365 Place: Ginninderra Falls

Day 66: Ginninderra Falls, ACT, Australia

Ginninderra Falls is located less than 10 minutes drive from where I live, but I have never been there. It is a place that my husband Marty has talked about often as somewhere he used to go swimming in the summer months when he was growing up in Canberra.

In years gone by, the falls used to be open to the public, even though they were on private land. In more recent years the land owners stopped people from visiting this lovely location.

I am not totally sure why the falls are no longer open to the public, perhaps the property changed hands? This lovely photo by Roy Torkington shows how picturesque the site is.

It is also a site where reputedly a bunyip was sighted in the early 1900s. The Australia – Bunyips Mythology, Origins and Sightings website noted that:

Strange animal the size of a 3-month-old calf seen basking on a sandbank near water’s edge. The creature wriggled into the water and disappeared from view.

For readers unfamiliar with the term Bunyip, it is a mythical Aboriginal creature that dwells close to waterholes and creeks. Mr Wikipedia says about Bunyips:

The bunyip, or kianpraty, is a large mythical creature from Aboriginal mythology, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes. The origin of the word bunyip has been traced to the Wemba-Wemba or Wergaia language of Aboriginal people of South-Eastern Australia

Through the energy and commitment of a local conservation group, there are moves to establish the area as a national park, which would be wonderful. Local environmentalist and media personality Tim the Yowie Man, wrote an article in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2011, titled Ginninderra Falls For All of Us.

I hope one day to visit this lovely site as it would be wonderful to experience such a magnificent place so close to home.