Gungahlin heritage on the agenda
Jun 2, 2009
Located east of Gundaroo Road and to the south of Burgmann Anglican School, the site holds the ruins of an old homestead, owned by some of the more successful small farmers in the Ginninderra district, Thomas and Catherine Gribble.
The Gribbles were contributors to the economic, social and sporting life of the Ginninderra region and the family is still represented in the ACT and remembered by early residents of Canberra.
While little is left of the house but stone walls, the site was endorsed onto the ACT Heritage Places Register in 1993 and a protective fence was erected to prevent vandalism.
However president of the Canberra Archaeological Society Helen Cooke said the site was crying out for conservation and some signage to let people know about the prior residents and the history of agricultural settlement in Gungahlin. “The Canberra Archaeological Society Inc is concerned about sites like the Valley that need conservation; there are more sites in and around the ACT and the last occupants of some of them are still around to tell their stories”. “Interpretation of the history of the area enriches the experiences of visitors and residents alike. Another house ruin, Crinigan’s Hut, has been conserved in Wanderer Court, Amaroo”. “The society and the descendants of the Crinigans have spent 20 years conserving this place through the generosity of ACT heritage grants, but do not have the resources to work on all the needy places.”
The society has applied for a heritage grant but have also held workshops during National Archaeology Week to discuss significant heritage places and how those concerned can best help the government to achieve good outcomes for the places and the people who care for them.
To find out more about how you can help preserve local heritage sites visit www.cas.asn.au.
Source: The Northside Chronicle – 2 June 2009.
The Chronicle is published by The Federal Capital Press Pty Ltd - 9 Pirie Street, Fyshwick.
<< News index
Send to a friendpost a comment
Post Comment
We welcome comments on this article, provided they have something to contribute. Please note that all links will be created using the nofollow attribute. This is a spam free zone. HTML is stripped from comments, but BBCode is allowed.