This week, Roy was sorting through old photographs he has taken while out and about when he realised he had never told you about Tarago. Now, when Roy first went to Tarago, he thought there wasn't a huge amount there, but as he drove around he discovered the most interesting house he has ever seen. He was in love with the little house and decided he needed to know more about Tarago, where the house was 'discovered'. He learned that, though Tarago is quite a small community today, it has a fascinating history.
If you would like to visit Tarago, turn off the Hume Highway near Goulburn and follow the Braidwood Road until you reach the intersection of Bungendore Road. Alternately, you can head from Canberra towards Bungendore, and follow the Bungendore Road to Braidwood Road. Tarago is along this route, at the intersection of the two roads. There isn't a huge amount to see in this small, sleepy town, other than the famous Loaded Dog Hotel, but there is plenty of room to kick a ball or break your journey, and the trip makes an interesting change to the normal route between Goulburn and Canberra.
Tarago has an interesting history, despite it now not being a tourist destination. There are some stunning historical buildings, including the old railway station which dates from 1884 and the Loaded Dog Hotel. Before Canberra became the national capital, the road through Tarago was the main road between Goulburn, Queanbeyan, Braidwood, Bungendore and such places, so the road saw a lot of use, even by bushrangers. At its peak, there was a Cobb and Co Staging Post in the town, a place where wool could be loaded and unloaded, the hotel and even a mine which supplied copper, lead and zinc.
Today, the most famous aspect of the town is The Loaded Dog Hotel, which has an interesting history itself, and is the most famous attraction in the town. It was a popular 'safe house' for bushrangers in the area, and according to the local story, the bushrangers Ben Hall and Frank Gardiner were hiding out in the hotel with their gangs when a fight broke out and one of the members of Ben Halls gang shot a young man. To avoid being found out by the police, they apparently buried the body inside the Hotel, under the fireplace. In fact, apparently his ghost still haunts the hotel!
As for the house Roy fell in love with, the reason he loved it was actually for its 'out buildings'. The house itself is made of corrugated iron, and it has an 'outdoor dunny', still the original thunderbox! The buildings he particularly loved though are made with a timber frame, but covered with Shell Oil or Kerosene Tins, cut into shingles. Although it is an unusual building method, somebody put a lot of love into building these buildings, because they shaped all the pieces and overlapped them to make an attractive design. Roy wondered if it was done during the Great Depression. Such an evocative piece of history, (and even recycling before it was popular!)
