. When the seas rushed in, they deposited layers of sedimentary rocks – sandstone, siltstone, mudstone and some with huge boulders rounded as they were tumbled in the huge seas. Today they are stuck together in composite bands. What we now call Bartlett’s Nose on The Peak is composed of one such band. Occasionally these boulders break off and tumble down into the Village. All of the above layers can be recognised on a walk up The Peak. Specimens can be seen and identified in our museum.
The crest of The Peak however owes its topping to an internal basalt dyke or plug, which was squeezed up through a crack in the earth formed some 80 million years ago when the tectonic plates of the earth’s crust split, allowing a vent for the deep molten lava to escape. It was pushed slowly upwards from the depths. The intense heat of the plug literally cooked the rocks it was passing through and so hardened them. The top gradually spilled out and so now forms olivine basalt top to The Peak. The hard core remained. As erosion took away the softer surrounding rocks, it left the hardened section still standing like a thin section of a large cake.
These discrete layers now attract diverse flora and fauna. The botanical specimens are attracted to the different minerals in the rocks. So on the climb up, the wildflowers are a feature. Further it is possible to find fossils specific to the geological ages of the seas of the period. Today’s animals make their homes in the topography they most enjoy. The birds and reptiles love the hollow logs of the various trees, agile macropods such as the Wallaroos jump from the high rocks. Wallabies, wombats and echidnas prefer the lower levels. The eagles build their nests on the top.
Our Gun-dun-gurra indigenous people had legends to explain why the flora and fauna existed in their homes there.
So a climb up The Peak is an exercise in geology, botany, palaeontology and ecology as well as a physiological one. After climbing the 800 meters above the town, one can enjoy the spectacular 360 degree view, which greets the climber at the top.
ARTICLE by VA LHUEDÉ 2008
Why I Bought a Ghost Town!
10/3/2010
Some of you may have seen Yerranderie Ghost Town at times on Television. Years ago, the ABC “Australian Story” featured my Private Town in the Southern Blue Mountains of N.S.W. Elsa Atkins of the National Trust, who introduced the documentary, remarked that she’d heard of many people who had restored a historic building but thought it a bit over the top for one woman to take on the task of restoring a whole town! That’s what I’ve done – well not quite the whole – there’s one building to go. The General Store is still a ruin.
40 years or so ago, for better or worse, I bought the Company which owned Yerranderie, a former silver mining town. It was derelict, deserted, and a true ghost town. No one had been there for 10 years. Was I mad to do so? Having travelled the world I considered Yerranderie ranked with the most scenic and legendary spots in other countries – and it was so close to Sydney’s burgeoning metropolis.
First, I restored the old Post Office. This was a two storeyed timber framed building, now over a hundred years old. Mrs. Byrnes, the postmistress of the turn of the last Century, had conducted an Accommodation House there. So I remade it into a comfortable Lodge for 30 people to stay. As there were no convenience shops and no townsfolk, I asked visitors to bring their own food and linen – like an outback lodge. This still works well. There are six bedrooms with five bunks in each, great for families or groups. It was white-anted so the building was lifted up on car jacks and new concrete foundations constructed. As there was no such thing as electricity or water, I had to use solar power and devise a water system. The telephone had been cut off, so a message used to travel via the Flying Doctor Radio to Broken Hill and back again to get to Sydney – a journey of nearly 2000 kilometres. Believe it or not, the Sydney GPO is just 100 kilometres away in a straight line. We now have a solar-powered radiophone, thanks to Telstra.
Next to the Lodge I had to dig out of the ground the original Tailor’s Shop. It has been rebuilt as a tiny Art, Craft and Souvenir Shop. It did belong to Sam Meldrum, the tailor, in the early days. His name is again proudly painted on his old window. It has been reproduced from an old photograph. A suit of clothes, hand sewn, of beautiful wool barathea lined with silk he made and sold to “Slippery” Norris in 1926 for £6.10.00 and it had an extra pair of pants. “Slippery” gave it to me and it is displayed in Mrs. Barnes’ (not to be confused with Mrs. Byrnes’) Boarding House. This is an original slab dwelling – well over a century old, as was attested by the newspapers, which lined the wall. They were under 7 layers of wallpaper. Mrs Barnes’ house now has the role of folk museum with the furniture and furnishings of the former harsh bush life, pre First World War. Mrs Barnes’ boarders were the single miners who didn’t have womenfolk of their own and needed her kangaroo tail soup and rabbit stew, cooked on the cauldron over the open fire. These were the hectic days of the silver mines of the late 19th Century and through the boom of 1907 – 1914 when up to 2000 inhabitants made Yerranderie their home. I have coaxed back her May bush and Lilac and other heritage plants like Irises and Daffodils and edged the garden path with local bottles as they used to be. It is very picturesque and especially loved by artists and photographers.
“Slippery” Norris lived across the road. He was a miner and Gallipoli veteran. When he died a few years ago (at the age of 96), he asked his daughter to have his ashes buried under the Cypress tree in front of his cottage. So I complied with Norma’s wishes. I’ve restored his cottage and it is now a little haven for six visitors. They say his ghost may occasionally be seen on a moonlit night. It is rattling something. Could it be his false teeth? Before he died he most generously gave these to me and his suit of clothes, his bankbook, his union card and the lamp from his cottage. These are all on display in Mrs. Barnes’ Cottage. The false teeth, made in Yerranderie, are in the pocket of his suit. Please don’t ask me how he got his name, even his daughter doesn’t know! Of course the noises may not be his ghost, just an inquisitive possum looking for something to eat in the dead of night.
The Shops I have converted into a museum to house the wonderful collection of artefacts of the mining era. Former residents have donated photographs and found objects. Their children and grandchildren make a pilgrimage to see where grandpa and great-grandmother used to live. On display also is a bottle with a marble in the top, which has “Silver Mine Hotel – Yerranderie” moulded into the glass. It was given to me by Les Seibright, whose own grandma was the beloved licensee of the hotel. He has written poems about her. Another neighbour, who is reputed to have drunken the entire contents, donated a small rum keg to me. So he is still with us “in spirit” so to speak.
There are, of course, many reputed ghost sightings in the little ghost town. Each person sees his own. My own particular one is a sort of prevailing presence. He is William Russell or Werriberri, the last so-called “chief” or “King of Burragorang”. He was born in 1830 and died in 1914 as is shown on his most unusual gravestone in the Cawder Road Cemetery, near Camden. Shaped like the stump of a tree, it has a cross at the top and his totem emblem at the base. Werriberri and his mate Billy George found silver in Yerranderie in 1871. They were digging post-holes for a fence for the local landholder, Harold Clyde Manning. But it is a sorry fact that Werriberri was the last of the local Gundungurra Aborigines. That makes me sad. I sometimes feel I can see the figure of the old man keening for the vanished tribe of his mother’s people. For perhaps 40,000 years they were living and loving around these beautiful Southern Blue Mountains. I have written some of their history to bring their myths and legends back to life. Werriberri undoubtedly spurs me on when I give up.
I have restored a miner’s house for my caretakers and called it “Krubi” cottage, naming it after the very beautiful Dreamtime girl, “Krubi” whose form and red-feathered fur cloak were turned into the first waratah. I recount this legend and often dress the children up in a replica of the famous coat, which I made. The old Bakehouse has been rebuilt to form a gallery for my extensive collection of aboriginal art and artefacts. I have gathered these over the years from all around Australia and am pleased to see now a greater recognition of the artistic value of our indigenous peoples.
Yerranderie is set in a parklike environment and nestles at the base of an enormous peak, which dominates the area. Visitors climb it to take advantage of its 360º view of the Yerranderie Amphitheatre. I have painstakingly tried to eliminate the introduced weeds and native animals have returned. We foster the orphans and they become tame enough to approach. Wild Kangaroos, red necked wallabies, wombats and goannas do walk down our quiet streets in the evening.
Yerranderie’s original inhabitants left after the mines closed down in the Depression. The remainder were given the final blow in 1959 when the then Water Board flooded the Valley drowning the access road to Camden 45 miles away and taking away their services at the same time. Now the road trip from Camden via the original Aboriginal road, the Oberon/Colong Stock Route, necessitates crossing the Dividing Range twice and takes 5 instead of 1½ hours by the road around the lake. This is in a prohibited area, though there is a chance that the NP&WLS will again conduct some tours along the shore as it used to do. I have constructed a tiny airstrip and I fly from Camden in 15 or 20 minutes over the incredibly scenic Valley. Lake Burragorang should have 4 times the amount of water that is in Sydney Harbour though it was only half full at the end of last year. But the rains have come and I have never seen the wildflowers and trees look so well.
Environmentalists understand why I saw value in Yerranderie’s wonderful history and serenity. Surrounded by the National Park, the animals, birds and flora are all back again.
Eco-tourists from all over the world do seek us out because we are sitting on the rim of an ancient volcano, which erupted in the Devonian geological age. It put the silver-lead-copper-zinc and even a little gold in the rocks for the miners to dig up all those years later. I tell today’s tourists they are in Yerranderie because of what happened to the earth 400 million years ago!
When I bought the town, artificially isolated by the man-made lake, it was a decrepit and deserted place. Many said I was stupid, especially as the then Water Board and a local landholder tried to strangle all access. But now although the road to Oberon/Yerranderie is long, it is most scenic, as it follows the Aboriginal way and the pioneer stockmen’s route over the rugged mountains adjacent to Sydney’s nearest Wilderness Area. More scenic still is the way around the edge of Lake Burragorang, Sydney’s Water Supply. This follows the footsteps of Ensign Francis Luis Barrallier who, in 1802 adventured into the Blue Mountains as an ambassador for Governor King. I have written his story and published it as a beautifully illustrated book called, “Yerranderie is my dreaming”. His route should be honoured and followed.
It has indeed been worth the vast amounts of my money I’ve spent over the years. My labour is one of love and I am recompensed by the faces of city children, which light up as they see a baby joey or as the older visitors hear of the struggles of their pioneer parents and grandparents in this – or overseas visitors, as they realise that NSW has history to rival that of their own countries – the “Closest Outback to Sydney”.
Can you blame me for being so passionate about my tiny ghost town? The only permanent residents are my caretakers and myself (when I’ve flown in), but visitors swell the population as they arrive. Bushwalkers on their way from Katoomba to Mittagong find Yerranderie a convenient halfway stop on their mammoth 8-day walk. 4 wheel-drive enthusiasts, groups of geology and history buffs and especially their children love fossicking on the old mines or even in the streets when, after rain, there is a gleam or a glint of the crystals of silver-lead or iron pyrites (fool’s gold).
Yerranderie is the jewel in the crown of the World Heritage of the Blue Mountains and it is only 100 kilometres from the centre of Sydney. One quarter of the population of Australia is within 100 kilometres of Yerranderie. It deserves to be better known.
Valerie Lhuedé
Yerranderie’s Future August 2010
Dear Friends of Yerranderie and YEA Members, as I have indicated for some time I need to transfer the Yerranderie Village Project to some other authority because of my age – 87 years.
I have finally decided that the NSW Government will be here long after I’m gone, or at least I hope it will. So I am donating Yerranderie to the National Parks and Wildlife Minister with a list of my wishes for Yerranderie’s future.
My Company, Tonalli P/L is the owner of the property, some 1156 acres (468 hectares). In turn, I own all the shares in the Company, so it is virtually my own. Tonalli P/L has agreed to sell the land and buildings to the Minister for $975,000.00 – their own valuation. To make good my long-time intention of giving Yerranderie to whichever authority will look after it, I am donating a similar amount of money to the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife. This authority is a Philanthropic Institution and will award me some tax deductions, I hope. In turn, it will make sure that my wishes are complied with.
The contract with the Minister will have a covenant to ensure that the property will remain open to the Public as a Regional Park. My vision for its future as an Eco and Educational Project will be part of the contract. I wish Yerranderie to continue its present use in general terms.
The contract is now with my solicitors and will go on to the Crown Solicitor for approval.
I’ll keep you posted when it proceeds further.
Val Lhuedé
My Gift to NP&WL
11/3/2011
Dear Friends of Yerranderie
As you are aware, over the past fifty years or so, I have endeavoured to look after Yerranderie. It was a run-down ghost town in the 1960’s when Tonalli P/L began to restore the Post Office as accommodation for the geologists of Catawba International Inc. This Canadian Company was prospecting for silver and hopeful of resuscitating the old mines. But in 1965 the mining boom went bust. Tonalli P/L then had to decide what to do with its land and buildings.
I had bought shares from 1956 and thought the heritage value in the town, its geology, mining history and ecology would make it an ideal study centre. I felt its future was eco-tourism. To this end I bought all the shares in the Company and employed caretakers who shared my vision. I would like especially to express my thanks to them for their help over the years.
As I have become older, I realized I could no longer pursue the role of manager/custodian as I had before. So for the last ten years I have tried to find an organization to which I could donate Yerranderie. Mostly Universities and Schools evinced interest until they found out how much of my own money I have been putting into my Yerranderie project each year.
Eventually the Minister for National Parks and Wildlife Services agreed to take on the task if I donated it to their organization. After much discussion, this is to take place on 16th March 2011. So Private Town and four hundred and sixty seven hectares of Tonalli’s land will be transferred to the Service.
To mark the occasion, there will be a celebration at Easter time. In fact, there will also be another celebration on Easter Sunday. One hundred years ago, almost to the day, the St Senan’s Yerranderie Catholic Church was Blessed by Archbishop Kelly. We have an Ecumenical Mass each year, so this year after Mass at 10.00am, and a morning tea provided by Maria Pozza and the local ladies, there will also be a small ceremony at Private Town and a tour.
I understand that National Parks and Wildlife Services would like to invite those interested to a luncheon at the Court House in Government Town. So it will be quite an exciting weekend. Please let them know if you wish be present (Dee Campbell 02 63361972). I will try to keep you posted on the latest information.Yerranderie will become a Regional Park and be run on the same management lines as before. So you can still visit and indeed I hope there will be even greater recognition of the historic and ecological values of our town.
Val Lhuede
Val’s Christmas Message 2010
Friends of Yerranderie
I thought you might like an update on what is happening at Yerranderie.
After fifty or more years of love and care, old age has caught up with me. I am giving Private Town and Environs to the Minister for National Parks. It is to be designated a Regional Park and, after a long and involved process, the land and buildings will shortly be passed to him. It has been valued by the Parks own valuer at almost one million dollars, excluding the contents of the buildings, vehicles etc. As you know, I have always intended to donate Yerranderie to an Authority which would look after it when I pass on. My Company, Tonalli P/L is the owner of the property and is selling to the Minister, and I personally am donating the equivalent amount of money.
The contract between Tonalli and the Minister will have my vision for the future written into it. The lawyers have almost completed the manoeuvre. They even say it could be ready for handover before Christmas! However, I’m not holding my breath though realistically it might be wise to expect it in the New Year. Anyway, I would like to celebrate with you at Easter when there is also the possibility of marking the one hundred years since the consecration of the Catholic Church, and the Post Office will be 104 years old too. I hope you can all come to the party!
My next bit of news is that, in trying to clean out the buildings for the National Parks to move in, I have been looking at the Gun-dun-garra Gallery with new eyes. Not all of you will have visited the Aboriginal Gallery I created in the restored Bakehouse. Nor will you have realised that the contents of Art and Artefacts I have gathered from around Australia over the last sixty or so years are also now part of history. In documenting this Aboriginal picture of primitive art with my photos, I realise I have material for another book, more the coffee-table variety this time.
I know I’m nuts to contemplate such a venture at eighty-seven and a half, when I haven’t yet sold the entire last one. “Yerranderie is my Dreaming” is about our first explorer, Barrallier. But it is better to wear out than rust out! I thought I’d let you know that “Yerranderie is my Dreaming” is still available and, with a discount of say $10.00 would make a delightful present for someone you love. (See order form ). So far, in my eighty-eighth year I’m reasonably OK health-wise and hope you are the same. Not that I can get to Yerranderie much these days as age has certainly slowed down my old bones, but that does not stop the will and the spirit.
All the best for Christmas and the New Year.
From Val and Yerranderie, of course.
2011 marks the end of an era for Yerranderie
Dear Friends
2011 marks the end of an era for Yerranderie, the change of ownership of Private Town and Environs from Tonalli P/L to the Government of NSW. The actual handover was marked by a wonderful Easter Sunday celebration. It coincided with the one hundredth anniversary of St Senans Catholic Church, 24th April 2011.
My cousin, Adrian Spragg, has produced a little booklet of delightful photographs of the event and the one hundred and forty, or so, people who attended the Ecumenical Mass held at St Senans at 10am on Easter Sunday. At 11am, a marvellous morning tea was provided by the Burragorang Heritage Society. Then at noon, there was a tour of Private Town with myself and ten of my former caretakers. Finally a monster barbecue lunch was provided by the National Parks and Wildlife personnel.
For those who would like a copy of Adrian’s booklet about “THE HANDOVER” it is available from Valued Books, 02 9929 8350 or at PO Box 420, MILSONS POINT, 1565, NSW. There is also another twenty-two page illustrated booklet on “EARLY YERRANDERIE AND BURRAGORANG” in which you may be interested, (both at the price of $10.00 each plus postage)
I would like to say a special thank-you to all of those who helped me over the years to resurrect the “Old Ghost Town”, as sung about by Frank Ifield. Incidentally, Frank sang of the “Ghost Town of Renown” in the early 1960’s. He said it was flooded by the Warragamba Dam. This was one of the myths spread about by the then “Water Board’. Subsequently I wrote to Frank and asked him to bring the lyrics up-to-date as the tune was great. Can you believe Du Monde Records Australia – produced by Martin Erdman – has released a CD of a group of songs entitled, “The Australian Spirit”, in which the new version of the Yerranderie song is featured? So, although the Water Board condemned Yerranderie to death by drowning and also by strangulation of its road to the East, Yerranderie has refused to die. From 1960, I was determined to resurrect it. Now I hope that with the change of ownership, it will give the “Old Ghost Town” and a new lease of life. It is to become a Regional Park, a National Icon and gem in the crown of the NSW State National Parks and Wildlife Service and an Eco-Tourism Heritage Area of “Renown”, as Frank says in his song.
I have appended a copy of a letter from Sally Barnes, the head of the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Though I have donated the 467 hectares of land and Private Town to the Minister for the Environment (worth about a million dollars) this does not mean I have ceased my interest in Yerranderie. I have arranged for The Oaks Heritage Society to house the large quantity of archives I have gathered over the years. These have been carefully collated by Maria Pozza, and photographed by Arthur Senior, for which I thank them sincerely. I am delighted that future students of Yerranderie’s Heritage will be able to consult The Oaks’ Volunteers at their Wollondilly Heritage Centre (02 4657 1796) for answers to questions about Yerranderie’s pioneering and mining history.
For enquiries about future bookings, ring Yerranderie caretakers (02 4659 6165). Also, you may need to know that Kim de Govrik is the NP&WLS Superintendant at Oberon, and Duncan Scott Lawson is the local Ranger (02 6336 1972).
It is my hope that funding from the Government will maintain and improve the buildings, and provide the public in the future with this very special site for all eco-students, bushwalkers and visitors with a great resource centre for many diverse projects.
I will retain my personal interest in Yerranderie as long as body and brain power permit. At eighty-eight I am embarking on another book sparked off by the collection of Aboriginal Art and Artefacts I had in Yerranderie. It will be called, “The Sunrise of Aboriginal Art”.
When I wrote “Yerranderie is My Dreaming”, which incidentally is still available from the Tailor’s Shop or from Valued Books (02 9929 8350), I envisaged a three-part series. The first concerns Francis Luis Barrallier, our first white explorer in 1802, his story and the people he met. The second, about William Russell – Werri-Berri – and how he found silver at Yerranderie in 1871, and the resultant silver-mining boom. Then the final one concerning the demise of the town at the hands of the Water Board and its rise again during my ownership, so I have plenty to keep me busy.
For Yerranderie there is another era coming up, that of the Regional Park, and its use as an Eco-tourist destination. I hope this will prove as exciting as I have found the renovation and restoration period over the past fifty years. There never seems to be a cessation of stories of the wonderful people who visit, whether they are geologists, mineralogists, historians, lovers of the unique fauna and flora of the Blue Mountains or just plain Mums, Dads and the Kids, seeking an exhilarating adventure in a very beautiful and scenic spot.
I have retained ownership of three lots in Government Town. They are still in the name of my Company, Tonalli P/L, so I’ll still be around to watch over its future. Not that I can get there very much these days physically, but spiritually I’ll still be around, even if I’m only one of the many ghosts of Yerranderie’s Ghost Town – “The Ghost Town of Renown”, as Frank calls it.
Good wishes to all Yerranderie lovers
From
Val