A Sunday Drive in the Country - Mount David

Autumn is arguably the nicest time of the year in our part of the world and our local council promotes the "Autumn Colours Festival".  Whenever possible, we like to participate in some of the activities.  This year we will be busy in other ways for much of the time, but plan to join in with a few events.

The first event we went along to was on Sunday.

"A SUNDAY DRIVE IN THE COUNTRY

Visit the small historic village of Mount David, situated in the Oberon LGA. The area is steeped in gold mining history and is also known for sapphires. Hear stories of the once thriving village of 3 general stores, a butcher, a baker and the Enterprise Hotel. A leisurely walk around the village will culminate in a morning tea at ‘Sunnyridge’, former home of the Hope family and pioneers of the region."

We were definitely going to take part in this outing, as Mick grew up on a property just out of Mount David, went to primary school in the one teacher school until it closed down in 1968 and the family attended the local church and events at the local hall.

"Sunnyridge", the home where we were to partake of morning tea, was actually Mick's grandparent's old home.

The village was founded after gold was discovered and the Mount Maude mine commenced in the late 1800s. There isn't a lot left of the little village, which is sad, but in its heyday in the early 1900s, there was a population of about 2000, with the mine employing about 130 men.

We couldn't have had better weather for our outing, as there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the temperature reaching the mid 20s C.

Chris, our guide and a few other locals shared stories and showed a few artifacts, such as the old sign from the entrance to the village.

When Mick was a kid, there was the school, church, hall, post office, manual telephone exchange and a small shop. There was also a building that had been the Enterprise Hotel.

It only survives in pictures today.  Mick actually watched it be bulldozed in the late 60s, or early 70s.

Next, we went up to the St Francis Xaveir church. 

It was built by the miners.  Previously, services were held in various homes of parishioners.  For many years, a priest would travel quite some distance to conduct the services, stay overnight with a local family, before travelling back to the larger centre, or to another outlying parish.  He would often stay with Mick's grandparents in those early days.

The church has not been operational for many years.  Mick and I would sometimes come for a drive out here when we were first together and the church was empty, but you could go inside.  The altar and confessional were there, but nothing else.  The last time we called in there had been cattle inside, which was sad to see.  It became a private residence about fifteen years ago, was then empty for several years and it, together with the old hall beside it, fell into a very poor state of repair.  

Fortunately, a couple of years ago, it was purchased by the current owners, who are undertaking the massive task of restoring it.  They have removed all the blackberries and other weeds that had taken over the property and are building lovely gardens.  The previous owners had commenced to build an extension to the side of the building, which the current owners are going to demolish.  We weren't able to go inside, as they are currently undertaking some major renovations. They have a lot of work ahead of them. We wish them well.

The old Mount David Hall was built from corrugated iron and sits beside the church.  It is currently used as a shed and looking a lot tidier than last time we saw it. When Mick was a kid there would be a dance once a month at Mount David, Black Springs, Rockley and Burraga, so every Saturday there was somewhere to socialise within a not too great a distance.  There were also many tennis parties, with a lot of rural properties having a tennis court beside their home.  For a relatively isolated community, there was a pretty good social life.  Mick talks of all the little kids being put to sleep up on the stage of the hall as the night progressed.  He even went to school here for a little while, during maintenance on the school building, just up the road.

The current owners are even establishing a fern garden along the south side of the hall.  It should look lovely in a few years time.

This sign has hung in our home for many years, given to us by Mick's Dad.  It was the quirky "exit" sign from the Mount David hall.

Our tour finished up with morning tea at "Sunnyridge", Mick's grandparents' home.  There was such a lot of lovely food, both savoury and sweet.  No one required lunch that day.  There were about fifty people on the outing, so a really nice roll up.

The house was looking so nice and fresh in the sunshine.  Apparently, it was built in 1913.  It is constructed from pise.  One of Mick's uncle's homes was built using the same method in the 1950s. Mud was mixed with river tussock, by trampling with horses.  It was then stacked up roughly to create the walls, before being squared up with a shovel.  Door and window openings were then cut out once the walls had dried.  The walls were then rendered.

The back view.

I loved how the concrete of the verandah and garden path had patterns inscribed in them.

Most of the outbuildings are gone, but the old chook shed still stands.  Most people had plenty of chooks.  There was originally also a cow shed for the milker, piggery for the pig or two killed each year and a meat shed.  Being farmers, they killed their own meat, mainly sheep meat.  Of course, there was also the long drop loo.  One corner of the house had a large pantry with the butter churn etc.  You had to be rather self sufficient back in the day.

I had only visited once before, over 30 years ago, when the house was standing empty after the death of Mick's grandmother.  It was interesting to see the construction. Having been empty for some time, it was in a run down state.  

A few years after that it was bought by the current owner, who has a passion for history.  Fortunately, he has preserved this lovely old building and uses it as a weekender.

These were some photos from when he purchased it.  

It was nice to see the old wool bale stencil on one of the walls, complete with Mick's grandfather's intials.

It was a trip down memory lane for Mick as he walked through the old house.  Coincidentally, two of his cousins were also there on the day, as well as one of his best mates from back in those days with his sisters.  It was a bit of a reunion for them all.

There were two rather special moments.

Firstly, we had to take a photo of Mick at the side gate into the back yard, holding a biscuit.  Why, do you ask?

To recreate this photo of him as a toddler, in the early 1960s.  Yes, he still likes his biscuits. It is a different gate now and bit further away from the house, but pretty similar. The clothes line is still there and the concrete going down to the back of the house. You can see that his Grandma had a beautiful garden.

The other special moment was instigated by a lady we know.  Once he retired, Mick's Dad and uncle did some gardening for her. When Mick's Dad moved into a smaller home in town and was clearing out his shed, he gave us the remains of his Mother's old bed.  Remains, because it consisted of four posts, three outer rails and two slats from under the mattress.  There was no head or foot board and one rail was missing.  Mick's Dad told of his mother cutting down the posts as they weren't fashionable and it taking her days.  He hoped that we might do something with it.  We never did.  

In the end, we put it out for sale when we had a garage sale.  Enter the lady Mick's Dad had worked for.  She is very much into antiques and history.  We told her the story, and, as she also grew up that general area, she bought it and hoped that either she or her son would do something with it.  They didn't.

When this event came up, she had an idea.  The bed would return to its original home.  Chris was thrilled to receive it.  With the help of the local woodworking club, he hopes to one day return it to its glory.  I have no photo, as I was videoing the presentation on the benefactor's phone.  

What she did have was a photo of what the bed would have originally looked similar to.  Wow!  It definitely predates the house.  We think it was made from ironbark timber, as each post is incredibly heavy.  The posts had been cut off just above the foot rail at the foot of the bed and about level with the top of the headboard at the head of the bed.  I do hope it gets restored.

We are so pleased we went along for the day.  We learnt a lot about the village, and Chris, who has done a lot of research and hopes to one day write a book about the village, learnt some more information and anecdotes from various people who attended and had a connection with Mount David.

Now we look forward to the next two events we hope to go along to.