Umpherston
Sinkhole
Obit - Surname: UMPHERSTON
Given name(s): James
Date: 28-10-1900Source: Government Gazettes
Once a cave formed through dissolution of the limestone, this sinkhole was
created when the top of the chamber fell to the floor of the cave, creating the
perfect environment for its "sunken garden".
Originally beautified by James Umpherston around 1886, it is open at all
times, from dusk each evening the area comes alive with possums as they venture
into the floodlit gardens to feed.
James Umpherston, a local politician, began to develop the sinkhole on his property in 1884.
He and his wife never had children, but their legacy remains to this day in the gorgeous garden they lovingly created.
It's a stunning example of a mix of philosophies: the Enlightenment ideal of the ordered garden (carefully tended hedges, raked gardens) blending with the Romantic notion of nature in its untamed beauty (the water-etched limestone, the jaw-dropping scale of the sinkhole itself).
The water table of the region has dropped over the last century, so the lake
and boathouse that were once at the bottom of the Sinkhole have vanished to be
replaced by a healthy lawn.
Thanks to local social groups and the care of the council the Umpherston
Sinkhole has been restored to its former splendour, complete with a BBQ and
picnic area, raked gardens, water features and the enormous cascading vines that
conceal the caverns beneath. It's also home to semi-tame possums that come out
to be fed at dusk.