I was reading on a local forum the other day the laments of chicken owners in suburban Canberra backyards of the perils of an unsecured pen and the feral fox. Sounded like Canberra is rife with foxes quite prepared to poach any chicken left unattended and accessible. Problems of a bush capital I suppose.

In my youth I shot a lot of foxes. That might seem harsh but there were a lot of them and a pelt was worth up to 40 dollars. So out of interest a bit of a search revealed that the wily fox has been influencing Canberra society for a while. Remember this is feral pest not Basil Brush. This report from 106 years ago indicates how foxes were dealt with before canberra became the capital...





























There is no fox shooting going on in the ACT that I am aware of but I note areas on Corin Road have been baited with 1080 (Sodium flourocetate) They wouldn't do that in the Canberra Nature Parks I suspect. Well I think that tells a bit of a story on the influences of foxes in the capital and at the end of the day I think people are just going to have to learn to keep their chickens in Canberra very secure.

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Ok we're three years into a Canberra with a resident parliament. Residents of the newly formed territory were denied rights of suffrage whilst nearby residents in NSW such as Queanbeyan retained all their commonwealth privileges. Enter the 'Vigilants of Canberra'. A society where Territory members identities were kept secret for fear of reprisals being represented by a Dr Alcorn in the capacity of liason person. I don't know what became of them but I suppose they were the forerunners of the self government the ACT not acquired till the 80's. The notion had to be started somewhere I reckon. Why not the Vigilants of Canberra?









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The following is an obituary for a Mr A.A McKeahnie, grazier, magistrate, coroner and captain of the rifle club. As the headline claims, he was the first white child born in Queanbeyan but his holdings included Gudgenby Station and several other estates. His life's tale includes encounters with 'savage' Aboriginals, as opposed to friendly, and bushrangers. Interesting bloke. He was a true pioneer in every sense of the word I think. For more information on Booroomba I have a post here.




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Coppins Crossing is a low level bridge which crosses the Molonglo River. The following may be of interest when next you cross. There isn't a great deal of reports mentioning the crossing but what there is is interesting I think. Originally it seems it was used as a range for artillery in world war 1 by the boys from Duntroon. Interesting also that they halted firing for passing traffic and not the other way around...









National Library of Australia

And the new bridge was constructed a year later...




And livestock no longer needed to be moved through the city centre... imagine that.

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Just a quick one... Another entry to the Naming of Canberra collection of old newspaper clippings. It's not a unique view of Canberra's original meaning as Aboriginal 'A woman's breasts' describing Mount Ainsley and Black Mountain are common but interesting because of naming the Canberra Plain 'Nugungahleen' and mentioning a 'tribal phallic stone' nestled in a recess on Black Mountain...




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Looking at news clippings of a famous ACT rural property with a colourful history. Booroomba is an operating property today located near the village of Tharwa. The tale begins with reference to Booroomba Station's first two owners, originally William Davis who experienced trouble with bushrangers and the McKeahnie family from 1859...








More mention of Booromba's superb fattening paddocks... The beef was commanding top prices...







The property is sold. The Company directors are mentioned...






We leave the tale in 1953 but with some controversy concerning 'Settler Soldiers'...


My interest in Booroomba Station ends here. But nearly 60 years has passed since 1953...


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Following on from yesterday, a poem from 70 years ago by Annie McDonald describing the Uriarra Crossing in western Canberra. The crossing is today a popular road linking Belconnen and Western Creek for those who like the road less travelled. Anyway its a lovely poem I think and another one for the collection. For those that missed it yesterdays post looked at 30 years of Uriarra's history...




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Just because I thought it was interesting 30 years of random reports from the Uriarra District of the ACT and bordering NSW. Originally known as Urayarra I think these snippets of information tell a story for the next time your out past Tidbinbilla and Uriarra...

What caught my eye at first to these at first rural reports was an early report of rabbits arriving in the district. Rabbits once introduced to Australia became a nationally enormous problem for the economy and rabbits were to be an ongoing problem for the ACT community. Then following along through the years a picture emerged of a lovely little community with is ups and downs and people...













Queanbeyan Age and Queanbeyan Observer - Friday 14 December 1923



Really to get an overall of the history of Uriarra this article from 1917 sums up its founding -

Queanbeyan Age and Queanbeyan Observer - Tuesday 29 May 1917


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Anyway they gave me a sense of what life at Urayarra was like a century ago.

Cheers Dave.



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