Garroorigang Historic Home

A beautiful privately owned heritage home on the outskirts of Goulburn NSW where visitors can enjoy a personally guided tour through 157 years of living Australian history in the unique setting of a lived in family home.

Silo Hill

This may be a bit of a cheat, as it isn’t a road authority tourist sign. There is a sign, it is brown with white lettering, and it is interesting so it’s made it in here – as a brown sign! Silo Hill in Stroud is along the Thunderbolt Way. Silo Hill contains 8 underground … Read more

Nat Buchanans Grave

Nat Buchanan’s Grave is in the general cemetery at Walcha in New South Wales. Nat (Nathaniel) was a pastoralist, explorer, and pioneer in Australia with many feats from the 1860s through to the 1890s. A plaque next to his grave credits him with the following accomplishments: 1860-1867 – first to stock and manage Bowen Downs … Read more

Thunderbolts Grave

Thunderbolt’s Grave is the grave of Frederick Ward, a bushranger in the 1800s known as Captain Thunderbolt. Fred Ward died 25th May, 1870, aged 36 years. There have been claims made that the grave is of his uncle (or brother?) William, and Fred was not shot at Kentucky Creek (roughly west of Thunderbolts Rock). The … Read more

Thunderbolts Cave

Entrance of Thunderbolt's Cave

Thunderbolt’s Cave is named after Captain Thunderbolt, a bushranger in the 1800s who used the cave as a hideout in 1867 and 1868. He conducted robberies in the New England area through to Tamworth. Frederick Wordsworth Ward (1835-1870) was renowned for escaping from Cockatoo Island in 1863 and had a reputation of a “gentleman bushranger”. … Read more

Mt Nelson Signal Station Reserve

Entrance to Mt Nelson Signal Station Reserve

Located on the hills above Hobart, Mount Nelson Signal Station is the first signal station built in Tasmania in 1811. Signalling was done using flags until 1831 when a three-armed semaphore, able to give 666 code signals. Seven years later, it was replaced by a six-armed semaphore, capable of over 900,000 code signals. A semaphore … Read more

WW2 Tank Traps

Wooden stumps in the bush, installed in WW2 as Tank Traps

Wooden stumps were installed in locations along the “Brisbane Line” to force tanks to rise up, exposing the belly for attack with explosives. The rugged terrain would have forced enemy vehicles to have to use roads, which would have been destroyed. Tank traps and boulders were part of the defensive line. A brown sign is … Read more

Thunderbolt Hideout

Entry to Thunderbolt Hideout

Thunderbolt Hideout is 12 km north-east of Tenterfield. The brown sign is on the side of the road at the site with a short 150 metre walk to the hideout. The hideout is one of many caves and bush hideouts used by Captain Thunderbolt, a bushranger named Fred Ward. Other Thunderbolt brown signs include Thunderbolts … Read more

Stromlo Observatory

Stromlo Observatory

The Mount Stromlo Observatory (MSO) is the headquarters of ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA), located in Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory. The large telescopes at Mt Stromlo were damaged by the fires in 2003 and now decommissioned. The sister site, Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran still has operational large telescopes. The … Read more

Miners Dugout

Miners Dugout in Burra

The miner dugouts were created by miners wanting to have a dwelling to live in. The dugouts were carved into the banks of Burra Creek, extending 3 miles on each side. The mining boom led to a shortage of housing for the minors and their families. The dugouts helped fill the void of the housing … Read more