Valerie Lhuede won an Order of Australia Medal for restoring the silver mining town of Yerranderie – but really, it was a labour of love
Architect Valerie Lhuede has written a book on Yerranderie’s history, going back to its first explorer in 1802. It is called Yerranderie is My Dreaming and is beautifully illustrated.
It was released in July last year. For more information visit yerranderie.com.
“My favourite place is a town in south-west NSW, about 100km from Sydney, called Yerranderie. I love it because it is historic, beautiful… and I own it.
My father was a businessman who became interested in silver after cycling from Melbourne to Broken Hill in 1909 and working in the silver mines there. Yerranderie mines rose at the same time, but they failed in the Great Depression. Dad and his friends bought Yerranderie in 1947 hoping to get the mines going again, but they didn’t have much success.
Yerranderie is in the southern Blue Mountains, close to the edge of Lake Burragorang, and it’s the centre of a bushwalking area. I was a bushwalker when I was young and I always loved going there, even though it was pretty much a ghost town. So years later I decided to buy the place and restore it. I’ve devoted half my life, that’s over 40 years, to the restoration of Yerranderie.
Originally it had a timber-framed two-storey post office and an accommodation house. I’ve renovated it and it now has accommodation for 30 people. The former tailor’s shop next door now features arts and crafts and I’ve converted an old slab hut into a folk museum. There is also a museum with town artefacts, and the bakery features my Aboriginal art gallery. Slippery Norris’ house – he was a miner and a Gallipoli veteran who lived to almost 100 – now has accommodation for six people.
The main centre is pure history. The old mines are still there and there’s a big peak in the middle of town. It’s a 1000ft climb and from the top you get a magnificent 360-degree view of the area.
I still research Yerranderie’s history. I encourage students and overseas tourists to visit Yerranderie. They can experience everything that you get in the Northern Territory and it’s only 100km from Sydney. It has a similar outback atmosphere and now that the bush has returned, it has native trees and animals – it is a private wildlife park.
We get a lot of visitors on long weekends but the rest of the time it’s pretty quiet. The population is made up of the caretakers and me. The same people come back because they love the isolation. It is so serene. Many locals have relatives who once lived there. We take people on tours and tell them about the history going back to the Aborigines.
The main problem with Yerranderie is access. The lake stops entry from the east, and the road from the west is pretty rough, but if you’ve got a 4WD or a stout car you can get through.
I’m 85 so I spend less time there than I used to. Because it’s so isolated, the township depends on me to run it, but I hope the Blue Mountains World Heritage Group will take it over when I’m gone.
While I live part-time in Sydney, Yerranderie is certainly my favourite place – to me it is home. And it stirs a lot of spiritual feelings in me. Where some people have a family tree, I have a whole town’s family tree!”
By Needra D’Souza
Open Road September/October 2008
