A group of around 30 members of the Range Rover Club of NSW spent the weekend in the Braidwood region on the trail of, among other things, the Clarke Brothers.
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Longtime member, Hugh Hodgkinson has a property near Neringla where the group was staying. On Saturday they looked at the gold mines and gold dredge at Araluen, and walked around the old Araluen cemetery.
Mr Hodgkinson, who said he has been a member of the Range Rover Club for around 25 years, arranged this trip and was leading it, along with his Neringla neighbour, Braidwood Historical Society president and author of the book, The Clarke Gang, Peter Smith. About half the group had done this trip previously, but unfortunately last time some of the rivers were in flood and impassable.
The Braidwood Times caught up with the group on Sunday morning when the convoy of about 14 vehicles stopped for morning tea at Deua Tin Huts at Gundillion on their way south along the Cooma Road to Jinden.
Mr Smith, with his expertise on bushranging history in the area, was on board to take them to look at the site where Tom and John Clarke ambushed and killed four policemen in January 1867. While the site of the police ambush is among the more famous of the historic Clarke Brothers sites, the site of the final shoot-out between the Clarkes and the police, which resulted in the capture of the brothers, is also at Jinden.
From Jinden, the group was going to travel to Bendethera and then back north along the ridge before dropping back down the escarpment to the Hodgkinson property for the night: a round trip of about five hours.
Although the members are based in Sydney, President of the Range Rover Club, Jim Nicholson, said that the club holds regular trips away, sometimes day trips to nearby spots, and sometimes overland trips of up to three weeks.
The Deua Valley terrain is both scenic and challenging for off-roading, while the local history aspect provided a focal point for the trip.