Warrah centenary committee picnic.

The Warrah centenary committee had a gathering on Sunday, 28th October. We viewed the photos and DVD video of the centenary, had a nice picnic lunch at the hall, then spent the afternoon doing a bit of a tour of some interesting locations. We visited 'Nara', owned by the Benham family, and inspected the site of the "Washpool", and also the Warrah worker graves, which we now believe are not the actual position. We then went to the top of "The Pinnacle" hill, owned by the Geoff Symonds family, and finally drove past the southern boundary of the 'Warrah Estate' into David Wormalds property, to the sandstone grave of Peter Gallagher.

We must have spent a good few hours looking at photos and videos of the centenary, then had lunch in the hall, before heading off on our tour of the area.

Then we drove to "Nara", blocks 1 and 2 of the 1967 subdivision, and now owned by John Benham. In what was called "The washpool paddock" when it was part of Warrah Station.

The Washpool was the Warrah sheep wash, used in the 1860's to 1880's. The sheep were washed before shearing. The washpool employed 40 men for weeks on end during the washing.

There are good descriptions of how it worked in stories in the "News Archives" section.

http://www.warrah1912subdivision.com/103183756

Or the governers visit.

http://www.warrah1912subdivision.com/103183754

The last time the Warrah washpool was used to wash sheep was in 1885. As woollen manufacturers made increasing use of the grease which was removed during washing, the advantages of wash­ing as compared with shearing in the grease lessened. Basically, wool became more valuable with the grease left in, for the lanolin, so it made no sense and was not economical to wash the wool anymore after 1885 when wool manufacturers started scouring wool in scouring plants.

There is almost nothing left at the site anymore, except for some rubble, cement and a lot of bricks.

We then travelled a few hundred meters to the north west, to the supposed site of the graves of Doughy Roberts and Jim Davis. Thanks to new information from members of the Copeland family, we believe that this may not be the original site. We stopped and had a look and had a brief discussion anyway.

We then travelled to Geoff Symonds property "Silso", block 33 of the 1914 subdivision. We travelled to the top of the pinnacle hill by 4 wheel drive. It was a rough track, and some of the fitter of the group walked the last few hundred metres, but it was worth the effort in the end.

The top of the pinnacle hill is 547 metres above sea level. Old Warrah is 375 metres above sea level, so it is 172 metres above the plain.

The second pinnacle hill is 529 metres above sea level.

We then travelled to the head of Big Jacks Creek, to David Wormalds property, to Peter Gallagher's grave site.

Peter Gallagher was born in Ireland, and was transported to Australia as a convict.

For more info about Peter Gallagher, click on the link here,...

http://www.warrah1912subdivision.com/111265156