Living our Dream...: Sunday 4th September 2011

Today was a lovely day so we decided to go for a drive... I suggested we go for a local drive up too Burragorang Valley, because I am in my local area I was able to show John many places where I used to live, and fill him in on a few things around the local area of The Oaks and Oakdale etc...

We set off travelling up the Burragorang Road towards The Oaks and Oakdale stopping off at the Memorial at the Oakdale Workers Club...a lot of people don't realise just how much history there is in this area...

Since the first coal was mined in 1878, when the Nattai Mining Company was established, and more so since the 1930’s, when the Clinton and Fox families pioneered and established their mines, the whole district has been touched in some way by the mining industry.

In time, all that will remain of the once proud and prosperous coal mining industry in the Valley will be the monuments dedicated to the men who laboured to make their industry one that we can all be proud of.

Although some history can be forgotten by the passing of time, the Burragorang Valley coalminers will never be forgotten. The legacy to generations to come, from a proud and dedicated group of retired miners, in the form of a memorial proudly standing by the side of the road at Oakdale, where almost everyone who ever worked in the Valley would have passed by on their way to work at the pit.

Its a beautiful memorial and it was built by a lot of members of the club...

We then drove on to Nattai on to the Burragorang Valley, I found it amazing that this generally small look out was packed with people... having picnic and socializing...enjoying the beautiful day and views...

Now for some history of the Burragorang Valley for those that are interested.....I find it amazing !

The first white settlement in the 1800s was by Irish free settlers. The Burragorang became one of the most productive farming areas for Sydney. Dissected by the Cox and Wollondilly Rivers which merged to form the Warragamba River, the valley was dotted by a series of small settlements where cattle, dairy cows, pigs and vegetables were farmed for the city markets. By the 1930s coal had been discovered, while silver mining was already underway at nearby Yerranderie, and mining and farming became the mainstays of the local economy.

The Burragorang was also a popular holiday spot and was renowned for its guesthouses, where Sydneysiders could come for a weekend to go horse-riding and bushwalking and attend the many dances that were on offer. However, by the 1940s, city planners were already talking about one of the most pressing issues facing Sydney – the provision of a secure water supply – and the Burragorang Valley was earmarked as the site for a new dam.

In the 1930s and 40s, NSW was experiencing a bad drought, and during the war years planning began for the building of Warragamba Dam. The site of the dam meant that the 170 residents who called the Burragorang Valley their home would need to leave, either because their properties would be submerged by the dam's waters or because they would be cut off from road access.

Although protest meetings, petitions and deputations to local members of parliament called for the dam to be stopped, it went ahead regardless. Throughout the 1950s, the Sydney Water Board bought up properties in the area or resumed land that was needed for the catchment area. Houses were pulled down and the valley cleared of trees and vegetation in preparation for the completion of the dam in 1960.

For many former valley residents, their forced removal remains a bitter memory even today. When NSW experiencing a prolonged drought, the dam was at its lowest it has ever been, and some of the foundations and fence lines of the old homesteads in the Burragorang were exposed. Which meant some of the residents have, for the first time, been able to visit the land on which their childhood homes once stood.

I find that so sad but I'm also glad that they have made this lookout available for folks to come now and look and appreciate what they went through for the area to have the water supply it has today..

THEN !!

NOW !!

We had a nice walk around and took more pictures.. they also have a memorial up at the look out too !!

The inscription on the memorial reads as follows...

The Majestic cliffs rimming this valley stand silent sentinel of respect to those families who lived out their lives beneath their shadow as keepers of the soil, before their valley was flooded in 1958.
The same cliffs carved and etched by the long hands of time are a fitting monument to the miners of silver-lead at Yerranderie and the miners of the coal beds beneath these ramparts who toiled and gave their lives dedicated to a worthy cause”