On a windswept hillside near Yass, a howling southerly blows through the 19th-century keyhole in an historic wooden door at Cooma Cottage. It's probably the same keyhole that explorer Hamilton Hume, who called this modest bungalow home between 1839 and 1873, used to lock and unlock the door.
"Oh, it creates a terrible draught," mutters one of the volunteers of the heritage property, now a well-known National Trust tourist attraction.
But the wind doesn't howl for long for, as if on cue, she grabs a handful of tissues and promptly plugs the hole.
Modern keyholes don't have the gaping openings of these antique locks and while this means we are spared icy winds blowing through them, it does preclude that age-old practice of spying through the keyhole.
The mind boggles at what some voyeurs must have spotted while stealing a peek in some keyholes. Not to mention how many secrets may have been exposed and crimes witnessed.
Such keyholes have always fascinated me. In fact, much to the lament of Mrs Yowie on a recent visit to Rome, I ditched the Colosseum (in 45-degree heat it's little more than overcrowded cauldron full of pick pockets anyway, isn't it?) and gave the Spanish Steps (Old Parliament House steps in Canberra are better in my humble opinion) a miss, preferring instead to beat a path to a keyhole.
Not any old keyhole. The not-so-secret Aventine Keyhole has become a drawcard for many other curious visitors to the Eternal City and is part of the property owned by the Priory of the Knights of Malta, a Roman Catholic religious order of crusader knights that originated in Jerusalem in the 11th century. It is the oldest surviving chivalric order in the world and is a sovereign entity under international law. The broader estate is also home to the embassy of the Order of Malta to Italy.
If you look through this unassuming keyhole at the main (locked) entrance, you get a great surprise - an intimate view that allows you to see across three countries: the sovereign territory owned by the knights, then Italy, and in the distance and perfectly framed the dome to St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.
Is there a better view in Rome? I say no!
Even Mrs Yowie agrees. The excitement of looking through this keyhole is the sense of anticipation of what's on the other side, even though in this case, we already knew. But what about when you don't?
That was the case for Rose Oates of Gungahlin, who in circa 1990 while exploring Hoskinstown on horseback as a nine-year-old, rode up the overgrown path to the then abandoned Hoskinstown Catholic Church.
"It's a different time now and I'm not sure many parents would let kids ride horses on dirt roads and explore abandoned church yard," admits Rose.
Despite already being "freaked out" at the tell-tale depressions in the ground of the adjoining graveyard, Rose was desperate to look inside the locked church but the windows were too high and the view obscured by the stained glass.
So, what did our adventurous young girl do? She eventually conjured up enough courage to creep up to the front door and peek through the keyhole.
Despite being three decades ago, Rose recalls it as if it were yesterday.
"Inside appeared abandoned with broken pews, [and all] dusty and messy," she remembers. "I imagined that maybe it would make a good place for a vampire." Heck.
Rose's imagination must have been running rampant for she further scared her friend by telling her she thought she'd seen a severed hand in a paint tin around the back of the church.
"But when we looked again it was just a rock in some water," she recalls. Phew!
The deserted church soon became a favourite weekend and school holiday haunt for Rose and her friend who confesses "we would ride there quite often on our horses, unsaddle and let the horses graze while we had lunch and played there for hours".
Recently Rose returned to the church to look through the keyhole one more time.
"This time it was different. The church was well kept, clean and functional looking," she reports. "It made me wonder if my childhood recollection about it being all messed-up and just was my imagination running wild."
In the recently published book Under the Pines A History of St Gregory's Catholic Parish Queanbeyan NSW editor Margaret Carmody explains that the Hoskinstown Catholic Church which was initially named St Patrick's, and later renamed St Peter and St Paul's, was opened in 1886, and not 1866 as previously stated in this column.
Margaret can also explain the abandoned nature of the church when Rose looked through the keyhole in circa 1990.
"Mass was regularly celebrated at the Church of St Peter and St Paul's until the dwindling Catholic population in the area forced closure in 1960," she reports. It wasn't until the 1990s that "many local people assisted in the restoration and reopening of the church."
Unfortunately, a decline in the number of worshippers resulted in the church closing for regular services again last year. But you can still steal a peek through the keyhole!
SIMULACRA CORNER
A rocky coastline is often the best location to find examples of simulacra. On a recent pilgrimage to warmer climes of the central coast of NSW for some salt water therapy, I noticed this hole created by weathering. It resembles a chunky keyhole, doesn't it? Sure, it does!
More horses in hotel bars? Giddy-up!
Last week's exposé of horses in pubs prompted a bulging mailbag.
Kate Mitchell, the publican at Majors Creek's Elrington Hotel from 2005 to 2021, regularly rode her horse 'Mick Dundee' into the bar.
"There was a lot of parading horses through the pub in that phase of life," laughs Kate. "Wade [her partner] was often breaking in horses and if we had one of good temperament, we'd ride it into the hotel.
"Some people at the bar were shocked, but you wouldn't ride [a horse] in if it was too busy, for obvious reasons," she explains.
From 1984, Kate and her family also owned the Braidwood Hotel (the pink pub) for more than 30 years and one of the common stories told by patrons featured a thoroughbred that was brought in for a drink after winning a race at the town's racecourse in the 1960s.
"Apparently its owner brought it in for a bucket of beer, and as it left, it got caught on the front doors, and took the top of the door with it," she reveals. Ouch.
According to Kate, "there was also a Braidwood local who owned a black Shetland pony who would take it for a walk around town with his little girl". They'd often finish the walk with a drink at the pub. "The pony had a liking for Toohey's Old," she laughs.
Meanwhile, regular correspondent Barry Snelson of Calwell reports his uncle, Claude Locker, once rode his horse into the old Jindabyne Hotel (site now at the bottom of Lake Jindabyne).
"He rode to the bar and much to the mirth of the locals sculled a large beer and bought another for the ride home to Adaminaby," reports Barry. Apparently, on his way out he cheekily yelled to all gathered, "Drinks on the house!"
Mmm. I wonder if the publican complied.
WHERE IN THE SNOWIES?
Rating: Medium
Clue: By name and by design
How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to tym@iinet.net.au. The first correct email sent after 10am, Saturday July 6 wins a double pass to Dendy, the Home of Quality Cinema.
Last week: Congratulations to Peter Lambert of Campbell who was the first to correctly identify last week's photo as part of the three-tonne beaten copper lintel sculpture (1968) by Tom Bass (1916-2010) at the entrance to the National Library of Australia. Peter just beat Rohan Goyne of Evatt, Conrad van Hest of Holder and Leigh Palmer of Isaacs. The work, almost impossible to capture in a single photograph, is based on allegorical symbols based on ancient Sumerian and Akkadian seals dating back to 3000 BC. According to a spokesperson for the library, "at the centre is the winged sun, symbolising enlightenment and inspired truth. On the right are spear-like tree branches representing the source root and continuous growth of knowledge. On the left is the curved ark of knowledge, referring to the library's place in collective memory and preservation of intellectual endeavour."
SPOTTED
Andrew Pearce of Crace waited seven years to visit the remarkable "Secret Seven" scribbly gums in the Gungaderra Grassland Nature Reserve.
"Now our kids are old enough to make the trek, and with a keen eye out for any whomping willows (Harry Potter novels are keenly read at the moment), we recently attempted to find the trees," reports Andrew.
"After a period of hunting, we were pleased to find a few of the trees and attempted to recreate your photo of the venerable Klaus Hueneke demonstrating the size. Fun was had climbing into position and attempting to recreate the shot without falling out of the tree doing so." Bravo.
- CONTACT TIM: Email: tym@iinet.net.au or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, GPO Box 606, Civic, ACT, 2601
