Hermit's Cave - WikiHQ

The Hermit's Cave is a heritage-listed complex of stone structures on Scenic Hill on the northeastern outskirts of Griffith, New South Wales, Australia.

Misleadingly called 'The Hermit's Cave', the site in reality comprises a complex of shelters, terraced gardens, exotic plants, water-cisterns, dry-stone walling and linking bridges, stairways and paths that stretch intermittently across more than a kilometre of the escarpment. Made single-handedly by a reclusive Italian migrant, Valerio Ricetti, these structures involved the moving of hundreds of tons of stone and earth, together with the ingenious incorporation of natural features in the landscape.

The site is recognised for being a rare example of an Australian hermit's domain. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 12 January 2007.

History

Over the period from around 1929 to 1952 the hermit Valerio Ricetti fashioned an outcrop of rock shelters and rock overhangs on a ridge-top site outside Griffith into his living quarters. The historical archaeological complex includes rock shelters (some modified into cave-like enclosures), dry-stone walling, stone stairways and paths, terraced gardens, water cisterns, remnant plantings, inscriptions and rock murals. Over more than two decades Ricetti developed, utilised and occupied structures along the one-kilometre-long site where he lived in isolated seclusion from 1929 to 1941. He continued to work on the site until 1952, when he returned to Italy, where he died in the same year. But Ricetti was always a loner, working away from others on the farm and sleeping in the pruning shed. He was troubled by visions and obsessed with his cave: "Disturbing him also was an illusion - a "man and woman in the sky". Very real to him, they towered above him, demanding that he do more and more work." By all accounts these visions stemmed from his disastrous love affair in Broken Hill. Ricetti spent as much time as possible at his cave where he stuffed his earnings from Ceccato into clefts in the rocks before Ceccato opened a bank account into which he paid Ricetti's wages direct (Fenwick 1977: 9 ).

Valero Ricetti's history as documented

There is very little documentation on Valerio Ricetti's life in Australia and it is almost exclusively confined to records of his internment, dated 1942-45, held by National Archives Australia. Much of the information contained in these records is in the form of Ricetti's answers to a Military Police Questionnaire prior to his internment in 1942. But very little of this information provided by Ricetti can be substantiated by other documents. and also as 12 March 1903. The latter date is likely incorrect as Ricetti would have been only 11 or 12 years old on arrival in Australia. One month later Ricetti claims that he worked in the Broken Hill mines from 1914–17 and on the railways at Grafton, NSW, from 1917-21 after which he came to Griffith where he was employed by various Italian farmers for a few days at a time. The records from 1942 also note Ricetti's two court appearances in the period before his arrival in Griffith: at Adelaide on 7 October 1919 for a breach of the War Precautions Act (Aliens) (offence unspecified), fined five pounds or one month's hard labour and at Barham, NSW, on 14 October 1927 for stealing, fined ten pounds or two months hard labour. The same records note that Ricetti claimed to have left his passport at the Adelaide Police Station but that enquiries failed to confirm this and that examination of his finger prints revealed that Ricetti was also known in Adelaide as Frank Pullen and Frank Muler.(Heritage Office pers. comm. 2006: State Records SA). confirm his internment as an enemy alien between May 1942 and December 1943. The documents also reveal the difference in assessment of Ricetti the individual by the local and state police services. One account suggests Ricetti was moved during his internment to a mental institution in Orange, NSW, for treatment. However, there is no record for that period of Ricetti being admitted to Bloomfield Hospital, Orange (at that time the only mental institution in Orange).

Description

thumb|right|Dry stone walling at the Hermit's Cave complex

The Hermit's Cave Complex is a collection of rock shelters and rock overhangs (several of which have been modified by Ricetti to create cave-like enclosures) with elaborate stoneworks and earthworks created by Ricetti, all of which are located along a long, narrow ridge top site outside Griffith. Ricetti's work is over more than one kilometre along the south-eastern face of Scenic Hill which is a escarpment on the southernmost part of the McPherson Range. Scenic Hill is now adjacent to the western edge of the Collina residential suburb. The southern and northern edges of the site are defined by Ricetti's hide-outs constructed in rocky outcrops. The western perimeter is currently defined by the road reserve boundary of Scenic Drive although there are possibly remnants of other constructions west and north-west of this road. The area of the nominated site comprises 16.16 ha with a length of 1150 m and varying widths of approximately 120 to 190m.

Condition

The gardens were reported to be in a fair condition as at 19 June 2006, although erosion of clay mortar supporting the stone masonry work on the retaining walls is a concern. Erosion is equally a concern on the retaining walls to the "Chapel". Graffiti is a concern, with graffiti damage to some of Ricetti's original rock art.