Blackwood History and Pioneers, Victoria. in Blackwood, Victoria | Landmark & historical place

Blackwood History and Pioneers, Victoria.

Locality: Blackwood, Victoria

Address: Greendale to Trentham road. 3458 Blackwood, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.blackwoodpublishing.com

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25.01.2022 Creator Victoria. Department of Crown Lands and Survey Title [Parish maps of Victoria]. Plan of the principal roads leading from Blackwood to Ballan and Bachus Marsh / photo-lithographed at the Department of Lands and Survey, Melbourne by J. Noone Call Number... MAP RM 2741/77 Created/Published Melbourne : The Department, [1878] Extent 1 map : mounted on linen ; sheet 62.5 x 49.3 cm. See more

25.01.2022 Royal Mail Hotel Golden Point, Blackwood , and the township of Golden Point. C. 1880 Courtesy and Copyright Margot Hitchcock - Historian for the Blackwood & District Historical Society. For more info on Blackwood and photos the Royal Mail Hotel - see my web page, www.blackwoodpublishing.com

25.01.2022 Cropped photo of British Lion Mine, Blackwood showing battery and boiler chimney. Courtesy and Copyright, Margot Hitchcock, Historian, Blackwood Historical society.

24.01.2022 Mounters mine Barrys Reef with water wheel and flume and battery. Courtesy and Copyright Margot Hitchcock, Historian for the Blackwood Historical society. Mining in Barrys Reef showing Water-wheel and flume in foreground from Mounters Mine, and the same bend in the road and Mechanics Institute, with the School in back square of pine trees. The poplar trees and St. Stephens church back left of photo with the top barely visible of the Monkey Puzzle tree in front of house which is behind the buildings at the end of the road. The Mullock heap of the Sultan mine can be seen to the left of the pine trees and the Barrys Reef school. The original photos courtesy of A.E.Seaborn of Barrys Reef and copied by the author.

21.01.2022 John Travena Williams and wife Sarah Hill, married 17th November 1858 at Bacchus Marsh. Parents of Warren Travena Williams. Great grand parents of Edgar Williams and great great grandparents of Warren Harvey Williams, Ian Williams and Ken Williams, and great, great, great grandparents of Ryan Williams. Original photo courtesy of Edgar Williams and copied by Margot Hitchcock, Historian for the Blackwood Historical Society. (children of John Travena were Joe, George, Andrew, ...William, Annie and Warren. Sarah Hill was the daughter of John (Edward) Hill who discovered gold in Blackwood in 1855.) Sarah Hill was baptised in Bromwich in 28/1/1838. Sarah’s father, Edward Hill and his brother John came to Australia from West Bromwich, England. Edward and John Hill arrived in Australia with Isaac Povey and Ben Trewhella in 1854. Isaac Povey is buried on Deadman’s Hill in Simmons Reef. Isaac Povey also came from West Bromwich. Povey and John Hill were said to have first gone to Sydney where they worked on the Sydney Mint at their trade as bricklayers. Later they arrived in Melbourne and made their way to the Mount Blackwood ranges. Edward Hill was the discoverer of the Blackwood Goldfield when he first struck gold on January 4th 1855. In 1870 John Hill is listed as having a mine in Simmons Reef with John Hill Snr. Edward and Joseph Hill. The mine was called the New Sultan Mine on Staffordshire Reef. a report in 1895 states - 'The Staffordshire line of reef, to the west of the Simmons Reef reservoir, continues to attract attention; and another lease has been pegged out on the southern extension this week. Messrs. Hill Bros., the original discoverers, are breaking out stone for another crushing; the party to the north are also saving the stone from their shaft for a trial.'

21.01.2022 It would be good to see a similar sign erected in Blackwood like this one which used to be standing opposite the Blackwood Hotel. Courtesy of Margot Hitchcock, Historian for the Blackwood Historical society. This was from a post card belonging to my mother - Dorothy Roberts. c. 1956. I also wonder if the local Moorabool council or the Progress Association paid for this and erected it and then what happened to it and where it went.. does any one know..??

21.01.2022 Township of Blackwood. N.J. Caire photo, showing Sports Ground on left, and big pine tree. Original from a post card from Emma Hosking, Blackwood C. 1909.. Copyright courtesy of Margot Hitchcock, Historian for the Blackwood Historical society. N.J. Caire (Nicholas John), 1837-1918. Among the photographs of Nicholas John Caire are some of the finest images ever captured of the Australian landscape. Between 1875 and 1905 Caire explored the Victorian countryside to photograp...h for the commercial market. Lone figures dwarfed by luxuriant tree ferns, crystal waterfalls in forest frames, rustic dwellings with their solitary inhabitants - all convey Caire's deep love of the bush he photographed and reveal the mastery of his art. Caire’s early photographs were made one at a time by the labour-intensive wet collodion process. By the end of his long career they were mass produced in books and newspapers, and as postcards. His images had popular appeal. They were among the most widely published late nineteenth and early twentieth century Australia photographs. (Ref - Pitkethly, Anne, 1946-) Nicholas Caire took two known photographs in Blackwood which have his name on them. See more

21.01.2022 Here is a closer up version showing the four Whalebone blocks of land and dwellings, in Whalebone street, Blackwood. Courtesy Margot Hitchcock and the Blackwood Historical Society. .

21.01.2022 New Sultan Mine, Blackwood, C.1890. For more info, see my books - 'Some History of Simmons Reef' and 'Aspects of Early Blackwood'. Courtesy and Copyright Margot Hitchcock - Historian for the Blackwood & District Historical Society. For more info on Blackwood - see my web page, www.blackwoodpublishing.com

20.01.2022 For those interested in the Whalebone family - Here is a Miners Right I have in my records for Alfred Whalebone in 1927 in Blackwood signed by H.H.Cann. Courtesy Margot Hitchcock and the Blackwood Historical society.

20.01.2022 Also my ideas of Historical improvements for Blackwood, that I provided the info and photos for, would be to renew these signs done by Brendan Hehir, that have deteriorated down at the Mineral Springs. 2003. Courtesy Margot Hitchcock, Historian, Blackwood Historical society.

20.01.2022 Photo shows the Hill and Williams family at their mine in Blackwood. top left Annie Williams, Ted Hill, Joseph Hill, Charlie Hill, front Mrs. George Hill (Mary) and Warren Williams, with ore truck and mallock heap at their mine in Simmons Reef, where Povey’s Reserve is today. C. 1908. (Courtesy of the late Edgar Williams.) Photographer was George Hill. copyright Margot Hitchcock, Historian, Blackwood Historical Society. The father of Ted & Joseph Hill was Edward Hill who discovered gold in Blackwood in 1855.

20.01.2022 GARFIELD WATER WHEEL, CHEWTON. The Garfield Water Wheel was the largest diameter wheel ever constructed in Victoria. It provided power to the stamp battery for extracting gold from ore produced by the Garfield Mine between 1887 and 1903. The Wheel's massive stone supports are very significant historic mining features because of their association with a major gold mining area and important nineteenth century technology. The mine site is listed on the registers of the National ...Estate, Government Buildings, and the National Trust. GARFIELD MINE Gold extraction from quartz reefs commenced in the late 1850s and 1860s, once alluvial gold was exhausted in the rushes of the previous decade. In the Chewton area, over the next 20 years, many small parties of miners sank shafts to the reefs. It was not until 1882 that a group of Sandhurst (now Bendigo) investors formed the Garfield Co. and hired John Ebbott as Manager. On a 4 ha (10 acre) lease 23 men were employed to sink an engine shaft and erect machinery, including a boiler and 18-head, iron framed, crushing battery. In March 1883 the Garfield Co. Mine Manager reported that the mine was progressing well. The company continued to grow taking on the crushing for the neighbouring lease of the Louisa James Co., and subsequently buying a one quarter share in this company. By September 1885 the company had obtained 7,385 oz of gold at 120 feet deep, erected a 23-head battery and extensive plant, and paid a dividend of 4s. per share on 30,000 shares. The Garfield Company was the premier mine within the Castlemaine mining division for the last quarter of 1885 and the first quarter of 1886, producing 1703 oz 17 dwt of gold. At this time it employed about 70 men and boys. The Garfield Wheel is one of the more spectacular artefacts of the gold rush days that can be found along the Goldfields Track. The huge 21.5 diameter water wheel drove a 15 head quartz crushing battery, creating a deafening noise that could be heard in Castlemaine, 5km away! When it was build in 1887 it was hailed as the biggest water wheel in the southern hemisphere. But its sheer size led to its own demise. It couldn't cope with high winds and the sheer force on the wear and tear on the gearing led to it being dismantled in 1904. Courtesy Margot Hitchcock, Historian, Blackwood Historical society.

19.01.2022 Matthew & Mary Rogers and family vault in the Blackwood Cemetery and photos of the family interned in the vault. They lived at St Erth, Simmons Reef and Matthew Rogers built the house out of local stone from Bacchus Marsh, and he had a big mine (Rogers Big Hill Mine) in Simmons Reef where he found a lot of gold. Courtesy Margot Hitchcock, Historian of the Blackwood Historical society. For more information see my book - 'Some History of Simmons Reef, Blackwood.' (another post as I learnt how to use the new Facebook page thru trial and error...!)

19.01.2022 'Wannawong' Blackwood - our family holiday house built in 1929 by my grandparents out of timber from the Barrys Reef School. courtesy Margot Hitchcock.

18.01.2022 Rip Van Winkle Mine at the Blackwood Caravan Park - The Byres family were instrumental in the operation of the ‘Rip Van Winkle’ mine that started where the upper level of the caravan park is today in the Mineral Springs. The mine travelled west towards Wall’s, ending at an air shaft that came out in Jackson’s Gully. There was a light hole for the mine on the edge of Old Golden Point Road. When Byres and party (Mr Alex Byres, Jack Byres, Charlie Gribble and Mr Herb Cann Snr) ...found this reef, they stoped it to the surface, and it was noted that one large block of quartz projected above the ground, right on the roadway close to a house. Gold could be clearly seen in this stone, yet it had, thousands of times, been struck by the feet of the people of the village. In the upper workings of the reef there was a shoot of gold 140 feet long, which was worked to the 60 feet level. During the following 3 years of mining the company crushed 3000 tons for a yield of 1500 oz of gold. From mining reports, the ‘Rip Van Winkle’ showed good returns. Altogether 1,100 ounces were obtained from the surface to a depth of 80 feet, and 1,245 ounces to a depth of 250 ft. The ‘Rip Van Winkle’ was operated until the early 1900's. The crushing plant was removed in 1936 to the ‘Easter Monday’ mine, the water wheel unfortunately having been dismantled several years previously. The tunnel itself was last prospected about 1938. A large set of gold scales that measured all the gold that was taken out of the ‘Rip Van winkle’ mine was handed down from the Byres family to the late Ken Matheson. Ken proudly decided to put them on display in the Central Deborah Gold Mining Museum in Bendigo in 1980. Herb Cann, many years earlier had retrieved goldmining equipment that was being auctioned off from the abandoned mines. Herb obtained a crushing plant called a stamper which had been used to crush the gold from quartz, in both the Rip Van Winkle and Easter Monday mines. Herb and his son, Kenny Cann, and with the assistance at Ken Whiffen and the Blackwood Progress Association had this stamper erected in the main street of Blackwood. This stamper was part of a six head battery and was one of the first to come to the Blackwood area. Today it stands as an inspiring monument to the early gold mining days of Blackwood. Courtesy and copyright Margot Hitchcock, Historian for the Blackwood Historical society. See more

18.01.2022 Garlick's Lead State School No. 1287 photo. 1929. Courtesy Margot Hitchcock per Angela Whitehead

18.01.2022 A photo found in my collection of some early Gold Miners in Blackwood. Courtesy and Copyright - Margot Hitchcock, Historian, for the Blackwood Historical society.

18.01.2022 I have cropped and enlarged the photo to show the miners at the British Lion mine, Blackwood. Courtesy and copyright - Margot Hitchcock, Historian, Blackwood Historical society. I love looking at the details- the big log from a big tree used on the left as a support leg - the stairs and log hand rails and the ladder rungs on the right and they all have hats on etc... what a story it all tells of those days bygone.

18.01.2022 Mrs. Wall and five of her children and a pet kangaroo in Wall Street, Blackwood, outside their house. Mrs Beatrice Wall nee Stewart with Mildred, Bill holding Ellen, Reg and Ern. Circa 1927. Father of the children was William Wall born 1875 and died-1946. Beatrice Wall was the eldest daughter of John Stewart born 1879 in Eurambeen near Beaufort. She married William Wall, son of William & Mary Wall (nee Shaw). Courtesy and copyright Margot Hitchcock, Historian for the Blackwood Historical society.

16.01.2022 Found in my Historical photo collection - Willy Whalebone age 58 yrs and his self-built cabin in Whalebone street, Blackwood. 1900. Courtesy Margot Hitchcock, Historian, Blackwood Historical society.

16.01.2022 The British Lion Mine, Blackwood, Courtesy and copyright - Margot Hitchcock, Historian, Blackwood Historical society.

14.01.2022 To the Williams family connected to Edgar and Inez Williams and their sons Warren Harvey Williams, Ian Williams and Ken Williams, who were all friends of my family as a child at Blackwood, as our holiday houses were opposite each other. Courtesy Margot Hitchcock. photos of Warren Williams and me as teenagers and the 3 Williams boys with me and my sister at the swimming hole, Blackwood.

14.01.2022 N.J.Cair photo of Blackwood, showing Sports Ground and big pine tree as big round area. C. 1909. Copyright and Courtesy of Margot Hitchcock, Historian for the Blackwood Historical society. Among the photographs of Nicholas John Caire are some of the finest images ever captured of the Australian landscape. Between 1875 and 1905. Caire explored the Victorian countryside to photograph for the commercial market. Lone figures dwarfed by luxuriant tree ferns, crystal waterfall...s in forest frames, rustic dwellings with their solitary inhabitants - all convey Caire's deep love of the bush he photographed and reveal the mastery of his art. Caire’s early photographs were made one at a time by the labour-intensive wet collodion process. By the end of his long career they were mass produced in books and newspapers, and as postcards. His images had popular appeal. They were among the most widely published late nineteenth and early twentieth century Australia photographs. (Ref - Pitkethly, Anne.) Nicholas Caire took two known some photographs in Blackwood. See more

14.01.2022 Garlicks Lead State School Trentham. 2008. Photos by Margot Hitchcock.

13.01.2022 Bob and Caroline Guppy's house in Green Hills, Blackwood. Photo taken by Margot Hitchcock in 2008.

12.01.2022 Photo of Blackwood looking from Blackwood to Golden Point and showing the Royal Mail Hotel in the middle. C.1915. S.L.V. photo. Courtesy Margot Hitchcock - Historian for the Blackwood & District Historical Society. For more info on Blackwood - see my web page, www.blackwoodpublishing.com

12.01.2022 Map in my collection of Whalebone street, Blackwood showing four Whalebone blocks of land and dwellings. Courtesy Margot Hitchcock and the Blackwood Historical Society.

10.01.2022 Early Miners of Blackwood 1890. Original courtesy of the late Edgar Williams. Courtesy and copyright Margot Hitchcock, Historian for the Blackwood Historical society.. You really have to hand it to these guys for the great job they did in digging the mines in Blackwood.

10.01.2022 Print from an old glass negative of snow at Blackwood, and the Garden of St. Erth in snow. Courtesy and copyright Margot Hitchcock, Historian for the Blackwood Historical Society.

10.01.2022 Water Wheel at the Rip Van Winkle mine that used to be at the Blackwood Mineral Springs Caravan Park, showing flume up top and mullock heap on the right. Courtesy and copyright Margot Hitchcock, Historian for the Blackwood Historical society.

09.01.2022 Doll's House, Blackwood. Builder of the Doll’s House, Mr Ern Theisen, and info told to Margot Hitchcock via a tape recorder to the Blackwood Historical Society in 1977. In 1929 Ern came up to Blackwood and obtained an acre of land overlooking Golden Point on a Miners Right. He built the house for his elder sister Ethel Theisen. To build the house Ern had to have water to make the concrete, and aggregate for the walls. So he built a shed and he used some of the roofing tim...ber to hold the roof up and used some of the spouting to collect rain water into a 40 gallon drum. To get the aggregate, there was an old identity called Mick Hayden and he had the contract for the Cobb & Co. Coach for the mail from Blackwood to Trentham and he also did carting around Blackwood. Bert Cann whose mother ran Blackwood House, also used to drive the coach and also drove the dray and with two horses so together they brought a number of loads of gravel from the Lerderderg River and dumped it up there. But this gravel wasn’t suitable for concrete as it was 50% sand so he had to make two screenings and shovel all the gravel and separate the sand from the stones and make a suitable consistency for the concrete to make the right mixture. When asked questions about Ethel and why the house was built so small Ern said Ethel was about 5 ft tall, and had a nice figure and where Ern was dark she was fair. Ethel only used the house as a holiday house coming up for weekends and holidays. When asked where the design for the house came from Ern said it was the fashion of the 30's with the buttress’s and he only had so much room for kitchen and bedroom and she wanted a porch and being a joiner in the building trade, there were plans coming in all the week. Ern virtually designed the house himself. The porch and the door made the house different from just being a log hut. Ern built the kitchen cupboards so that everything was convenient with a window in at the wall and a stove. Also a door that dropped down and when you lift it up it comes from up underneath the floor to keep the butter cool. Ventilators were placed around the bottom wall above the wooden floor. When Ern had the outside built he went down home and made the furniture in the joinery factory in his spare time in the weekend. Ern then brought the furniture to Blackwood on the roof of his baby Austin car. The house was finished about 1933. copyright and courtesy Margot Hitchcock and extract from her next book - 'The History and Pioneers of Blackwood'. See more

09.01.2022 Dr. Edward Plews and his connection to Blackwood and Edward Hill, the discoverer of gold in Blackwood, and who signed Hill's death certificate. for more info on Dr. Plews see my website - https://www.blackwoodpublishing.com//dr-edward-william-pl/ Courtesy and Copyright Margot Hitchcock - Historian for the Blackwood & District Historical Society. For more info on Blackwood - see my web page, www.blackwoodpublishing.com On Marsh 12th, 1891 the Bacchus Marsh Express reported... the death at Simmons Reef of 'Mr. Edward Hill, the oldest man and pioneer on Blackwood who died at Simmons Reef on the 12 March 1891 age 78 yrs and was buried in the Blackwood cemetery. He was the discoverer of the Mount Blackwood Goldfield, who subsequently successfully claimed a 300 reward for its discovery. A goodly number of people were said to have followed his remains to their last resting place. Mr. Dredge, the Wesleyan minister, conducted the funeral service and gave a lengthy and stirring address to the assembled on the life of the pioneer.’ On obtaining a copy of Hill’s death certificate, a curious discovery was found, in that Edward Hill’s name was in fact John Hill, and he is buried under that name in the Blackwood cemetery. He was listed as age 78 years of Simmons Reef and a builder. He died of Apoplexy and Paralysis (stroke). Doctor being, Dr. Edward Plews. Informant was his son Edward Hill, Engine Driver of Blackwood. He was born in Wendsbury, Staffordshire, England. He had been one year in New South Wales and 34 years in Victoria. He was married twice, firstly to Hannah Cox who died and then to Hannah Thornton. His children were listed as James deceased, Sarah 53 yrs, Helena 52 yrs, John 50 yrs, Edward 47 yrs, Joshua 44 yrs, Joseph 41 yrs and by second wife Samuel age 38. John Hill is named with a Miner’s Right at Simmons Reef in the 1856 list in the Argus of persons entitled to vote in the elections of a Member of the District.

07.01.2022 Eleanor Rebecca Cann and baby Vera Cann, Blackwood 1903. Old copy of the Blackwood Newsletter with Cann family on front cover. courtesy Margot Hitchcock, Historian for the Blackwood Historical Society.

06.01.2022 The Lerderderg River in flood at the Blackwood Mineral Springs

06.01.2022 Hill Brothers 'New Sultan' mine showing Water wheel and battery at their mine on the Lerderderg River, Staffordshire reef, Simmons Reef, Blackwood. 1907. A report in 1895 states - 'The Staffordshire line of reef, to the west of the Simmons Reef reservoir, continues to attract attention; and another lease has been pegged out on the southern extension this week. Messrs. Hill Bros., the original discoverers, are breaking out stone for another crushing; the party to the north are also saving the stone from their shaft for a trial.' Annie Williams lower left, Ted Hill on top with Mrs. Mary Hill (wife of George Hill the photographer). Original photo courtesy of the late Edgar Williams and copied and Copyright by Margot Hitchcock, Historian for the Blackwood Historical Society.

06.01.2022 Matthew Rogers grave and vault in the Blackwood Cemetery. courtesy Margot Hitchcock, Historian, Blackwood Historical society. More when I work out how to use this new Facebook page...!!!

04.01.2022 Barrys Reef showing mullock heap from the Sultan mine middle back, Mounters Poppet head and mullock heap centre and Sultana mullock heap in front. Square of trees Barrys Reef School. (From and old glass negative courtesy .A.E. Seaborn) By 1883 the costly machinery was sold and moved out of the area. The miners and their families also moved out of the district to other nearby goldfields in Gordon and Egerton, and the township declined. Mounters and Company mine worked unt...il the New Sultan closed in 1883. Mounters Co. had yielded over 9,000 ounces of gold. Some yields went over 12 ounces to the ton and made a fortune for its owners. Their main shaft as only sunk to the 400 foot level and was connected by drives to the old Sultan mine. When the New Sultan Co. removed its pumping machinery this caused Mounters mine to be flooded. Mounter’s was then forced to close not long after. The Ballan Shire Rates Books of 1876 records Thomas A.Godwin as a Publican of Barrys Reef. Thomas paid the rates up until 1879. ‘Their Sultana Hotel was next to the poppet-legs of the very rich ‘Sultan Mine’ with Thomas and Anne cooking and running the Hotel. It seemed like a boarding house/hotel with beds never becoming cold, as one miner climbed out, another tired man would climb in with the mines running three shifts’. When the mines began to run out of gold, Thomas Godwin heard of money to be made in Tasmania at the tin mines and moved over there.. Courtesy and copyright Margot Hitchcock, Historian for the Blackwood Historical society, from my unpublished book 'The History and Pioneers of Blackwood'.. See more

02.01.2022 Lerderderg River, Simmons Reef, Blackwood after the Simmons Reef Reservoir dam burst in 1909. Left to right - Aunt Annie Williams, child - Dorothy Williams, Mrs. George Hill (Mary) and boy - Edgar Williams, back - Ted Hill - Photographer - George Hill. Original photo courtesy of Edgar Williams and copied and copyright by Margot Hitchcock, Historian for the Blackwood Historical Society.

02.01.2022 Adit for the Williams and (Hill family) Party mine Simmons Reef, Blackwood 1907. (New Sultan Mine) top left - Annie Williams, top - George Williams, bottom left Mrs George Hill (Mary) middle- Ted Hill, middle right - Charlie Hill, front right - Joseph Hill, front right - Joseph Hill. Photo by George Hill and courtesy of the late Edgar Williams, copied and copyright Margot Hitchcock, Historian, Blackwood Historical society.

01.01.2022 Bacchus Marsh Express - 7th November 1908 - " Mining report for Blackwood. The prospects of the British Lion Mine have materially improved during the last few days. At the 250 feet level, they have extended the drive to the north 250 feet, where the lode is rapidly becoming a big body of stone. They have started to rise at 220 feet on a body of stone 9 feet wide, which shows gold throughout. It is a splendid looking reef. At the bottom level they have extended the drive ...115 feet south. They are working three shifts. The lode is 4 feet wide, and shows gold. Altogether, the prospects of the mine are excellent. The mining manager, Mr. Peart, considers that if the company had a battery, with up-to-date appliances for saving pyrites, the whole of the reefs are payable. September 18th 1909 - The British Lion has finished cutting the chambers at the 450 feet, and will commence it open during the week." Courtesy and Copyright, Margot Hitchcock, Historian, Blackwood Historical society, from my next book - The History and Pioneers of Blackwood. See more

01.01.2022 I have spent some time and added another page to my Blackwood publishing web page with photos and maps of the early townships in Blackwood. see - https://www.blackwoodpublishing.com/photos-of-early-blackw/

01.01.2022 Grave of Harold G. Robinson in the Blackwood Cemetery with tombstone erected by his wife Harriet R Robinson. Photo courtesy of Margot Hitchcock, 2008. Reads ‘In Memory of my loved husband, Harold Gamil Robinson, Stipendiary Reader, Suddenly shot at Blackwood Parsonage, 19th June 1908, age 44 yrs.’ For further Information read my book on the murder of the minister by Billy Pincombe in Blackwood in 1908. - 'The Billy Pincombe Tragedy.' www.blackwoodpublishing.com

01.01.2022 Charlie Hill's houses, Simmons Reef Road, Blackwood. Courtesy Margot Hitchcock.