New blaze at border marker H87 after removal of the Mouat Tree

Saturday 14 March 2026: The Bobeyan Divide * – L/M. The Bobeyan (Boboyan) Divide forms the southern border of the ACT. We’ll walk in via the Settlers Track to Waterhole Hut, then SW to the Divide to discover border markers and blaze trees. See where the Mouat Tree at the Namadgi Visitors Centre came from. We’ll return SE along the Divide, passing a marvellous NSW portion survey reference tree. Home via Westermans graves and homestead and the Settlers Track. Around 20km and 500vm spread throughout the day. Relatively easy walking on the Settlers Track, open valley floor and fire trails. A relaxed pace.

Summary

From Garmin Connect (recorded on Garmin MAP66i handheld) – Distance: 20.2km | Climb: 630vm (seems a bit high. But AllTrails says 575vm) | Time: 4:58 moving + 1:58 of stops = 6:54 | Grading: L/M; M(10).

Photographs

View photographs here. More pics in the album.

gpx file

Download the gpx file here.

Track Map

Here’s where we went:

Track Boboyan Divide

Trip Report

We met at Lanyon at 7.30am and drove down the Boboyan Road to the Brayshaws/Settlers Track car park. Temperature dropped to around 5°C in the southern ACT.

I was last in this area on 7 Oct 23 and before that on 8 Jul 14 and 30-31 Aug 14.

We were walking at 8.45am. A magnificent Autumn day!

A quick visit to Brayshaws Hut.

Brayshaws Hut

2.5km west along the Settlers Track, we stopped at the Grassy Creek yards. As I was to find today, much deterioration of sites since my last visit – exactly like me.

Grassy Creek sheepyard site

Lovely walking!

Pleasant walking on the Settlers Track

Next stop at 4km was Waterhole Hut.

Waterhole Hut and tank

We popped down to the Waterhole stockyard, then returned for smoko.

Waterhole Stockyards

Our next leg took us 2.3km south to New Grassy Creek Fire Trail (not shown on my 2006 vintage digital map).

I tried for a few border markers (N42, O42, Q42) but could not located them – I don’t like to dally with walkers who may not be interested. For old time’s sake I did visit the 112 Mile marker blaze tree site. I saw it in situ on previous visits. It’s now preserved in the Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG).

112 Mile marker (and W40 blaze) in the Canberra Museum and Gallery

We walked the border FT for 3.8km to border marker H87, where “The Mouat Tree” was removed. Here’s the border marker lockspit.

Michael at border marker H87

And here’s the new blaze that was made.

New blaze at H87

It was 12.30pm, so lunch was called.

Our next leg took us 5.2km SE back along the border FT to the NSW Portion Survey Reference tree. Read all about it here.

NSW Portion Survey Reference tree

Another 1.8km took us to Westermans Homestead. Some more delightful country as we cut a fire trail corner.

Walking NE down a creek line to Westermans

We called in at the graves.

Westermans graves

An arvo break and the chance to poke about.

Westermans Homestead and tank

Or not.

Arvo break at Westermans

An interesting structure going up in the far distance, in the direction of Boboyan Rd at the southern border. I wonder where exactly and what it is?

33X zoom from Westermans – what is it?

A 2km walk on the Settlers Track back to our vehicles.

We called in at the Namadgi Visitors Centre on the way back.

Down past the Fallen Leaves sculpture.

Fallen Leaves sculpture at NVC

To visit the original B87 blaze tree – the Mouat Tree.

The Mouat Tree at NVC – the original H87 blaze tree

Lots of signage there, including the story of the new blaze.

The story of the new H87 blaze

Glorious weather. Trust you enjoyed the day folks.

The AllTrails map is here, where you can pan and zoom.

Party

12 walkers – Jenny A, Michael C, Jo C, Karina J, Abraham K, Charity M, Priya M, Neil R, Lam SF, Mark T, Ah Lin W, me.