Googong Foreshores
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| Googong Foreshores | |
|---|---|
  Location of Googong Foreshores in New South Wales | |
| Location | London Bridge Road, Burra, New South Wales, Australia |
| Coordinates | 35°31′06″S 149°15′28″E / 35.5184°S 149.2578°E |
| Official name | Googong Foreshores Cultural and Geodiversity Heritage Areas |
| Type | Listed place (Historic) |
| Designated | 3 November 2017 |
| Reference no. | 106072 |
Googong Foreshores is a heritage-listed historic precinct at London Bridge Road, Burra, New South Wales, Australia. It consists of the historic surroundings of the Googong Dam that predated the dam itself. It is also known as the Googong Foreshores Cultural and Geodiversity Heritage Areas. It was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on 3 November 2017.[1]
Aboriginal people have lived in area around the Queanbeyan River for thousands of years. Googong Foreshores contains physical evidence of that, including sites containing stone artefact scatters, a scarred tree, cairns (potentially associated with burials) and campsites. An excavation of a shelter immediately outside Burra Cave revealed some quartz flaking debris and two hearths "dating from 700 to 900 BP with some charred bone material".[2][1]
In 1823, the "London Bridge" arch was first described by Captain Mark Currie during an exploration in which he named the Monaro Plains. In 1834, Joseph Kenyon started a cattle run at "Katy's Flat" but was soon forced to leave due to poor conditions.[1]
Two pastoral properties were established in the area, divided by the Burra Creek. The west bank was granted to William Hutchinson in 1836, who conducted the "Burra Estate", a pastoral run of 5,293 acres (2,142 hectares), in absentia. The east bank was acquired by John McNamara Sr. through Crown grant and selection in 1857, and was later known as "London Bridge". In 1872, McNamara acquired 1,902 acres (770 hectares) of the Burra Estate and began farming sheep.[1]
McNamara Sr died in 1901, and his son, John McNamara Jr, inherited the property and moved there to live. The estate was sharply reduced in 1904 by the auction of 3,442 acres (1,393 hectares) from London Bridge North and, in 1908, McNamara Jr. and his family left the district for Sydney. They leased the property to Fred Campbell of Woden, who installed Arthur Warwick as overseer.[1]
In 1912, the lease expired on the London Bridge homestead, and McNamara Jr. leased his property to his neighbour at London Bridge, James Moore. McNamara Jr. returned to London Bridge in 1914, but died in residence in 1915. The property was again leased to the Moores until being sold to Edward and Jim Noone on 21 January 1921.[1]
London Bridge Homestead was purchased by Robert Douglas in 1928, and shearing at the old woolshed ceased in the same year. Sheep were shorn at Burra Station for a period until Douglas commissioned a new woolshed during the Depression years. The orchard was planted or extended at this time. Electric power was connected to London Bridge homestead in 1954, at a cost of £200.[1]
In 1973, 5089 hectares of land, including London Bridge, north and south, was acquired by the Commonwealth of Australia from New South Wales for the creation of the Googong Reservoir Foreshores. Andrew Douglas leased a section of the London Bridge Homestead property back from the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth enacted the Canberra Water Supply (Googong Dam) Act 1974 (Googong Dam Act) in 1974. That Act vested control over water supply and management of the Googong Dam Area in the Australian Capital Territory Executive, acting on behalf of the Commonwealth.[1]
The construction of Googong Dam was completed in 1978. In 1983, the ACT government commissioned Philip Cox and Associates to prepare a Conservation Management Plan for the London Bridge homestead and, in 1999, conservation work was undertaken there.[1]
Description
The Googong Foreshores Cultural and Geodiversity Heritage Area is a 223-hectare area of land largely cleared for pastoral use. A small river called Burra Creek runs through the location. There is also a collection of farm buildings including the London Bridge Homestead group, a woolshed and squatter's quarters.[1]
The London Bridge Homestead group of buildings is located near to Burra Creek and the buildings are arranged in an "L" shape. Four buildings are included in the homestead group: a stone cottage, a slab hut, a lath and plaster building, and a weatherboard building with a fibro annex.[1] The woolshed and shearer's quarters are located approximately 1.5 km away from the homestead.[1]
The area also includes a distinctive natural limestone formation, London Bridge Arch, which acts as a natural bridge over a section of the Burra Creek. London Bridge Arch formed in limestone which contains fossils of brachiopods, corals, crinoids and trilobites.[3] It developed, along with several smaller caves, from erosion at a meander bend in Burra Creek. Formation of the arch resulted in a meander cut off which occurs when the two closest parts of a meander bend are directly connected, usually causing the river to abandon the meander loop and continue straight downstream. An abandoned meander loop, or billabong, is visible east of Burra Creek.[1]
The limestone which includes the arch and caves is a small lens (approximately 50m by 150m) developed in the late Silurian Cappanana Formation. The arch is 34m long, about 12-18m wide and 5m high, and 5-7m vertical cliffs occur above both entrances to the arch. Two through caves, containing patches of flowstone and Pleistocene fossil deposits, occur in the limestone above the level of the arch.[4] The caves, Douglas and Burra, are older creek passages. Several other small caves and shelters also occur in the limestone.[1]
