From oddly growing trees with their own personalities, to the history of its decomissioned powder magazines, Callum Brae Nature Reserve is a little known treasure trove of surprises.
00:00One of the things that Calumbray Nature Reserve is well known for are its terrific trees.
00:06Trees like this one here with its bulbous trunk.
00:10Can you see its two eyes?
00:13Cheeky grin.
00:15And is it licking its lips?
00:30Another favourite is this extraordinary leaning tree on the southeastern side of the reserve.
00:38I wonder what made it grow in such a peculiar way.
00:43However, one of the more historical aspects of Calumbray is that before it became part of Canberra Nature Park, it housed an official explosives reserve for about 40 years.
00:57From 1955, explosives for a nearby quarry were stored in three brick buildings, known as powder magazines.
01:07At various times, they were also used to store flammable nitrate film, now part of the Precious National Film and Sound Archive Collection.
01:17And in 1988, shortly before they were decommissioned, the Australian Federal Police stored TNT here.
01:23The buildings were strategically built, about 100 metres apart, so that should one building explode, it would not trigger the explosives in the other buildings.
01:34And their inner roof was designed in such a way that should there be an explosion, the force of the blast would be directed upwards.
01:44Calumbray Nature Reserve.
01:46Little known and seldom visited, but full of surprises.
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