Taking advantage of the ANZAC Day public holiday we decided to pack a picnic lunch and head down to the Namadgi National Park in the southern ACT (Australian Capital Territory) for a spot of drawing.

Our destination was the Orroral Valley and in particular the old Orroral homestead which was built in the late 1860’s. Apart from the homestead itself there is a great corrugated iron shearing shed which was built in the 1930’s and a second house from the 1950’s (which has largely been demolished).

Shearing shed with some of the locals

I spent a lot of time looking around and taking photos so in the end I managed only two water colours.

This is one of the old set of doors into the shearing shed – all the doors and windows have been blocked off, presumably to deter vandalism.

Blocked doorway, Orroral shearing shed

The second is the old homestead, looking at the rear of the building. The house, which consists of four rooms faces the valley wall and Orroral rocks.

Orroral homestead, late 1860’s