The Lookout

The lookout on Don Moir Hill is located at the southwest corner of the property amongst spotted gum, black wattle, bracken and fern under-storied woodland. The old fire lookout provided excellent views of the surrounding forests and the coast. A square stone 'wall' (about 5m x 5m) forming a low mound about 1.2m wide, constructed of local stone, is now overgrown with fern and small trees. Inside the mound were two dressed wooden posts about 2.0m high with metal wire and a porcelain insulator bracket and a telephone (pers comm. Innes Collins - REB).

At the time of its greatest use the area around the lookout was largely cleared of vegetation. At one time the telephone gave direct connection with Batemans Bay. The lookout was constructed in the early 1930s by a team of four men. Originally there was a timber cottage with a tin roof. Reg and Innes Collins helped to build the lookout and used to man it frequently during bush fire alerts. (Titchen 1986, and pers comm. Innes Collins to REB).

Remains of Butler's Creek Bridge

The remains of a bridge which originally gave access to the village of Kioloa to the south, across Butler's Creek lies 20m to the west of the modern road bridge. The bridge remains comprise four logs with rusted iron pegs still straddle the creek, the original wooden planking removed long since. The condition of the logs is fair but they continue to deteriorate and are possibly at risk from major floods.

Miss Joy London recounted an amusing anecdote associated with the bridge. "The bridge was opened on the same day as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and they christened the two main bridge builders Dawdlin' a'Long, (after the Harbour Bridge builders Dorman and Long) because one was slow and the other 6 ft. 4 in. tall."

Household Midden in Avenue Paddock

An erosion gully and swampy outfall in the Avenue paddock were apparently used as a convenient rubbish dump during the pre-foundation period. Dump deposits visible at the surface includes an old iron water tank, farming and household items and discarded bottles. Use of the rubbish dump has not been encouraged since 1975. Undoubtedly it is a site for domestic archaeology.

The Walk-Saw Site

For many years Mr Peter Scheele cut sleepers and road marker posts in the local state forests. He cut down trees and using an old Blitz Wagon with a jury rigged crane on the back he dragged the logs to a level wooden platform made from square-cut sleepers laid in a forest clearing. This platform served as the cutting platform for his Hagen saw, a large circular saw mounted on a long arm extending forward from the paired wheels which also carried the petrol engine powering the saw. The logs were marked out with chalk lines and the saw was walked forward to make the long cuts.

Peter's skill was legendary and he must have been one of the last sleeper cutters using a 'walksaw' on the south coast. I recall seeing a lined up stack of several hundred sleepers, about 20 sleepers high, with less that 1cm variation at each side such was his cutting accuracy.

About 1978 Peter Scheele moved his walksaw platform from the forest edge outside the Foundation boundary to a patch of flat land just to the north of the London's Cutting (Moores Road) as it enters the forest. This was the last platform site he used. Peter was then in his late 70s. A second walksaw site lies further up hill (pers comm. Michael Tracey).