March 2021 report
Venue
Yvonne’s at Hornsby Heights and Crossland Reserve
Participants
Ron, Chris, Helen, Peter, Richard, Natalie, Colin and birthday girl, Yvonne
The start
-morning tea at Yvonne’s for her 80th
Points of Interest
-we all enjoyed visiting Yvonne’s amazing, lush garden full of well cared for plants and the odd animal from the next door bush area.
-then a drive down Sommerville Rd to Crossland reserve (now a National Park area). It is adjacent to Berowra Creek. We walked around to see the area full of trails and picnic and camping areas.
-The Great North Walk passes through the Reserve. Crossland Reserve is managed/maintained by Hornsby Shire Council.
-Crosslands Reserve, Traditional country of the Dharug people is rich in history and one of few remaining examples of mangrove swamps and salt marsh left in the Dharug areas. There are over 100 Aboriginal sites known to be present in this area including carvings, paintings, axe grinding grooves, scattered flints and middens.
-Crosslands Reserve is named after Burton Crossland site caretaker for the land owner Matthew Charlton in 1860. He made a living cutting timber, orcharding, fishing and boat building. As the area became more popular Crossland built a guesthouse to accommodate the growing number of tourists. He also constructed a road (now Sommerville Road) to provide access to the reserve.
-Interesting during World War II (1942) with a fear that Japan might invade all small craft moored along the Hawkesbury River were taken to a safe haven at Crosslands. However at this time heavy rain fell lasting 3 days upstream near Galston Gorge where fallen trees blocked the river forming a dam. Days later the dam broke and many of the craft were found wrecked among the inlets of Berowra Creek and the Hawksbury River
-back at Yvonne’s we enjoyed chicken, salad and fruit for lunch
The finish
-we headed for home about 3.45pm after a great day
Distance walked
-some, a couple of Klms and others about 5Klms