Bushranger Frank Gardiner, a member of Ben Hall's gang, is said to have kept watch for passing stage coaches from the granite ridge at what is today known as "Gardiners Lookout", a rocky outcrop overlooking the highway between Cootamundra and Bethungra, about 12km south of Cootamundra.
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Little could Gardiner have imagined that this isolated spot would, 160 years later, be the scene of Australia's biggest-ever orienteering get-together, with more than 1,000 "cunning runners" swarming through the bush, up gullies and over boulders using their maps and compasses to navigate through a series of checkpoints to get to the finish first.
That's what Split Rock, a ruggedly beautiful area of native bushland overlooking one of the Cootamundra area's finest mixed farms, "Winona", will look like when runners and their supporters and spectators gather for the Australian Long-distance Orienteering Championships on Sunday and the Oceania Relay on Monday.
The property's owner, Georgina Ward, says it will be the largest number of people ever to be present in this scenic part of the world, even including a similar orienteering event held on a neighbouring property 30 years ago.
Mrs Ward said she was happy to make the property available when the organisers approached her 18 months ago, as it showcases Cootamundra to an international audience - and will also help the Cootamundra Lions Club who will do catering on the day.
"There's been little for me to do except to make sure our animals are kept safely away," she said.
"There's a paddock for parking and large flat areas where marquees will be put up and an 'arena' for the start and finish lines, with screens displaying results and even drones for video."
Sunday and Monday's events are part of the 2019 Oceania Orienteering Carnival, due to start Saturday with a sprint event in Wagga, and going on to three days of school orienteering around Wagga and a further two days of contests in Beechworth and Wangaratta in Victoria, all connected by the Olympic Highway.
Carnival organiser Steven Goggs of Orienteering ACT said spectators from the Cootamundra region were welcome, and need only follow the signposting off the Olympic Highway and pay a gold coin donation at the gate.
