It was raining heavily this morning, so I decided to postpone my trip out to the old Ferny Grove to Dayboro railway, and instead visit another “place that is no more”.
Harrisons Pocket once was a thriving little farming community almost 10km directly west of Petrie. In this area, the North Pine River twisted around almost three quarters of a circle forming a “pocket”, and Harrisons pocket nestled along the banks of the river at this point.
It had a school, formerly known as Harrisons Pocket Provisional School, then State School, and a Post and Telegraph Office.
You didn’t really drive through, because it was located in a natural cul-de-sac in the river. The way out was over a shallow part of the river about 3km south east, called “Gordon’s Crossing”. This was one of the earliest crossings of the North Pine River, predating Youngs Crossing by at least twenty years. Incidentally, if you’ve ever been on Gordons Crossing Road, now you know what it’s named after.
Sadly, these places are now inundated by the North Pine dam. You can get pretty close by riding through some scrubby bushland along some fire roads, which is what Harrison and I did today in the pouring rain. (I think he was curious about a place that shared the same name as him).
He found the ride very difficult, especially on some of the muddy tracks. To his credit, he persevered and we made it back home safely.
In the map below you can see the original course (in blue) of the North Pine River before it was dammed. The red track is the path that Harrison and I took. You can click on some of the markers on the map to see the location of the post office, the school and Gordon’s Crossing.
What an amazing little write up. I was looking at the map of Lake Samsonvale for a place to take the family and saw Harrison’s Pocket on the map. As usual, curiosity got the better of me and I threw it into google and your page came up. I love hearing about these forgotten type places, hopefully I can replicate your ride soon, if it still exists! looks like I have a lot of reading ahead of me. Thanks again for this 🙂
Hi Josh
The best place to start exploring this area is from McGavin View Park at the top of Vores Road, Whiteside.
There are walking tracks, but I often slip through them on my bike to have a look around.
If you follow your nose you can eventually end up at the Fishing Club at the end of Adsetts Road. Sometimes when the lake is low enough, there’s an old road which rises above the lake water which you can follow to Rush Creek and eventually Dayboro.
There’s more info here if you’re interested https://blog.neilennis.com/index.php/around-the-lake/