Page 3937 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 29 October 2013
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Glenburn precinct in Kowen Forest contains some of the ACT and region’s earliest European settlements, including the Glenburn Homestead which was built in 1897 and was home to John and Agnes Edmonds until 1906. The precinct also includes the ruin of Colliers Homestead, built from local stone in 1880; the site of the Kowen Public School and charcoal kilns; and the Colverwell graves, which are the oldest marked European graves in the ACT.
Since its inception in 2010, the Friends of Glenburn volunteer group has worked in partnership with the ACT government to promote and protect the values of the Glenburn precinct. The friends group have been working to restore Glenburn Homestead by removing dying pine trees, straightening the homestead’s walls, installing gutters, removing weeds and replacing fencing. Reclaimed timber from the TAMS urban tree program was used as part of the restoration works.
Last year the volunteers removed blackberry weeds from the Colliers Homestead. The ACT government has also committed to capping the ruin’s walls this financial year to slow the process of decay. The Friends of Glenburn and the ACT government have also re-erected the headstones and installed a new fence around the Colverwell graves, which are in memory of two sisters who drowned in Glenburn Creek in 1837.
Little is known about the circumstances surrounding the drowning of Margaret and Elizabeth. But at the official opening of the restoration works on the graveyards on 28 February 2006, Rheuben Colverwell, the great grandson of Luke and Mary and their last surviving descendant, said that one of the girls tried to rescue the other who was in difficulty in the flooded creek. I must say that reflecting on how isolated the site was, and how hard life would have been in the region in the 1830s, one can only imagine the enormity of the tragedy for a family to lose two daughters in this way.
The Glenburn precinct provides fascinating insights into the early European heritage of our region. It contains some valuable heritage assets and captures how life has changed in the 175-odd years since Europeans first occupied this area. I would like to thank the Friends of Glenburn for their hard work, and also the financial contribution of the National Parks Association of the ACT to the restoration works.
Last year Friends of Glenburn volunteers spent some 170 hours removing just blackberry from the site. This shows the commitment and passion the volunteers have for this site. Their achievements demonstrate how important community action groups are in protecting sites of significant cultural value.
Indeed, right across the ACT’s parks and reserves there is not much that we could not do without our hardworking volunteers. I acknowledge that there is more work to be done here, yet what has occurred across this historic precinct over the past few years has served to ensure that its unique character and place in our region’s history will be preserved.
Thank you to Colin McAlister who, on behalf of the Friends of Glenburn, invited me to come and visit. Thank you to the volunteers, the National Parks Association and the ACT Parks and Conservation Service staff. I hope this partnership continues in the coming year as we look to ensure this site receives the protection it deserves.
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