Geocaching - The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site (2024)

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Geocache Description:

St Johns Anglican Church Precinct, is heritage-listed. The precinct comprises the church,rectory, cemetery, two church halls and grounds. The dominant feature of the precinct is the historicSt John's the Evangelist Anglican Church.

The church was built in the 1840’s and then consecrated by Bishop Broughton in June 1849. The now iconic local brick building comprises the western tower with needle spire 38.7m high, nave and chancel. The window stone tracery and the floor flagging were cut from a local quarry. The cusped hammerbeam roof trusses were cut from local ironbark trees.

The Church has many fine dedicated stained-glass windows, those earlier are from England, and include two remaining of the original design; later windows are of local design. The organ and choir gallery were built to the design of Blacket in 1861, the Organ was made c. 1860 by Bates and Son in London.

The group of Columbarium walls includes a memorial garden dedicated in 1964. The historic Cemetery, now closed, dates from 1844. It includes 900 grave sites and nearly 1900 interments.

In 1896 the turret clock and peal of eight ringing bells were purchased by Elizabeth Macarthur-Onslow from England. They were dedicated in June 1897 which also marked the diamond jubilee of the reign of Queen Victoria. The chiming clock was made by Gillett and Johnston of London; originally hand wound but now automatically wound by electric motors. The Peal of eight bells, the largest weighing 710 kg was made by Mears and Stainbanks of London. On six of the bells are inscribed with the names of the Macarthur and Onslow families.

The Cemetery on the southern slope of the church site contains many historic graves. The cemetery grounds are on a steep slope with the ground solid being clay which has resulted in considerable damage to graves due to ground movement.

The following interesting information about the cemetery was obtained with thanks from the St Johns website:

• FIRST FUNERAL WAS CONDUCTED: 28TH March 1843 of a 2 yr old boy but the burial took place at Narellan.
• FIRST BURIAL: 28 June 1844 – infant – Elias Thorn – 6 days old.
  BURIED: in section E 093 – there does not appear to be a gravestone for this grave.
• ST JOHNS CHURCH: Was consecrated on 7th June 1849 and the first minister was the Rev. Robert Forest. He was appointed to Camden in late March 1843 but conducted services at the school-church at Narellan because St. John’s was not yet completed. The burial / baptism / marriage registers for St John’s date from March 1843.
• The earliest burial with a gravestone is that of Hannah Lakeman who died 23rd May 1845 and she was 3yrs and 9mths old. Location of grave is in section A 108.
• OLDEST PERSON: was 102 – Philip Hodge who died in 1979 – section D 136 – although there is another woman of the same age in section E approx. 090.
• YOUNGEST PERSON: was 1 hour old – no gravestone – unnamed Child of E Holdsworth. Several children died at birth or shortly after birth in those early years. A few children were also still born.
• INTERESTING INFO:
  In 1868, 3 children from 3 different but related families died in the same week. All were under 4 years of age. At this time there was major flooding in the Camden region and it is possible that the deaths were a result of infection or disease because of contamination of the water supply.
• INTERESTING BURIALS:
  Alexander MARTIN – who died on 7th September 1868. He had been a commander in the Royal Navy and had served under Horatio Nelson at Trafalgar and at the battle of Camperdown. He named his property at Theresa Park “Camperdown.” He and his wife were also in charge of the Liverpool Orphanage for a period. Section F 003.

To successfully log this Virtual Cache:

Please answer the three questions – and SEND to me .

Additionally, when you log the cache take a selfie of yourself in front of the church or include a sign with your Geocaching name visible and post it in your log. You do not need to show your face in this picture.

1. A short distance outside South wall of Columbarium is a large headstone

Alexander Watson McMinn died at age of 25, what was his father’s age when he died? (S 034 03.389 E 150 41.858)

2.In the centre of the Columbarium 4 walls is a square stone sitting under an arch inscribed with “This Garden Memorial” – who was it erected by? (S 034 03.386 E 150 41.853)

3. EAST Wall ( the furthest OUTER)– Who is the famous local female politician this wall is named after ? (S 034 03.382 E 150 41.858 )

You are welcome to log your find before you send the required information to me, but please send the information to me within a week of logging. Logs which do not meet the photo requirements, or where the required information has not been sent, will unfortunately be deleted. Armchair logging is not acceptable.

_{Note : this is obviously a working church so please be mindful of busy times such as Sundays (8.00 AM,10.00 AM, 6.00 PM),Thursdays 9.30 AM and other church activities such as weddings and funerals.}

There are some limited parking within the church grounds(follow the arrows) otherwise parking is available outside the church grounds.

Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025

This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.

Additional Hints (No hints available.)