End User here: Thank you, QGIS. History Mystery solved
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David Sidwell
Mar 9, 2025, 3:41:44 AM3/9/25
to QGIS Australia User Group
Just a quick one, to sing the praises of QGIS. It directly helped me solve a local mystery at Marysville, Vic. We had the local Info Centre, Historical Society and nearby hiking club involved.
A minor tourist spot, in the bush out of town, was destroyed in the terrible 2009 fires. It was decided to let nature take it back. We had been told that no sign of it remains. I had been there a few times, but no current (nor old) maps showed its exact location. Challenge accepted...
To cut to the chase, I used a few data points, a bit of thinking and QGIS to create a 'live' PDF as to where I thought it should be.... and - on the day - myself and a local from the Info Centre - found it, first time, smack on the live map.
There was a small, hand-written and badly faded A4 sign, off the road .... confirming the location :-)
A minor tourist spot, in the bush out of town, was destroyed in the terrible 2009 fires. It was decided to let nature take it back. We had been told that no sign of it remains. I had been there a few times, but no current (nor old) maps showed its exact location. Challenge accepted...
To cut to the chase, I used a few data points, a bit of thinking and QGIS to create a 'live' PDF as to where I thought it should be.... and - on the day - myself and a local from the Info Centre - found it, first time, smack on the live map.
There was a small, hand-written and badly faded A4 sign, off the road .... confirming the location :-)
Andrew Jeffrey
Mar 9, 2025, 4:20:47 AM3/9/25
to Australian and New Zealand QGIS User Group
Cracking job David. I love hearing stories like this.
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Brian McRae
Mar 9, 2025, 3:49:45 PM3/9/25
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Gold
Emma Hain
Mar 9, 2025, 4:57:56 PM3/9/25
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My parents had their honeymoon at Marysville so keen to hear about the spot so I can pass it onto them.
David Sidwell
Mar 9, 2025, 7:18:21 PM3/9/25
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Sure, I love the area, Emma.
TL;DR It was called Athols Abbey (AA). It was a semi-cleared area on a river flat, about 7km from Marysville just off the main tourist road; the gravel "Lady Talbot Drive" (LTD). Historically it was a camping ground, I understand.
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I don't recall it being on any major (detailed) tourist maps, but remembered stumbling on it (AA sign?) when driving along LTD in, from memory, a 2WD vehicle. I can't find any photos or records, but it was before 2009.
It sticks in my mind because I had a 'miracle' rescue there. There was a gravel road (like a ramp) about 50m long that was at a right angle to LTD and went down to AA. It was a bit steep. AA had some of the tall trees removed, but not all...so maybe that remaining Mountain Ash gave it the name (?).
I drove down the track and had a look at AA, but then couldn't get back up the 'ramp' to LTD. Kept sliding. It started to drizzle, making things worse. I started to hitch-hike back to Marysville. And about 5 minutes later, I hear a rumble behind me. And thus a 4WD training school came up along LTD. And happily taught the students How To Tow A Silly Duffer Out of a Pickle.
It was the ramp and cleared area that gave me the first 2025 clue on where it was. I had a rough location from a large scale map. A few weeks ago, in historical (c 2003) Google
Earth images, I'm sure I could see both the ramp and the cleared area,
quite close to the approx location. And then I found this on an old website:
I used QGIS to virtually create this tourist drive, then taught myself how to 1) measure distances along the 'arc' of the curving track... and 2) add a marker every 1 KM. My virtual distance - to the location from Google Earth of the ramp - came in very close to the table's 6.4 km. Export to a georef PDF and off we go.
David Sidwell
Senior Technical Writer (semi-retired)
Williamstown, Victoria, Australia
M: 0438 397 822
Williamstown, Victoria, Australia
M: 0438 397 822
https://www.davidphoto.org/ (still migrating, should be ok)
Sometimes blogging about Music, Science, Movies, Hiking, History, Technology, TV...
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