The mystery of Sassafras Gully’s stone cross has been solved.
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Some of Springwood Bushwalking Club’s members recently stumbled across the large cross after following a faint track.
Tony Foster from the club issued an appeal for information in the Gazette’s Along the Highway column. In response, Victor Michniewicz came forward to reveal all.
Mr Michniewicz is the author of St Columba’s College Springwood: The story of a local landmark.
He said the cross had been built by seminarians from St Columba’s, who in the early years of the 20th century, would walk to the gully each St Patrick’s Day.
“The construction of a cross of stone at Sassafras Gully was no surprise,” Mr Michniewicz said. “Sassafras was a place that became a favourite of the students of the college and they thought it appropriate that they do something to mark their appreciation of God’s handiwork in nature.”
He couldn’t say exactly when it was built but knows it is at least 80-plus, after finding a reference to the cross in the 1936 annals of St Columba’s, written by the students.
“Among the host of pleasant memories we shall take from our memories of bush picnics during the year, our St Patrick’s day expedition to Sassafras Gully was certainly a standout. Mirth and good feelings ran high and the refreshing waters provided rejuvenation to weary legs.”
The regular picnics stopped after 1941 when the college became a high school for boys intending to study for the priesthood.
A lot of traditions were lost at that time, Mr Michniewicz said, including the picnic, and the cross was eventually hidden by vegetation.
“It is only now during the wanderings of Tony Foster and friends that the stone cross has been rediscovered and the questions were inevitably asked – who, when and why,” he said.
Mr Foster, from the Bushwalking Club, said: “It was both interesting and satisfying to have Victor solve the mystery of the cross and to learn of the historical link to St Columba’s College. Sassafras Gully has been and still is enjoyed by many bushwalkers today.”
